Rev. Thomas Lucas, S.J., to present "Staking Out the City: St. Ignatius and Jesuit Urban Strategy" Rev. Thomas Lucas, S.J., an Associate Professor of Art and Design at the University of San Francisco, will present "Staking Out the City: St. Ignatius and Jesuit Urban Strategy" at Loyola College in Maryland on Wednesday, Feb. 21. The event, which begins 5 p.m. in the 4th Floor Program Room in the Andrew White Student Center on the College’s North Charles Street campus, is part of a series of lectures, "Jesuits and Urbanism: History, Theology and Spirituality." Lucas, a leading authority on how and why the Jesuits chose to focus their ministry on urban areas, is the author of Landmarking: City, Church and Jesuit Urban Strategy, winner of an Alpha Sigma Nu National Book Award in 1998. Born and raised in California, Lucas joined the Jesuits shortly after graduating from Santa Clara University in 1975. He later earned a Ph.D. in Theology and the Arts from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, as well as additional degrees from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley and Fordham University. A member of the University of San Francisco faculty since 1995, he founded the University’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts and serves as the Director of the Thatcher Gallery. Lucas is an internationally known liturgical artist and consultant who designed and directed the restoration of St. Ignatius’ apartments in Rome and is currently working on the restoration of the St. Ignatius Cathedral in Shanghai, replacing 2,500 square feet of stained glass destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Lucas’ address is part of a series featuring several Jesuit scholars who have studied the urban focus of the orders’ work. "This series is meant to contribute to Loyola’s Year of the City initiative by highlighting Jesuit contributions in the urban context," says Angela Christman, the Loyola Theology professor coordinating the series. | 
