Maura Ryan will deliver a speech tonight titled “Good Sex: Intimacy, Love and Marriage in the Christian Tradition,” about the traditional view of intimacy and marriage from a Christian framework. The free lecture is at 8 p.m. in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

“My lecture will focus on the challenges facing young Christians today in integrating faith and sexuality, and in forming permanent commitments,” Ryan said.

Ryan is a professor of theology and associate provost at Notre Dame University. She earned a doctorate in religious studies from Yale University.

“It is important for people to understand the reasoning of the Catholic framework regarding sexuality,” said John Donaghy, campus minister for Ames’ St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 2210 Lincoln Way.

Traditional Christians believe sex is something that should be reserved for the permanent commitment of marriage, Ryan said.

“I would expect that non-Christians might learn something about a Christian approach to sexuality,” she said.