Father Burke was a Paulist priest, distinguished teacher, theologian, scholar, church historian and ecumenist. After his retirement from Catholic University in 1976, he was closely associated with UCSD as a member of the Paulist ministry to students and as a member of the UCSD Catholic Community . The concept of a permanent lectureship originated in a series of discussions among some of Father Burke's friends seeking a way to honor him on his forty-fifth anniversary as a Paulist. Before his death in 1984, he joined with members of the Catholic, Episcopal and Lutheran communities to outline the structure and scope of the Lectureship. The UCSD faculty and administration helped to shape its organization.
Lectures are free of charge and open to all.
Eugene Burke was born in Los Angeles in 1911 and was ordained a Paulist priest in 1938. He earned his doctorate from the Catholic University of America in 1941 and served a distinguished 35 year career as a member of its faculty, the faculty of Trinity College, and as visiting faculty at Columbia and Princeton. He was known for promoting quality teaching , teaching as a profession and teaching programs for the laity. He was appointed to the Catholic Commission for Intellectual and Theological Development in 1947. Father Burke organized what is now known as the College Theology Society and the U.S. Catholic Theological Society, serving a first president of both.