Against the Current: Father Tom Oddo and the New American Catholic

Join us for conversation with author Tyler Bieber about his new biography Against the Current: Father Tom Oddo and the New American Catholic (Unencumbered Press, 2025). Maxwell Kuzma will moderate this presentation about Father Tom Oddo (1944-1989), an early leader of DignityUSA and a key figure in the fight for LGBTQ rights. Oddo was also a prominent leader in higher education as president of the University of Portland from 1982 until his tragic death in a car crash in 1989. Bieber draws on intimate interviews, personal archives, and never-before-seen documents to portray the compelling story of this courageous leader and activist whose lived within the confines of tradition, yet embodied hope, resilience and a new vision of Catholicism.