Pastor to speak about being a 'global citizen'

The Rev. Jack Davis, an American pastor of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Chimbote, Peru, speaks on what it means to be a global citizen as part of the Elgin Community College 2009-2010 Humanities Center Speakers Series at the college Oct. 14-15.

The lecture will be held from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Student Resource Center Community Room on Wednesday, Oct. 14, and from 11 a.m. to noon on Thursday, Oct. 15, in the Advanced Technology Center Auditorium. Both presentations are held on the ECC Main Campus, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin, and are free and open to the public. Because of construction on Spartan Drive from McLean Boulevard west to Renner Drive, motorists may use either Fleetwood Drive or Weld Road to Second Street. From the west, motorists entering on Spartan Drive from Randall Road will be detoured north onto Renner Drive to access the campus.

Davis, a North Dakota native, has served in Chimbote, Peru for more than 34 years and is pastor of more than 30,000 parishioners- the vast majority of whom survive on pennies a day. He has made serving that city's poor population his life's mission and has performed thousands of funeral services for children and adults killed by preventable diseases, lack of health care access, violence and other poverty-related tragedies.

Davis also has been robbed at gunpoint, stabbed, and targeted for execution by Shining Path terrorists. In an effort to raise funds and support for his parish, he spends thousands of hours traveling and speaking throughout the United States and Europe.

The ECC Liberal, Visual and Performing Arts Division, ECC Student Life and the ECC Humanities Center are sponsoring the lecture. Since fall 2006, the Speaker Series navigates today's intellectual landscape by bringing new and renowned speakers to the ECC community.

For additional information about the 2009-2010 Speaker Series, call (847) 214-7864. For information about other events at ECC, visit www.elgin.edu/calendar.