Religion and Journalism in Chicago with Mary Ann Ahern (IN PERSON)

Join us for a conversation with Emmy Award-winning journalist Mary Ann Ahern of Chicago’s NBC 5 about covering religion, writing about Chicago’s Pope, and shaping the public’s perception and practice of faith.

Mary Ann Ahern joined NBC 5 News in March 1989 and was named the station’s Political Reporter in 2006. Most recently, Ahern was front-and-center at the Vatican for NBC 5 Chicago’s extensive on-site coverage of one of the year’s biggest international stories when Chicago native, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, became Pope Leo XIV. For her standout work at the Vatican, Ahern earned a pair 2025 Chicago/Midwest Emmy Awards.

This is an in person program at the American Writers Museum. This program will also be livestreamed, and you can register for the link to the online broadcast here.

This program is presented in conjunction with the AWM’s special exhibit American Prophets: Writers, Religion, and Culture, a powerful new exhibit that takes you on the ultimate exploration through spirituality and storytelling. American Prophets is supported by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative.

More about Mary Ann Ahern:

In her storied career, Ahern has covered political campaigns from the White House to Springfield to Chicago. She witnessed the transitions from Mayor Richard Daley to Mayor Rahm Emanuel to Mayor Lori Lightfoot to Mayor Brandon Johnson and traveled through the primary states for the 2008, 2012, 2016 presidential campaigns, just as she did in 1988 while a reporter in Atlanta.

She has covered presidential election nights from Texas, Boston, New York and Chicago and has covered presidential inaugurations from Washington, D.C.

She’s gained recognition over the years for covering the religion beat and has reported from Rome on the selection of Pope Francis, Pope Benedict’s farewell and the 2014 canonization of pontiffs John XXIII and John Paul II. Over the years she covered Pope John Paul II’s many trips including Cuba and several World Youth Day events. Ahern followed Cardinal Joseph Bernardin’s final years, the selection of both Cardinal Blase Cupich and Cardinal Francis George, the beatification of Mother Teresa, and the Pope’s emergency meeting with the American Cardinals on the priest sex abuse crisis.