The inaugural Colbert Symposium lecture will begin at 5 p.m., Sept. 14, in Goldwin Smith Hall's Lewis Auditorium, followed by a reception; the speaker is George Dennis O'Brien, a former University of Rochester president and Middlebury College dean, and a philosopher and author. The talk and reception are open to the public and preregistration is not required.

The idea -- and the hope --for the Colbert Symposia come from a long personal experience and from a hypothesis about the pluralism of beliefs and cultures.

For more than 40 years, my work and my life as a Catholic priest have involved interfaith projects -- and, more importantly, progressively deepening friendships with people of many differing religious beliefs, and profound friendships with people of no religious belief whatsoever. This gift of friendship -- being part of others' lives and vice versa -- has been both the texture and the creative energy in my life.

I know that the vulnerability to be changed by one another, but not into one another, though no simple or easy journey, is the path to a truer human life and to a more authentic possession of my own tradition. I have no illusions about the challenges involved in these dialogues, and I cannot easily lay out the ways I have been changed, but I know that my life and my own faith are much more genuine than they would have been without these years with my friends.

My theoretical hypothesis about pluralism is that we have indeed arrived at a significant accomplishment in the acknowledged diversity of beliefs and cultures, but that a crucial further development is needed. Tolerance and respect for the ideas and beliefs of others are huge steps forward beyond persecution, "ghettoizing" and wars, but if we are to construct a genuine human community, we need to know the life worlds of the others, to have a real understanding of what things mean to them. Such understanding is nourished in part by the conversation that is a vital aspect of university culture.

The Colbert Symposia will make a contribution to this conversation at Cornell. It is also my hope that over the years they will convince Catholic undergraduates that critical thinking, questioning and dialogue are essential to a life of faith.

If I succeed in anything in the time I'm here, a sign of it would be, if a few years from now, somebody said, "Anne is a Catholic," the first thing somebody would think is, "Oh, she must be interesting." Thoughtful, creative, engaged, because that's what a believer should be. That's what we want to say.

The Rev. Robert Smith is the Robert R. Colbert Sr. '48 Catholic Chaplain at Cornell. The Colbert Symposia are sponsored by the Cornell Catholic Community in collaboration with Cornell United Religious Work and Chesterton House.