To commemorate the life and contributions of civil and human rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., DePaul University's O’Hare Campus and DePaul’s School for New Learning will host a panel discussion Jan. 20 at DePaul’s O’Hare Campus, 3166 South River Road in Des Plaines. The event will begin with a reception at 6 p.m. followed by the program at 6:30 p.m.

The presentation, titled “For God and Country,” will focus on the role of ministry in social activism. Leading the discussion will be three ministers who work as activists, focusing on a variety of social justice, humanitarian and civil rights issues. The panelists will explore how the work and legacy of King informs and impacts their work as activists and provide suggestions on how individuals can contribute to continuing his work and legacy. The panel includes:

The Rev. George Clements

The Rev. George Clements became the first priest in the country to adopt a child and subsequently adopted three more out of concern for the number of older children awaiting homes. He founded in 1981 One Church-One Child, a program that arranges through churches adoptions for children with special needs. This program has grown to involve 6,000 churches in 38 states and is credited with 90,000 adoptions. Since 1993, Rev. Clements has been implementing the One Church-One Addict program and he also has begun One Church-One Inmate, a spin-off of the program for addicted people, to provide care for men and women who were incarcerated. He now serves in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.

The Rev. Juan Reed

Pastor of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Chicago, the Rev. Reed has presented addresses at numerous conferences on topics of spirituality, justice and gender issues and is a strong advocate for gay and lesbian rights within the Episcopal Church. With a strong commitment to wedding social justice and spirituality, the Rev. Reed and his congregation founded the Good Ground Institute, a ministry of St. Martin’ Church that offers ongoing adult study groups. The Institute, for example, supports a monthly study/reflection group for African American gay and lesbian men and women and offers forums on topics such as: the criminalization of black youth, structural and institutional racism, centering prayer workshops, African- American prayer traditions, HIV/AIDS and the black church, the death penalty, and African-American gays and lesbians in African-American church communities.

The Rev. Marilyn Pagan

The Rev. Marilyn Pagan is currently co-pastor of Good News Community Church in Chicago. The Rev. Pagan is involved in a broad array of community and social justice causes both nationally and in Chicago. These include: The Community Renewal Society: Focused on Race and Poverty and its publications, The Chicago Reporter and CATALYST: Voices of Chicago School Reform; Night Ministry, a program committed to being a voice in the public policy realm for and with youth and adults on the nighttime streets; and the Vieques Committees to Stop the U.S. Navy bombing in Puerto Rico.

The program is free and open to the public. For additional information and to RSVP, call DePaul's O’Hare Campus at 847/296-5348.