Friar Ed Ondrako Pursues Knowledge

Cardinal Newman

The Franciscan intellectual traditions is alive and well as Conventual Franciscan Friar Ed Ondrako’s recent activities suggest. Last month at the Marian Conference in Fatima, Portugal, Friar Ed delivered an original paper he had written on “Newman and Scotus”. Newman was of course John Henry Newman, the Cardinal-Deacon of the Basilica of St. George in Velabro (Rome). Newman was English-born and lived from 1801 to 1890. He became a philosopher and writer. Scotus refers to Blessed John Duns Scotus – a Franciscan philosopher and theologian. Scotus as the name suggests was born in Scotland in 1266. He died in Cologne, Germany in 1308.

John Duns Scotus

This month, Friar Ed will deliver a lecture titled “Newman’s Epistemology in a Franciscan Key” at the University of Notre Dame’s National Newman Conference. Friar Ed’s lecture coincides with Cardinal Newman’s beatification process. It also shows that the intellectually-hungry mind never stops in its pursuit for knowledge.