Lumen Christi Institute

CANCELED: A Report from the German Synod
2020-04-01 17:15 - 18:45 (America/Chicago) | University of Chicago–TBA, N/A, Hyde Park, IL
Due to restrictions put in place in response to the spread of COVID-19, this event has been postponed. We look forward to scheduling similar programming in the future.

WEBINAR: How NOT to Get Away with Murder
2020-04-02 11:00
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum. Open to current high school students. This event was made possible by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
We’ve run this event in-person, but now we’re bringing it to you online! When you register, you will be sent a Zoom link to follow at the appointed time. You have three sections to choose from:

11:00am-12:00pm

1:00pm-2:00pm

3:00pm-4:00pm
Are you already tired of being quarantined in your house? Feel a little bit like you might kill your siblings?
The book of Genesis is one of the most interesting and difficult books of the Bible. And there is so much more to it than meets the eye. For example:
How was a snake able to trick Eve? Why do Adam and Eve respond to God so suspiciously? And then there’s the Cain and Abel story…why on Earth does Cain jump to murdering his brother? What are we supposed to learn from this Scripture?
This hour-long seminar will investigate these passages in the 3rd and 4th chapters of Genesis. By reading the text closely and paying attention to what is (and isn’t) there, we will discover a whole new complexity to the relationship between God, the first four humans, and the snake. Not only is God revealed as imminently just and merciful, but also as a very acute observer of human psychology!

Come to whichever session fits your new online schedule the best! All you’ll need is access to a Bible (either a real-life book or just online!) We’ll read the text together, and discuss!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!
Resources from this seminar are drawn from Joseph Ratzinger’s (Pope Bendict’s) In the Beginning…’: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall.

There is no charge for the seminar, but a good-will donation of $10 is encouraged.

(Teachers and Youth Ministers may sit in, if interested. Please register as “Other,” and log in to the provided Zoom link 15 minutes prior to your session’s start time to ensure you are properly muted.)

WEBINAR: Gregory the Great on Reading Scripture for Wisdom
2020-04-07 19:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
This event is free and open to the public. Online registration is required. Registrants will receive an email witha link to join the webinar on Zoom.
How can scripture guide our search for wisdom? Bernard McGinn, professor emeritus in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, begins our webinar series on Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought by presenting on Gregory the Great and reading scripture for wisdom.
Pope Saint Gregory the Great lived in an age of tumult–war, waves of disease, economic depression, and civil deterioration. Alongside his administrative reforms and leadership, Gregory described a spirituality that centered around meditative and contemplative reading of sacred scripture. Gregory’s practice of reading scripture, particularly the Book of Job, and his description of the practice had great influence upon medieval meditative and contemplative practices of reading the Word of God.

This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians undertook great rational enterprises—including the sharp logic of Abelard and the grand system of Thomas Aquinas—as well as practiced experiential and contemplative modes of knowing, as did Bernard of Clairvaux. This course will examine how different preeminent medieval Christian thinkers saw the relationship between reason and wisdom, how to arrive at them, and so how to seek the face of God.
This series is cosponsored by the Collegium Institute, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, and Calvert House Catholic Center.
Upcoming Seminars
Thursday, April 16, 7PM
“Anselm of Canterbury on the Rationality of Faith” | Aaron Canty (Saint Xavier University)
Thursday, April 23, 7PM
“Thomas Aquinas on Ways to Know God” | Brian Carl (University of St. Thomas, Houston)
Thursday, April 30, 7PM
Hildegard of Bingen (Title TBD) | Barbara Newman (Northwestern University)
Thursday, May 7, 7PM
Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux (Title TBD) | Willemien Otten (University of Chicago)
Thursday, May 14, 7PM
Julian of Norwich (Title TBD) | Katie Bugyis (University of Notre Dame)
Thursday, May 21, 7PM
Bonaventure (Title TBD) | Kevin Hughes (Villanova University)
Thursday, May 28, 7PM
Meister Eckhart | Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago)
Thursday, June 4, 7PM
Nicholas of Cusa | David Albertson (University of Southern California)

WEBINAR: Answering Your Atheist Philosophy Professor
2020-04-16 13:00
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum. Open to current high school students. This event was made possible by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
You have two sections to choose from:

1:00pm-2:00pm
(The previously listed 11:00-12:00 session has been combined with this later session.)

3:30pm-4:30pm

Could God make something that He couldn’t move? If God is perfect, why are humanity and the world so imperfect?
In March of 2019, a San Diego State University professor of philosophy submitted an Opinion piece to the New York Times in which he claimed that God is an incoherent concept. The above are just some of the questions you will undoubtedly hear when you go off to college and encounter passionate, athiest philosophy professors like him for the first time. In fact, you might hear these questions already from peers or family members! What do we do about these arguments that seem so insurmountable?
The way to counter these arguments is much easier than you think. During this hour-long webinar, we will read together the NYT article and discover how, just using our own common sense and the powers of close reading, what seem to be complex, undeniable proofs for the absurdity of God’s existence are actually easily toppled through the logic they themselves utilize.
You won’t need a Bible, you won’t need a philosophy textbook, you won’t need a college degree: You’ll just need the mind you already have.
How does that sound? Want to be able to outsmart a college philosophy professor with your own high school brain?
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
There is no charge for the seminar, but a good-will donation of $10 is encouraged.

You can read the NYT article ahead of time here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/opinion/-philosophy-god-omniscience.html

(Teachers and Youth Ministers may sit in, if interested. Please register as “Other,” and log in to the provided Zoom link 15 minutes prior to your session’s start time to ensure you are properly muted.)
Photo by Alex Block on Unsplash

WEBINAR: Anselm of Canterbury on the Rationality of Faith
2020-04-16 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
REGISTER HERE
This event is free and open to the public. Online registration is required. Registrants will receive a link to the webinar via email.
You can also watch the live stream of the lecture on our YouTube Channel.
Join us for the second installment of our Spring Webinar Series. Professor Aaron Canty, who teaches theology and medieval thought at Saint Xavier University, will present on the thought of Saint Anselm of Canterbury (d. 1106).
Anselm was a startlingly original monastic writer and thinker who drank deeply of Augustinian and patristic theology but formulated his own theological and philosophical writings in spare and compelling chains of reasoning. His Why God Became Man, Monologion, and Proslogion each chart new ways to practice ‘believing in order to understand (credo ut intelligam).’

This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians undertook great rational enterprises—including the sharp logic of Abelard and the grand system of Thomas Aquinas—as well as practiced experiential and contemplative modes of knowing, as did Bernard of Clairvaux. This course will examine how different preeminent medieval Christian thinkers saw the relationship between reason and wisdom, how to arrive at them, and so how to seek the face of God.
This series is cosponsored by the Collegium Institute, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, and Calvert House Catholic Center.
Upcoming Seminars
Thursday, April 23, 7PM
“Thomas Aquinas on Ways to Know God” | Brian Carl (University of St. Thomas, Houston)
Thursday, April 30, 7PM
Hildegard of Bingen (Title TBD) | Barbara Newman (Northwestern University)
Thursday, May 7, 7PM
Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux (Title TBD) | Willemien Otten (University of Chicago)
Thursday, May 14, 7PM
Julian of Norwich (Title TBD) | Katie Bugyis (University of Notre Dame)
Thursday, May 21, 7PM
Bonaventure (Title TBD) | Kevin Hughes (Villanova University)
Thursday, May 28, 7PM
Meister Eckhart | Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago)
Thursday, June 4, 7PM
Nicholas of Cusa | David Albertson (University of Southern California)

WEBINAR: Cardinal Francis George, the American Contribution to Catholic Social Thought, and Our Current Moment
2020-04-17 16:00
Cosponsored by America Media, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Nova Forum, the Collegium Institute, the Beatrice Institute, the Calvert House Catholic Center, and Mundelein Seminary
You can read Thomas Levergood’s essay on Cardinal George’s legacy at America Magazine.
A Memorial on the 5th Anniversary of the Death of Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I.
On April 17—the 5th anniversary of the death of Cardinal Francis George O.M.I.—the Lumen Christi Institute will host a major web event that takes stock of the American contribution to Catholic Social Thought and how it applies in our current situation.
After his appointment as archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal George emerged as an intellectual leader within the Church, nationally and world-wide, and served as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. His thought on American culture and society—expressed in numerous lectures and in three major books—provides a challenging, critical view of the American experiment from the perspective of post-Vatican II Catholic thought. Revisiting his book on social questions and public life—God in Action: How Faith in God Can Address the Challenges of the World—allows us to reflect on the American contribution to Catholic Social Thought and to apply it to consider our situation today as we confront a great global crisis.
The panel will include Russell Hittinger, Senior Fellow of the Lumen Christi Institute and Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago Law School (Fall, 2020); Stephen Schneck, emeritus Professor at the Catholic University of America and Executive Director of the Franciscan Action Network; and Theresa Smart, assistant professor in the School of Civic and Economic Thought at Arizona State University. Each will draw from their own expertise and entertain the question of what distinctly American contributions have been made to Catholic Social Thought and how Cardinal George’s work fits within this tradition.

WEBINAR: Thomas Aquinas on Ways to Know God
2020-04-23 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Join us for the third installment of our Spring Webinar Series. Professor Brian Carl, who teaches philosophy at the University of St Thomas in Houston, will present on the thought of Saint Thomas of Aquinas, O.P. (d. 1274) on the ways to know God. Thomas was a friar of the Order of Preachers whose capacious mind bequeathed many treasures for the Christian tradition, including scriptural commentaries, philosophical treatises and commentary, his Summa theologiae, and devotional and liturgical texts. Thomas’ approach to the knowledge of God is complex, acknowledging dialectical, rational, as well as revelatory, gracious, and mystical modes.

This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians undertook great rational enterprises—including the sharp logic of Abelard and the grand system of Thomas Aquinas—as well as practiced experiential and contemplative modes of knowing, as did Bernard of Clairvaux. This course will examine how different preeminent medieval Christian thinkers saw the relationship between reason and wisdom, how to arrive at them, and so how to seek the face of God.
This series is cosponsored by the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Collegium Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, and the St. Paul’s University Catholic Center.
Upcoming Seminars:
Thursday, April 30, 7PM
Hildegard of Bingen (Title TBD) | Barbara Newman (Northwestern University)
Thursday, May 7, 7PM
Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux (Title TBD) | Willemien Otten (University of Chicago)
Thursday, May 14, 7PM
Julian of Norwich (Title TBD) | Katie Bugyis (University of Notre Dame)
Thursday, May 21, 7PM
Bonaventure (Title TBD) | Kevin Hughes (Villanova University)
Thursday, May 28, 7PM
Meister Eckhart | Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago)
Thursday, June 4, 7PM
Nicholas of Cusa | David Albertson (University of Southern California)

Schola Antiqua - Music in Secret
2020-04-24 19:30 | St. Clement Parish, 642 W Deming Pl. Chicago, IL 60614, Downtown, IL
The sounds flowing from pre-modern convents constitute one of the better kept secrets of music history. This spring, the women of Schola Antiqua, long-time Artists-in-Residence at the Lumen Christi Institute, return to the convent repertoire with a revamped “Music in Secret” program in Chicago. Under the direction of British organist and harpsichordist Naomi Gregory, this special concert of nuns’ music has brought the group around the country in the last two years with appearances from New York to St. Louis. The lone performance of “Music in Secret” in the Chicago area will take place on Friday, April 24 at St. Clement Church. Plainchant of the convent mingles with sonorous sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century northern Italian music for nuns.
Tickets can be purchased here.

WEBINAR: Disease and the Problem of Evil
2020-04-28 17:00
Cosponsored by America Media, the Society of Catholic Scientists, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, the Collegium Institute, the Nova Forum, and the Program on Religion and Medicine at the University of Chicago. This program is made possible by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
Whether caused by pathogens, environmental exposure, or genetics, disease is typically understood to be an unwarranted and unwanted removal from one’s normal condition of good health. While a natural phenomenon, disease raises classic questions of theodicy. If illness is a privation of the good of health, should we also understand disease to be an evil? How can science, theology, philosophy, and literature help us to account for the occurrence of deadly diseases and the suffering that results from them?
In this moderated conversation, Stephen Meredith, professor of pathology and molecular biology at the University of Chicago, and Jeffrey Bishop, healthcare ethicist and professor in philosophy and theology at Saint Louis University, will engage these questions and others surrounding disease and the problem of evil.

WEBINAR: Another Unexpected Journey with JRR Tolkien
2020-04-30 13:00
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum. Open to current high school students. This event was made possible by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
You have two sections to choose from:

1:00pm-2:00pm

3:30pm-4:30pm

Hobbits and elves, humans and dwarves, trees with personality and the most famous ring of all time…. through his stories, JRR Tolkien has taken generation after generation on countless fantastical journeys to far-off places, full of magic and mystery. What’s more, Tolkien has imbued his stories with the beauty of the Christian faith, through careful allegory and metaphor.
In this hour-long session together, we’ll read and discuss one of Tolkien’s lesser-known stories, “Leaf by Niggle.” You thought there was nothing more humble than Hobbiton, but through this brief tale of a regular man’s begrudging kindness and yes, another unexpected journey, we’ll see how even the most humble of human endeavors can leave an enormous, magical impact.
Like all of his works, Tolkien guides us into the mysteries of Christian faith through allegory and imagistic suggestion. These are the most enjoyable of stories, the ones that surprise us and leave us asking “what could that symbol mean?” During our time together, we’ll unpack the layers of symbols in this short little story and wade into the picture of Christian faith Tolkien paints for us: How are we to spend our lives? How are we to treat our neighbors? What does it mean to prepare for a journey?
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

You will receive a copy of the story, “Leaf by Niggle” when you register! Please read through the story prior to the start time of the session!

There is no charge for the seminar, but a good-will donation of $10 is encouraged.

(Teachers and Youth Ministers may sit in, if interested. Please register as “Other,” and log in to the provided Zoom link 15 minutes prior to your session’s start time to ensure you are properly muted.)
Photo titled “Leaf by Niggle,” by Emily Austin Design, LLC

WEBINAR: Hildegard of Bingen
2020-04-30 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Join us for our fourth Spring Webinar Series lecture with renowned medievalist Barbara Newman, who will introduce us to the life of Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1169). A German Benedictine Abbess, Hildegard produced works of visionary theology drawn from her mystical vision and one of the largest surviving collections of medieval musical compositions.
As a female religious in the 12th century, she held a remarkable influence in the Church through preaching tours across Germany and correspondence with popes, emperors, and other monastic reformers. In 2012, she was named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI.

This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians undertook great rational enterprises—including the sharp logic of Abelard and the grand system of Thomas Aquinas—as well as practiced experiential and contemplative modes of knowing, as did Bernard of Clairvaux. This course will examine how different preeminent medieval Christian thinkers saw the relationship between reason and wisdom, how to arrive at them, and so how to seek the face of God.
This series is cosponsored by the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Collegium Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum, the Beatrice Institute, and the Saint Benedict Institute,
Upcoming Seminars:
Thursday, May 7, 7PM
Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux | Willemien Otten (University of Chicago)
Thursday, May 14, 7PM
Julian of Norwich | Katie Bugyis (University of Notre Dame)
Thursday, May 21, 7PM
Bonaventure | Kevin Hughes (Villanova University)
Thursday, May 28, 7PM
Meister Eckhart | Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago)
Thursday, June 4, 7PM
Nicholas of Cusa | David Albertson (University of Southern California)

WEBINAR: The Economic Costs of the Pandemic: Catholic Social Teaching and Economics in Dialogue
2020-05-05 17:00
Cosponsored by America Media, CREDO, the Beatrice Institute, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Collegium Institute, the Nova Forum, and the Saint Paul’s Catholic Center.

COVID-19 has put much of the world on standstill for the sake of reducing the risk to some of its citizens. What has been the cost of this in terms of economic recession, unemployment, human suffering, and even mortality? When the pandemic subsides, will government action be justified or will it have aggravated human suffering in an “economy that kills”? How do we measure or place values on the tradeoffs in terms of lives saved versus economic costs and human suffering? Join us for a dialogue between Economists Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde (Penn), Joseph Kaboski (Notre Dame) and Casey Mulligan (University of Chicago) on Economics, Catholic Social Thought, and the cost of the pandemic.

CANCELED: Panel on Joseph Singer’s "Persuasion"
2020-05-07 17:15 - 18:45 | University of Chicago–TBA, N/A, Hyde Park, IL
Due to restrictions put in place in response to the spread of COVID-19, this event has been postponed. We look forward to scheduling similar programming in the future.
Lawyers have techniques to persuade decision-makers about what the law should be, using arguments based on common values, storytelling, and framing to help us see our own values in a new light. These tools of reasoned argument enable us to engage in civil debate about divisive issues and to justify decisions in hard cases. Joseph Singer’s book, Persuasion: Getting to the Other Side, categorizes the arguments that lawyers use in debates about ambiguous or contested legal questions. It also explains how judges justify their decisions about what the law should be when the case involves competing values and there are plausible arguments on both sides. This panel will bring together judges, lawyers and legal scholars to engage in discussion over Singer’s Persuasion, and explore how the tools of persuasion can mitigate polarization in contemporary legal and political discourse.

WEBINAR: On Peter Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux
2020-05-07 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Peter Abelard (d. 1142) and Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153) were contemporaries who both emerged from the new twelfth-century schools. But their dispositions, personalities, and eventual conflict have come to represent a conflict between the rising scholastic and the traditional monastic cultures of learning. Professor Willemien Otten will introduce these iconic twelfth-century personalities, the direction of their work, and the theological controversy that put them on opposing sides.

This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians undertook great rational enterprises—including the sharp logic of Abelard and the grand system of Thomas Aquinas—as well as practiced experiential and contemplative modes of knowing, as did Bernard of Clairvaux. This course will examine how different preeminent medieval Christian thinkers saw the relationship between reason and wisdom, how to arrive at them, and so how to seek the face of God.
This series is cosponsored by the Collegium Institute, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, and the Calvert House Catholic Center.
Upcoming Seminars:
Thursday, May 14, 7PM
Julian of Norwich | Katie Bugyis (University of Notre Dame)
Thursday, May 21, 7PM
Bonaventure | Kevin Hughes (Villanova University)
Thursday, May 28, 7PM
Meister Eckhart | Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago)
Thursday, June 4, 7PM
Nicholas of Cusa | David Albertson (University of Southern California)

CANCELED: Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, & Aquinas on the Soul
2020-05-08 00:00 | University of Chicago–TBA, N/A, Hyde Park, IL
Due to restrictions put in place in response to the spread of COVID-19, this event has been postponed. We look forward to scheduling similar programming in the future.
Further details TBA

Issues and Challenges in Economics, Catholic Social Thought, and Public Policy: A conversation with Joseph Kaboski
2020-05-08 16:00 - 17:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
REGISTER HERE
Can Economics and Catholic Social Thought be set in dialogue? Is there a place for Catholic Social Teaching in Public Policy? How does the scholar bridge one’s academic discipline and one’s religious faith? Harris School students and faculty are invited to join us in conversation with economist and consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Joseph Kaboski, on Economics, Catholic Social Thought, and Public Policy.
This event is closed to the public and open to Harris School students, faculty, and staff only

CANCELED: Brian Patrick McGuire on St. Bernard of Clairvaux
2020-05-12 19:00 | University of Chicago–TBA, N/A, Hyde Park, IL
Due to restrictions put in place in response to the spread of COVID-19, this event has been postponed. We look forward to scheduling similar programming in the future.
Details for this event TBA

Faith and Science at Notre Dame: Fr. John Zahm, Evolution, and the Catholic Church
2020-05-14 12:00 - 13:30 | University Club of Chicago, 76 E Monroe St Chicago, IL 60603, Downtown, IL
The Reverend John Augustine Zahm, CSC, (1851–1921) was a Holy Cross priest, an author, a South American explorer, and a science professor and vice president at the University of Notre Dame, the latter at the age of twenty-five. Through his scientific writings, Zahm argued that Roman Catholicism was fully compatible with an evolutionary view of biological systems, an argument that would get him (but not his book) censured in 1897 by the Vatican. In his talk Faith and Science at Notre Dame: John Zahm, Evolution, and the Catholic Church, John Slattery will chart the rise and fall of Zahm, examining his ascension to international fame in bridging evolution and Catholicism and shedding new light on his ultimate downfall via censure by the Congregation of the Index of Prohibited Books. Slattery draws on previously unknown archival letters and reports that allow Zahm’s censure to be fully understood in the light of broader scientific, theological, and philosophical movements—including Neo-Scholasticism–within the Catholic Church and around the world.

WEBINAR: Is Hell Real? Is it Crowded? Accounts of the Afterlife in the Christian Tradition
2020-05-14 13:00
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum. Open to current high school students. This event was made possible by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
You have two sections to choose from:

1:00pm-2:00pm

3:30pm-4:30pm

Is Hitler in Hell? Is Judas? Is everyone saved? Why would a merciful God allow humans to suffer eternal damnation?

In this Thursday session, we’re going to lean on the wisdom of one of our favorites: Bishop Robert Barron. Relying on his piece, “Is Hell Crowded or Empty?” we’ll come together for an hour to discuss the three accounts of Hell that he traces through history, as well as other common representations of Hell in literature. From Augustine and Aquinas, to Barth and Balthasar, the reality of Hell is rooted in Scripture and the words of Christ Himself, and yet is still hotly debated (pun intended). By the end of our time together, students will be able to respond to the most common dialogues around what Hell is like, and have a working familiarity with the most salient representations of Hell in the media we consume.

Students should come to the session having watched Bishop Barron’s 9 minute video on Hell, which you can find here: https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/video/is-hell-crowded-or-empty/183/

There is no charge for the seminar, but a good-will donation of $10 is encouraged.

(Teachers and Youth Ministers may sit in, if interested. Please register as “Other,” and log in to the provided Zoom link 15 minutes prior to your session’s start time to ensure you are properly muted.)

WEBINAR: The Wisdom of Enclosure in Julian of Norwich's Showings
2020-05-14 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Julian of Norwich (d. ca. 1416) was a widely respected and sought-out English thinker and spiritual counsellor. She lived as an anchorite, enclosed in a cell attached to a church in Norwich, Julian’s Showings are a book of spiritual visions that emerged from her life of prayer and that wrestle with the profound theological mysteries of fitting evil and suffering with God’s mercy and love. Professor Katie Bugyis will examine Julian’s thought in the context of her vocation of enclosed prayer.

This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians undertook great rational enterprises—including the sharp logic of Abelard and the grand system of Thomas Aquinas—as well as practiced experiential and contemplative modes of knowing, as did Bernard of Clairvaux. This course will examine how different preeminent medieval Christian thinkers saw the relationship between reason and wisdom, how to arrive at them, and so how to seek the face of God.
This series is cosponsored by the Collegium Institute, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, and the Calvert House Catholic Center.
Upcoming Seminars:
Thursday, May 21, 7PM
Bonaventure (Title TBD) | Kevin Hughes (Villanova University)
Thursday, May 28, 7PM
Meister Eckhart | Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago)
Thursday, June 4, 7PM
Nicholas of Cusa | David Albertson (University of Southern California)

WEBINAR: Apocalypticism in Times of Crisis
2020-05-19 17:00
Cosponsored by America Media, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Nova Forum, the Collegium Institute, the Beatrice Institute, the Institute for Faith and Culture, the Harvard Catholic Center, Saint Paul’s University Catholic Center, and the Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
Plague, political turmoil, famine—throughout Christian history, local catastrophes spurred on a sense of cosmic crisis, judgement, and prophetic fulfillment. What role has this apocalyptic imagination played for Christian communities? How does it continue to shape Christian responses to today’s global pandemic? Join for a conversation with scholars of medieval Christianity Bernard McGinn and Willemien Otten on Apocalypticism in Times of Crisis.

WEBINAR: St. Bonaventure
2020-05-21 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Bonaventure (d. 1274) was a pivotal figure whose complex responded effectively to the challenges of his day and inspired both theological and philosophical thought up to the present day. As a contemporary of fellow mendicant St Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure also taught at the University of Paris and formulated an original approach to the new Aristotelian thought. Later known as the Seraphic Doctor, Bonaventure fused profound theological thought with heart-felt spirituality and set out a vision of the life and charism of the recent St Francis of Assisi to provide peace-making leadership for the new Franciscan order. Professor Kevin Hughes will introduce the complex and multifaceted thought of Bonaventure.
This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians undertook great rational enterprises—including the sharp logic of Abelard and the grand system of Thomas Aquinas—as well as practiced experiential and contemplative modes of knowing, as did Bernard of Clairvaux. This course will examine how different preeminent medieval Christian thinkers saw the relationship between reason and wisdom, how to arrive at them, and so how to seek the face of God.
This series is cosponsored by the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Collegium Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, and the Institute for Faith and Culture.
Upcoming Seminars:
Thursday, May 28, 7PM
Meister Eckhart | Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago)
Thursday, June 4, 7PM
Nicholas of Cusa | David Albertson (University of Southern California)

WEBINAR: Q&A Session on An Inside Look in Times of Crisis: The 2008 Financial Collapse and the 2020 Pandemic
2020-05-26 12:00
You can view Scott’s presentation here. A link to the Zoom Q&A session will be sent via email to those who register.
Cosponsored by Catholics at Booth and Catholics at Kellogg. Open to students, faculty, and alumni of Booth School of Business and the Kellogg School of Management. Registration is required.
Scott Freidheim spoke in November 2018 for Catholics at Booth and the Lumen Christi Institute on “The Collapse of Lehman Brothers: An Inside Story” sharing his insights on what it was like to experience the 2008 crisis as Executive Vice President of Lehman Brothers. As we face the coronavirus pandemic and a recession as great or greater than that of 2008, he will draw on his earlier experience and reflect on facing this challenge at the corporate, governmental, personal, and spiritual levels.

Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought
2020-05-26 18:00 - 20:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
Due to restrictions put in place in response to the spread of COVID-19, our major spring events have been postponed. We are likely unable to host this non-credit course at this time. Stay tuned for updates as we explore our options concrning web-enabled communications.

REGISTER HERE

6:00 Dinner | 6:30 Lecture

Tuesdays, April 7 – May 26, 2020
This weekly non-credit course is open to current students and faculty. Registrants are free to attend as many sessions as they choose. Sessions do not presuppose previous attendance or prior knowledge of the subject. Dinner is provided.
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians both undertook great rational enterprises—including the sharp logic of Abelard and the grand system of Thomas Aquinas—as well as practiced experiential and contemplative modes of knowing—as did Bernard of Clairvaux. This course will examine how different preeminent medieval Christian thinkers saw the relationship between reason and wisdom, how to arrive at them, and so how to seek the face of God. Included are presentations from Professor Bernard McGinn on Gregory the Great on Reading Scripture for Wisdom, from Professor Aaron Canty on Anselm of Canterbury’s approach to knowing God, and from Professor Brian Patrick McGuire on Bernard of Clairvaux and the affective search for wisdom.

WEBINAR: On Meister Eckhart
2020-05-28 19:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Meister Eckhart (d. ca. 1328) was a famous and popular German mystical writer and preacher. After formal theological training in the University of Paris, following the footsteps of Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure, Eckhart charted a distinctive mystical dialectical theological in his writings and sermons and drew theological controversy. His thought became an inspiration for a tradition of mystical thought after him and remains a wellspring of religious and theological thought today. Professor Bernard McGinn will introduce the life and some of the principal themes of Eckhart’s enigmatic thought.

This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians undertook great rational enterprises—including the sharp logic of Abelard and the grand system of Thomas Aquinas—as well as practiced experiential and contemplative modes of knowing, as did Bernard of Clairvaux. This course will examine how different preeminent medieval Christian thinkers saw the relationship between reason and wisdom, how to arrive at them, and so how to seek the face of God.
This series is cosponsored by the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Collegium Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, and the Institute for Faith and Culture.
Upcoming Seminars:
Thursday, June 4, 7PM
Nicholas of Cusa | David Albertson (University of Southern California)

WEBINAR: Lessons after the Lockdown: Public Health, Economics, and the Common Good
2020-06-02 17:00
Cosponsored by America Media, CREDO, the Beatrice Institute, the Collegium Institute‘s Program on the Philosophy of Finance, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Institute for Faith and Culture, and the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America
After two months of lockdown, nations across Europe and parts of the US are relaxing restrictions and facing new challenges. Where do we stand economically and socially? How might we have better protected the medically and economically vulnerable? How should we view the lockdown with its costs and benefits ethically? Our earlier event on “The Economic Costs of the Pandemic: Catholic Social Teaching and Economics in Dialogue,” provoked lively reactions. This event will consider what the principles of the common good, human dignity, justice, and solidarity mean in our present circumstances and how they ought to inform our prudential judgement going forward. Join as a panel of economists, theologians, and ethicists discuss lessons learned in the pandemic.

WEBINAR: Nicholas of Cusa
2020-06-04 19:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
For the final installment of our Spring 2020 lecture series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought,” Professor David Albertson leads us in exploring the work of German philosopher, theologian, astronomer, and mystic, Nicholas of Cusa.
Nicholas of Cusa (d. 1464) was a great late medieval, early modern thinker and polymath who digested the medieval theological and contemplative traditions and pressed these in new directions. Living in tumultuous times, his career in the Church as a cardinal was occupied by his work as a reformer and his efforts to re-unify the Eastern and Western Churches. Professor David Albertson will offer an introduction to the lesser-known but rich life and thought of this great German personality.

This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians undertook great rational enterprises—including the sharp logic of Abelard and the grand system of Thomas Aquinas—as well as practiced experiential and contemplative modes of knowing, as did Bernard of Clairvaux. This course will examine how different preeminent medieval Christian thinkers saw the relationship between reason and wisdom, how to arrive at them, and so how to seek the face of God.
This series is cosponsored by the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Collegium Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, and the Institute for Faith and Culture.

WEBINAR: Christians in Times of Catastrophe: Augustine's "City of God"
2020-06-09 13:00
Cosponsored by America Media, the Collegium Institute, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, the Nova Forum, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Institute for Faith and Culture, and the Sacred and Profane Love podcast.
Augustine of Hippo’s City of God is one of the great theological books of the Christian tradition, laying out a vision of the Church and the Earthly City in parallel and of Christ’s work of salvation in history in the context of the sack of Rome (410) and other calamities. Augustine’s reflections on how Christians can understand and respond to catastrophes has become a wellspring in the Christian intellectual tradition and for us responding to todays troubles for the Church and for the world. In this web event, Professor Jennifer Frey (Philosophy, University of South Carolina) will lead a moderated conversation between Professor emeritus Russell Hittinger (Senior Fellow LCI) and Fr Michael Sherwin, O.P. (Theology, University of Fribourg) on Augustine’s context and the continued relevance of his wisdom for Christians in the time of pandemic, economic turmoil, and political and social tumult.

WEBINAR: Becoming Human: Evolution, Science, and the Soul
2020-06-11 14:30 - 16:00
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum, in cooperation with the University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, and the Archdiocese of Chicago Vocations Office. Open to current high school students.
High school teachers and youth ministers are welcome to attend, and are encouraged to bring groups. Group leaders are now able to register themselves and their students together! This is especially encouraged for groups coming from outside of Chicagoland, to ensure groups remain together during the breakout sessions (see below).
What can the science of evolution know? How is it related to religion, especially Catholic doctrine? Are they complementary or mutually exclusive?
Questions like these have guided much of the scientific and religious investigation of the 20th and 21st centuries. In recent decades, discoveries of humanoid fossils have revealed new links between human ancestors and animals. Archaeologists and evolutionary biologists have called these discoveries “humans,” but what does that mean for what it means to be human? How are you different or distinct from your pre-human ancestors?

The scientific evolutionary model is inherently limited in its understanding of the human person. It leaves us with as many questions as it answers: Where does the human soul come in? How are humans different from animals? What makes us human?

Answers to these questions can only be gained by recognizing the value –and the limits– of the evolutionary model. Philosophy and theology can provide us a guide when the science falls short.

Join us Thursday, June 11th at 2:30pm CDT for an online lecture with Chris Baglow, Director of the Science and Religion Initiative at Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church Life. Dr. Baglow is also the author of the premier science and religion textbook used by numerous Catholic schools in its science and theology curricula, Faith, Science, and Reason: Theology on the Cutting Edge.

During our time together, we’ll listen to a short lecture, hold a brief Q&A, and then break into discussion groups to further dialogue about the questions that arise at the intersection of Christianity and evolution. The event should run until approx. 4pm.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

There is no charge for the seminar, but a good-will donation of $10 is encouraged.

We are expecting a high volume of attendees for this event! We encourage you to register by Tuesday, June 9th to ensure your spot, and to assist in our creation of discussion groups.

This event is made possible by a generous gift from the John Templeton Foundation, as well as by a grant from The Our Sunday Visitor Institute, as a part of their “Re-Captivating Millennials” initiative, and by our many institutional and high school cosponsors:

INSTITUTIONAL COSPONSORS:
University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, The Archdiocese of Chicago Vocations Office, The McGrath Institute for Church Life, The Society of Catholic Scientists

HIGH SCHOOL COSPONSORS:
Benet Academy, Fenwick High School, Northridge Preparatory School, St. Ignatius College Prep, Willows Academy

If you have questions regarding the Newman Forum, registration, or any of our programs, feel free to reach out to the Newman Forum team:

Austin Walker
Director of the Newman Forum
awalker@lumenchristi.org

Madison Chastain
Program Coordinator of the Newman Forum
mchastain@lumenchristi.org

WEBINAR: Dante as Poet and Philosopher
2020-06-16 19:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
A conversation with Professors Jason Aleksander (San Jose State University) and Arielle Saiber (Bowdoin College). Part of our Summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was a Florentine writer and poet, whose long poetic work, The Divine Comedy, has received recognition as one of the greatest artistic achievements in the West. Dante’s poetic artistry stands alongside his intellectual and philosophical thought throughout his writings and in his Comedy. In this webinar, Professor Jason Aleksander (San José State U) and Professor Arielle Saiber (Bowdoin College) will discuss Dante’s interlocking poetic and philosophical production.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by Calvert House, the Collegium Institute, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

WEBINAR: How NOT to Get Away with Murder (Again!)
2020-06-17 15:00 - 16:00
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum. Open to current high school students.
We’ve run this event in-person, but now we’re bringing it to you online! When you register, you will be sent a Zoom link to follow. The event will run from 3:00pm-4:00pm
Are you already tired of being quarantined in your house? Feel a little bit like you might kill your siblings?
The book of Genesis is one of the most interesting and difficult books of the Bible. And there is so much more to it than meets the eye. For example:
How was a snake able to trick Eve? Why do Adam and Eve respond to God so suspiciously? And then there’s the Cain and Abel story…why on Earth does Cain jump to murdering his brother? What are we supposed to learn from this Scripture?
This hour-long seminar will investigate these passages in the 3rd and 4th chapters of Genesis. By reading the text closely and paying attention to what is (and isn’t) there, we will discover a whole new complexity to the relationship between God, the first four humans, and the snake. Not only is God revealed as imminently just and merciful, but also as a very acute observer of human psychology!

Come to whichever session fits your new online schedule the best! All you’ll need is access to a Bible (either a real-life book or just online!) We’ll read the text together, and discuss!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!
Resources from this seminar are drawn from Joseph Ratzinger’s (Pope Bendict’s) In the Beginning…’: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall.

There is no charge for the seminar, but a good-will donation of $10 is encouraged.

(Teachers and Youth Ministers may sit in, if interested. Please register as “Other,” and log in to the provided Zoom link 15 minutes prior to your session’s start time to ensure you are properly muted.)

Race, Justice, and Catholicism
2020-06-22 17:00
Cosponsored by America Media, Boston College Law School, the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage, and the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago.
The cry in the streets of “no justice, no peace” echoes the teaching of Popes John XXIII and Paul VI. The recent crises have again brought to the fore the reality that interracial justice has eluded America, despite the promise of the civil rights movement. Slavery, its original sin, has dogged it from its founding. Segregation and mass incarceration continue this shameful legacy. Efforts to call Americans to take responsibility for this often find resistance in an individualistic ideology counter to the Catholic vision. Catholics find themselves on both sides of this history.
The Gospel and Catholic social teaching clearly reject racism. Yet up to this moment, Catholic clergy and laity have often not lived up to this teaching, helping to sustain racism, rather than dismantle or reject it. If, as Pope Francis reminds us, we are all connected, then injustice anywhere is not only a threat to justice everywhere—it is injustice everywhere.
Join us as a panel of distinguished legal scholars comes together to discuss our current moment and whether Catholicism can move from being part of the problem to becoming part of the solution.

Alberti and Renaissance Architecture
2020-06-23 19:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
An evening webinar with Professor of Architecture Il Kim (Auburn University). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) was a humanist and polymath. His On Painting (1435/36) and On Architecture (1440s-1472) theorized the arts of painting and architecture, elevating them to the level of the Liberal Arts. The legacy of these works cast a long shadow in the Renaissance. In this webinar, Professor Kim will discuss Alberti’s architectural theory and practice as an all-encompassing pursuit of artistry in Italian Renaissance.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by Calvert House, the Beatrice Institute, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

What Evolution Does and Does Not Tell Us about Humans
2020-06-24 12:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Cosponsored by the Society of Catholic Scientists. This event is made possible by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
Does evolution fully explain the human? Recent paleontological and archeological work trace the deep lineages underlying many of our physical traits, and reveals our complicated history as one of many hominid species. It is abundantly clear that modern humans are subject to the same evolutionary pressures as the rest of the biological world and that evolution continues to shape our species. However, the developing story of our evolutionary history is frequently framed as a challenge to the claim of human uniqueness, fundamental to the Judeo-Christian understanding of the creation of man. Does evolution truly undercut the assumption of human uniqueness? Is our understanding of biological evolution sufficient to explain what makes us human? Join us for an online lecture with evolutionary paleobiologist, Simon Conway Morris, as he examines “What Evolution Does and Does not Tell Us about Humans.”

Marsilio Ficino and the Philosophy of Plato
2020-06-30 19:00
A webinar with Professor Denis Robichaud (University of Notre Dame). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
In the humanist recovery and study of Platonic thought and texts, Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) was a brilliant luminary. He produced the first translation into Latin of all of Plato’s texts and of Plotinus’s Enneads, and he translated and commented on numerous other Platonic works. Ficino was also more than a scholar, he was also a philosopher and theologian whose network of students, friends, and correspondents extended far beyond his Florentine home. His philosophical thought fed early modern philosophy for generations but also raised questions of Ficino’s orthodoxy. In this webinar, Professor Denis Robichaud (Notre Dame) will discuss Marsilio Ficino’s humanist, philosophical, and theological thought.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This series is cosponsored by the Beatrice Institute, Calvert House, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

God and Morality: Francisco Suarez's Reading of Thomas Aquinas
2020-07-02 10:00 - 13:00
Registration is full. Please contact us if you would like to be put on the waitlist.
This master class is open to current graduate students. It will take place online on Zoom. Others interested in participating should contact us.
Are wrong actions wrong only because the law of God forbids them, or does it forbid (at least some of) them because they are wrong in themselves? Francisco Suárez famously answers this Euthyphro-like question in a way that steers between rationalism and divine voluntarism. He takes it to be Saint Thomas Aquinas’s way, and so do many after him.
In this master class, Fr. Brock will challenge this reading of Aquinas and argue that, on his view, the very question is misleading. A crucial and neglected factor in Thomas’s position is his conception of the common good of the universe.
ASSIGNED READINGS (TO BE PROVIDED)

Suarez, Francisco, De Legibus bk. 2, ch. 6.
Brock, Stephen L., The Light That Binds: A Study in Thomas Aquinas’s Metaphysics of Natural Law (2020, Pickwick Publication), selections.

Women Humanists in the Renaissance: Paradise and Free Speech in Moderata Fonte
2020-07-07 19:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
An evening webinar lecture with Tamara Albertini (University of Hawai’i at Manoa). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society

After a brief review of women humanists like Laura Cerata, Cassandra Fedele, Lucrezia Marinella, and Isotta Nogarola, the presentation will focus on Moderata Fonte’s dialogue The Merit of Women Where One Clearly Discovers How Dignified and Perfect They Are (1600). In that dialogue, Fonte creates a locus amoenus characterized by a centered garden visited by seven female interlocutors to discuss what options women have to take charge of their lives. The presentation will end by comparing and contrasting Fonte’s garden with Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s paradise in his Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486)

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by the Beatrice Institute, Calvert House, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

Master Class on "Newman's Critique of Liberalism: Faith, Reason, and Antecedent Probability"
2020-07-09 10:00 - 13:00
This master class is open to current graduate students. It will take place online on Zoom. Others interested in participating should contact us.
In his intellectual autobiography, John Henry Newman makes a bold claim that may confound our contemporary sensibility. In matters of religion, the human mind has only two consistent options: either atheism or Catholicism. Any position in-between is but a logical half-way house. Our master class will explore the relation in Newman between faith and reason that endeavors to justify this claim. In the process, we will deal with the role of probability, which would seem to be the antithesis of faith. We will also probe into liberalism which, although much admired in the west, is for Newman inimical to an authentic revelation from the Divine.
READINGS

Apologia pro Vita Sua, Chapter 1: “History of My Religious Opinions up to 1833”; Chapter 5: “Position of My Mind since 1845.”
Plain and Parochial Sermons, vol. 8, number 13: “Truth Hidden When Not Sought After”

2020 Newman Forum Summer Institute
2020-07-13 11:00 - 2020-07-30 12:30 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
The Newman Forum aims to run a week-long Summer Institute for high school students at Mundelein Seminary every year. Due to COVID-19 concerns, this year’s Institute will run ONLINE, Mondays and Thursdays, from July 13th-30th.
This year’s Summer Institute will be centered on the three transcendentals: Truth, Goodness, and Beauty!
Feelings of wonder point us to transcendental truths and drive some of the most important philosophical and theological pursuits: How do we describe the feeling of seeing a radiant sunset to someone who didn’t see it? How do we explain that feeling of resonance when we learn a lesson in school that really speaks to our lives? Why are we moved when we see someone perform an act of kindness for someone else in need? This is beauty, truth, and goodness. Sometimes they seem quite simple! But they are also deep mysteries, and they relate to some of the biggest mysteries of our Catholic faith. Click here for more about the curriculum!
Monday classes will consist of lectures and brief fundamentals Q&A. Thursdays will consist of discussions of the lectures and short weekly assigned texts. All class meetings will run from 11am-12:30pm.
Mondays (July 13th, 20th, and 27th)
11:00-11:25 Philosophy lecture
11:25-11:35 Philosophy Q&A
11:35-11:45 Break
11:45-12:10 Theology lecture
12:10-12:30 Theology Q&A
Thursdays (July 16th, 23rd, and 30th)
11:00-11:15 Introduction and overview
11:15-11:45 Discussion Groups
11:45-12:30 Large Group Discussion
The program cost is $50 for local, Chicagoland participants (including our broader Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan neighbors!) $125 for non-local participants.
Applications for the 2020 Summer Institute are rolling, and have been extended until July 6th.
All high school students–including incoming freshmen and outgoing seniors–are welcome to apply!
Applicants will be notified within two weeks of submitting their applications whether or not they have been accepted.
CLICK HERE TO APPLY!

Measure and Mathematics in Renaissance Philosophy
2020-07-14 12:00 - 13:00
A webinar lecture with Richard Oosterhoff (University of Edinburgh). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
Perspective drawing, map-making, musical harmonics, astronomy, and number theory—these were all mathematical disciplines in the Renaissance. We tend to link measuring sounds, sights, and sensations with outstanding philosophers, from Nicholas of Cusa to Galileo and Descartes. But every university student met these topics, in their first textbooks. This webinar will focus on the hugely popular Paris master and humanist Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples (c. 1455–1536), who wove a programme of university reform out of authorities from Church Fathers and mystics, the Victorines, Ramon Llull, and Cusanus. Out of such sources, Lefèvre bequeathed European universities a shared philosophical culture in which mathematics offered an archetype of reason and beauty.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by the Beatrice Institute, Calvert House, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

Titian's Icons: Logos and Kairos in Renaissance Devotion
2020-07-21 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
An evening webinar lecture with Christoper Nygren (University of Pittsburgh). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
Titian is one of the most famous painters of the Italian Renaissance. He is mostly known for his amazing mythological paintings and depictions of the female nude, which became a staple of the tradition of European painting. It is less well known that Titian was credited by his contemporaries with painting a miracle-working image. Looking at his paintings in light of this fact, it becomes clear that Titian dedicated a great deal of energy to painting small-format pictures depicting biblical subjects, which can rightly be called icons. This presentation will outline Titian’s engagement with icons and show how the artist frequently deviated from received subjects and iconographies to develop new kinds of icons that were directed at inciting conversion in the beholder.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by the Beatrice Institute, Calvert House, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

A Sort of Bazaar or Pantechnicon: Newman's Challenge to the Modern University
2020-07-23 10:00 - 13:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
REGISTER HERE
This master class is open to current graduate students and advanced University of Chicago undergraduate students. It will take place online on Zoom. Others interested in participating should contact us.
In 1854, John Henry Newman worried that the contemporary university was losing its ability to teach its students to see and recognize the truth. Instead of integrated learning, the university had instead become “a kind of bazaar, or pantechnicon,” where various facts or theories were offered up without any attempt to make sense of the whole. This master class will investigate to what extent Newman’s concerns have been realized and whether his proposed solutions can still be obtained.
This masterclass will be composed of three parts. In the first, Fr. Fields will sketch out the general argument of the Idea. In the second, he will offer some suggestions about how Newman’s insights can diagnose the contemporary ills of the university. The third will be a wide-ranging discussion grounded in two short lectures Newman gave at his Catholic University of Ireland, “A Form of Infidelity of the Day” and “Christianity and Scientific Investigation”
Assigned Readings: (all from The Idea of a University)

Preface;
Discourse 5 – Knowledge Its Own End;
“A Form of Infidelity of the Day,”
“Christianity and Scientific Investigation”

Chicago Catholics and the Quest for Interracial Justice
2020-07-23 12:30 - 13:30
Free and open to the public. This event will be held online through Zoom. Registrants will be sent a link to the Zoom event or to a secondary livestream. Co-sponsored by the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago the Department of Catholic Studies at DePaul University, Calvert House Catholic Center, the Sheil Catholic Center at Northwestern University and the Seminary Co-op Bookstore,
With parish boundaries often mapping onto segregation lines, it might appear that the possibilities of Catholic efforts towards racial justice were eliminated from the start. This picture, however, is incomplete. Karen Johnson’s book, One in Christ: Chicago Catholics and the Quest for Interracial Justice (Oxford University Press, 2018) uncovers the story of lay white and Black Catholics working on the ground towards interracial justice from the 1930’s to the late 1960’s, driven by a radical vision of the mystical body of Christ. Join for a conversation between historian of race and religion, Karen Johnson (Wheaton College), and Black Catholic historian Cecilia Moore (University of Dayton) on Chicago Catholics and the quest for interracial justice.

Giordano Bruno and the Poetry of the Cosmos
2020-07-28 12:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
A webinar lecture with Valentina Zaffino (Pontifical Lateran University; Rome Global Gateway, University of Notre Dame). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician, and cosmologist. Bruno’s notoriety is due both to his adventurous life and to his original reinterpretation of ancient thought in light of the new philosophical scenario. Valentina Zaffino will analyze Bruno’s image of the cosmos, focusing on his remodeled Neoplatonic background. In this context, as will be shown, the notions of harmony and beauty are closely related with Bruno’s fascinating claim of the infinity of the cosmos.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by the Beatrice Institute, Calvert House, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

On the Eternity of the World: Aristotle, Bonaventure, Aquinas, Kant
2020-07-29 10:00 - 2020-07-30 15:30 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
This master class is open to current graduate students and uper-level University of Chicago undergraduates. It will take place online via Zoom, in four sessions, over two days.
Toward the end of his Physics, Aristotle argued that the motion in the physical world, and with it the world itself, never began and will never cease. Medieval Christian thinkers agreed that this position conflicted with revelation, but they assessed it in a wide variety of ways. In modernity, Kant used the problem of the world’s duration as evidence of the boundaries of mere reason.
In this master class, we will go through Aristotle’s arguments, Bonaventure’s rejection of them and insistence that the world’s having begun can be proved, Aquinas’s denial of any possible proof on either side, and Kant’s antinomous “proofs” for both sides. The readings invite discussion of such topics as the relation between reason and faith, how to understand creation ex nihilo, the relation between physics and metaphysics, and the limits of human knowledge.
SCHEDULE

Wednesday, July 29, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM; 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Thursday, July 30, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM; 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM

READINGS

Aristotle, Physics, VIII.1-2, 250b10-253a21
Bonaventure, In II Sent., d. 1, p. 1, a. 1, q. 2
Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae I, q. 45, aa. 1-2; Summa theologiae I, q. 46; Compendium theologiae ch. 98-99; Summa contra gentiles, II, caps. 31-37; On the Eternity of the World
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Transcendental Dialectic, II.2.2, First Antinomy

COVID and the Color Line: Race, Religion, and Public Health
2020-07-30 12:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
A conversation with Yolonda Wilson (Howard University), Shawnee Daniels-Sykes (Mount Mary University), and Utibe Essein (University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine), moderated by Vincent Lloyd (Villanova University). Co-organized with the International Academy for Bioethical Inquiry.
Cosponsored by America Media and the Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics
Free and open to the public. The event will be held online over Zoom and will be livestreamed on YouTube.
COVID-19 has been described as a great equalizer, affecting all Americans alike. Yet, data collected throughout the pandemic has revealed startling disparities, particularly with communities of color being disproportionately impacted by the virus, suffering from both higher infection rates and higher death rates. What are the roots of these asymmetries? How do economics, politics, and issues of healthcare—including how racial preconceptions have historically impacted medical treatment and public health policy—contribute? What resources do we have within our communities and within our religious traditions to respond? Join for an interdisciplinary panel of philosophers, public health experts, and theological ethicists as we seek to understand and respond to COVID and the color line.

ONLINE SEMINAR on Dominican Theological Anthropology: Albert the Great and Meister Eckhart
2020-08-03 09:00 - 2020-08-11 17:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS SEMINAR
On consecutive Mondays and Tuesdays in August (August 3, 4, 10, 11) Bernard McGinn and Fr. Bernhard Blankenhorn will lead a set of young scholars through questions relating to the theological anthropologies of Albertus Magnus and Meister Eckhart. Topics of special interest will include contemplation, Albert on the imago dei, and Eckhart on the ground of the soul.
Applicants should have some background in medieval philosophy and theology. More specifically, they should have a basic familiarity with Aristotelian anthropology, as well as general grasp of the Augustinian theology of the image of God and medieval theories of contemplation.
Intermediate knowledge of Latin is preferred, but not required. Applications who can read German and/or French secondary literature should be given preference.
Required Reading Before Seminar
Simon Tugwell, “Introduction,” Albert and Thomas: Select Writings (Paulist Press, 1988), 3-129.
Edmund Colledge and Bernard McGinn, “Introduction,” Meister Eckhart: The Essential Sermons, etc. (Paulist Press, 1981), 5-81.
Required Reading During Seminar
Texts
Albert the Great, Commentary on Dionysius’s Mystical Theology, in Albert and Thomas, 133-98
Albert the Great, De Intellectu et intelligibili, Book II, chaps. 8-9 (Borgnet ed., IX:514-17)
Albert the Great, Selections from Summa theologica, Pars I (Cologne Edition XXXIV.1), q. 13, chapter 1 (pp. 38-41); q. 13, chapter 4 (pp. 44-48); q. 15, chapter 2, a. 2 (pp. 65-75).
Meister Eckhart: The Essential Sermons, etc.
Meister Eckhart: Teacher and Preacher (Paulist Press, 1986)
Studies
Henryk Anzulewicc, “Anthropology: The Concept of Man in Albert the Great,” in A Companion to Albert the Great, 325-46
Bernard Blankenhorn, “The Mystery of Union with God, 52-90, and 131-48
Bernard McGinn, “Chapter 4. Meister Eckhart: Mystical Teacher and Preacher,” in McGinn, The Harvest of Mysticism, 94-194
Rupert J. Mayer, “The Term ‘Ground of the Soul’ and ‘Sparkle of Reason’ in Eckhart and Aquinas,” Medieval Mystical Theology 22 (2013): 120-38.
Schedule
Mornings will contain two hour-long lecture/discussions of key texts.
Afternoons will have two sessions of 45-minute guided discussion.
The final day (Tuesday, August 11) will be devoted to short student presentations.

Reason and Beauty in Cambridge Platonism
2020-08-04 12:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
A webinar lecture with Douglas Hedley (University of Cambridge). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
The Cambridge Platonists are the first modern Platonists. They are a group of English philosophers around the University of Cambridge in the seventeenth-century, in the context of reformed theology and the English Civil War. Yet while accepting the New Science of Copernicus and Galileo, they offer a fierce protest against mechanism and naturalism. Their notion of aesthetics and beauty–as historian Ernst Cassirer correctly saw–was one of the sources of the later Romantic movement. Their aesthetics has a theological foundation. As one of the Cambridge Platonists, Benjamin Whichcote (d. 1683) wrote: “There is that in God that is more beautiful than power, than will and Sovereignty, viz. His righteousness, His good-will, His justice, wisdom and the like’. In this webinar, Professor Douglas Hedley will discuss the Cambridge Platonists’ thought on beauty and its theological dimension that is tied to a distinctly Platonic theory of enthusiasm or inspiration and that came to be a shaping force in 18th century thought.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by the Beatrice Institute, Calvert House, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

Pondering Hiroshima
2020-08-06 12:00
Cosponsored by America Media, the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University, and the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America.
Free and open to the public. The event will be held online over Zoom and will be livestreamed on YouTube. Registrants will also get a specially created booklet drawing on the archives of America Magazine’s coverage of Hiroshima from the past 75 years.
On August 6th and 9th, 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombs destroyed the cities in a flash, and ultimately killed approximately 200,000 people. The Second World War came to a close days later. 1945 was the first and last time a nuclear bomb was used in armed conflict. This technology has influenced international relations ever since and has raised questions about the appropriate use of force in a way that the firebombing of Dresden and Tokyo did not. The site of the bomb’s genesis was not a military base, however, but at the University of Chicago, where the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction took place three years earlier, opening the nuclear age and giving rise to a new source of energy, life-saving technologies, and unparalleled destruction. Join as we reflect upon the legacy and tension caught up in the event that was Hiroshima.
This event is dedicated to the memory of John P. Langan, S.J., noted professor, theologian and peace activist.
Image © AP Photo/Stanley Troutman

Richard Hooker’s Sapiential Theology: Reformed Platonism?
2020-08-11 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
An evening webinar lecture with Torrance Kirby (McGill University). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
Richard Hooker (1554-1600) was a preeminent theologian and philosopher of the Elizabethan Church. His seminal book, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (1593), set out a path for Anglican theology that was distinct from both Puritan and Roman Catholic thought. In Book I, Hooker identifies Law with Holy Wisdom and his treatment echoes the sapiential books of Scripture, viz. Proverbs, Job, and the Wisdom of Solomon. Hooker also appeals to a hierarchical disposition of the species of law in the medieval scholastic conception of the ‘lex divinitatis’, especially as formulated by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and later by Thomas Aquinas. For Hooker, the First Eternal Law concealed in the ‘Bosome of God’ is unutterable, while its external emanation, the Second Eternal Law, is a ‘Voyce’ whose utterance constitutes the beautiful ‘Harmony of the Worlde’. This distinction between two species of Eternal Law owes much to the ancient Neoplatonic metaphysics of Proclus. Both Hooker’s sapiential theology and his invocation of the law of the ‘great chain’ stand in creative tension with his professed adherence to doctrine expressed by the Elizabethan Articles of Religion (1571). In this webinar, Professor Torrance Kirby will examine the tension between Hooker’s sources and his theology and will ask whether Hooker is successful in reconciling his legal metaphysics with his Reformed soteriology.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by the Beatrice Institute, Calvert House, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

The Global Economic Effects of COVID-19: Perspectives from Economics and Catholic Social Thought
2020-08-13 17:00
Free and open to the public. The event will be held online over Zoom and will be livestreamed on YouTube.
Cosponsored by America Media and the Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization.
The adverse impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on the lives and livelihoods of people is hard to fully appreciate in real time. Moreover, it is not equally distributed across socio-economic groups within countries or across countries. This panel sets economics and Catholic Social Thought in dialogue, discussing the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic, the policies to mitigate it, and the values that ought inform our judgements.

Passage to Modernity: Renaissance Christianity Today
2020-08-18 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
An evening webinar lecture with Peter Casarella (Duke University). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
Historian Jacob Burckhardt (d. 1897) famously argued that Italian humanism of the fourteenth and fifteenth century paved the way inevitably to modern individualism and secularism, but more recently Burckhardt’s view has been largely discredited. Contemporary thinkers, Louis Dupré and Karsten Harries, each with very distinctive accents, made decisive contributions to overcoming of Burkhardtian forerunner mentality. In this concluding webinar, Professor Casarella will explore Dupré’s and Harries’ contributions to a post-Burckhardtian reading of the relationship of Italian humanism to modernity and also some of the limitations of the interpretations they proposed in the light of more recent ideas regarding post-structuralism and decolonial theory.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by the Beatrice Institute, Calvert House, the Collegium Institute, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

Healing the Wounds of Racism: A Discussion with Members of Chicago’s “Back of the Yards” Community
2020-08-26 17:00
Free and open to the public. Online registration required. This event is organized by the Catholic Lawyer’s Guild of Chicago, and co-sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute
“Compassion isn’t just about feeling the pain of others; it’s about bringing them in toward yourself. If we love what God loves, then, in compassion, margins get erased.”
– Father Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart (2010)
“I have never seen – even in Mississippi and Alabama – mobs as hostile and as hate-filled as I’ve seen here in Chicago.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1966)
Our country is in a moment of reckoning. For too long, black people have been marginalized and denied equal justice under the law. We have created, in the words of Pope Francis, “an economy of exclusion and inequality.” Evangelium Gaudium, ¶ 53. Chicago, sadly, is no exception. At this critical juncture, many of us find ourselves asking: What can we do to combat racism and bring about healing in our communities?
To move forward, we must first seek to listen to and understand those who have suffered from the evils of racism. We must stand with those whose dignity has been denied and learn to “find Jesus in [their] faces, in their voices, in their pleas.” Evangelium Gaudium, ¶ 91. Only once our hearts are changed can we hope to bring about change in our community and justice system.
On August 26 at 5:00 pm, the Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation will introduce us to several residents of the Back of the Yards community in a discussion moderated by Father Dave Kelly, C.P.P.S. These men and women will share their experiences with racial prejudice and their views on how we as a city might find reconciliation. An opportunity for questions and discussion will follow.

Introduction to Liturgical Mystagogy
2020-09-03 19:00
Free and open to the public. This event will be presented on Zoom (registration required), as well as through live-stream on YouTube. This event is presented in collaboration with the Godbearer Institute as part of a Fall webinar lecture series on “Eastern Catholic Theology in Action.”
From the fourth to eighth centuries, liturgical commentaries flourished to explain the meaning of the sacramental life of the Church. Notably after the fourth century, the tradition of Jerusalem developed another genre for mystagogy, namely hymnography. As part of the structure of the liturgical services, they explain to the faithful what is happening during the services, rather than before or after the celebration. In this way, hymnography has an exegetical function, commenting on scripture and the mystery of salvation in Christ. Dr. Galadza will explore this hymnographic tradition and its relation to the formation of liturgical theology.

Eastern Catholic Theology in Action
Distinct in their liturgy, theology, spirituality, and discipline of Church life, 23 Eastern Churches are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council urged the Eastern Catholic Churches to cultivate and promote their unique share of the tradition. This series responds to that mandate and features leading scholars in the field to offer their theological perspectives drawn from the wisdom of Christian East. In view of broadening our understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition, this series draws attention to the vantage points of Christians who worship, think, and pray in continuity with the first 1,000 years of the undivided Church.
This series is co-presented with the Godbearer Institute and co-sponsored by the Beatrice Institute, the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Catholic Theological Union, the Institute for Faith and Culture, God With Us Online, the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, the Nova Forum, the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, the Saint Benedict Institute, the St. Paul University Catholic Center, St. Stephen Byzantine Catholic Church, and the Tabor Life Institute.
Upcoming Series Lectures:
Thursday, September 10, 7 p.m. CDT
A Theology of Wonder: An Introduction to the Poetry of Ephrem the Syrian | Andrew Hayes (University of St. Thomas, Houston)
Thursday, September 17, 7 p.m. CDT
Christ the Lover of Mankind: Philanthropia, Mystery, and Martyria in Eastern Christianity | Robin Darling Young (Catholic University of America)
Thursday, September 24, 7 p.m. CDT
Eastern Churches, Latin Territories: Ecclesial Catholicity and the Notion of Diaspora | Alexander Laschuk (Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at University of St. Michael’s College)
Thursday, October 1, 7.p.m. CDT
Expanding the Archive: Syriac Literature and the Study of Early Christianity Today | Erin Walsh (University of Chicago)
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Monday, November 12, 7 p.m. CDT
Quo Vadis: The Direction of Eastern Catholic Theology, a Pastoral Perspective for the 21st Century | Archbishop Borys Gudziak (Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the USA)

A Theology of Wonder: An Introduction to the Poetry of Ephrem the Syrian
2020-09-10 19:00
Free and open to the public. This event will be presented on Zoom (registration required), as well as through live-stream on YouTube. This event is presented in collaboration with the Godbearer Institute as part of a Fall webinar lecture series on “Eastern Catholic Theology in Action.”
St. Ephrem is the common teacher of the Syriac theological tradition whose preferred medium is poetry. Named a doctor of the Church by Benedict XV, Ephrem emphasizes that the ascetical and mystical experience of wonder is the criterion for authentic theologizing. Dr. Hayes will discuss how Ephrem’s notion of wonder purifies our freedom and rendering the whole person a clear and luminous receptacle for the experience of God.

Eastern Catholic Theology in Action
Distinct in their liturgy, theology, spirituality, and discipline of Church life, 23 Eastern Churches are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council urged the Eastern Catholic Churches to cultivate and promote their unique share of the tradition. This series responds to that mandate and features leading scholars in the field to offer their theological perspectives drawn from the wisdom of Christian East. In view of broadening our understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition, this series draws attention to the vantage points of Christians who worship, think, and pray in continuity with the first 1,000 years of the undivided Church.
This series is co-presented with the Godbearer Institute and co-sponsored by the Beatrice Institute, the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Catholic Theological Union, the Institute for Faith and Culture, God With Us Online, the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, the Nova Forum, the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, the Saint Benedict Institute, the St. Paul University Catholic Center, St. Stephen Byzantine Catholic Church, and the Tabor Life Institute.
Upcoming Series Lectures:
Thursday, September 17, 7 p.m. CDT
Christ the Lover of Mankind: Philanthropia, Mystery, and Martyria in Eastern Christianity | Robin Darling Young (Catholic University of America)
Thursday, September 24, 7 p.m. CDT
Eastern Churches, Latin Territories: Ecclesial Catholicity and the Notion of Diaspora | Alexander Laschuk (Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at University of St. Michael’s College)
Thursday, October 1, 7.p.m. CDT
Expanding the Archive: Syriac Literature and the Study of Early Christianity Today | Erin Walsh (University of Chicago)
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Monday, November 12, 7 p.m. CDT
Quo Vadis: The Direction of Eastern Catholic Theology, a Pastoral Perspective for the 21st Century | Archbishop Borys Gudziak (Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the USA)

Christ the Lover of Mankind: Philanthropia, Mystery, and Martyria in Eastern Christianity
2020-09-17 19:00
Free and open to the public. This event will be presented on Zoom (registration required), as well as through live-stream on YouTube. This event is presented in collaboration with the Godbearer Institute as part of a Fall webinar lecture series on “Eastern Catholic Theology in Action.”
Three features are common to all Eastern Christian traditions—philanthropia, mystery, and martyria. They appear repeatedly in Eastern Christian writing, ritual, and personal practice from the preaching of Jesus to the present. Philanthropia, God’s love for humanity, prompts the mission of the Logos to provide for humanity’s return to the divine. Mystery, which paradoxically reveals and conceals, both in ceremony and in “ordinary” time, the Logos’ saving events. Martyria is the sign and demonstration of God’s beckoning love and the replication of the “priesthood of all believers.” Dr. Young will explore these themes through examples, not only from the Greek and Slavic traditions, but also from those of the Christian traditions of the East, the Caucasus and Ethiopian Christianity.

Eastern Catholic Theology in Action
Distinct in their liturgy, theology, spirituality, and discipline of Church life, 23 Eastern Churches are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council urged the Eastern Catholic Churches to cultivate and promote their unique share of the tradition. This series responds to that mandate and features leading scholars in the field to offer their theological perspectives drawn from the wisdom of Christian East. In view of broadening our understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition, this series draws attention to the vantage points of Christians who worship, think, and pray in continuity with the first 1,000 years of the undivided Church.
This series is co-presented with the Godbearer Institute and co-sponsored by the Beatrice Institute, the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Catholic Theological Union, the Institute for Faith and Culture, God With Us Online, the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, the Nova Forum, the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, the Saint Benedict Institute, the St. Paul University Catholic Center, St. Stephen Byzantine Catholic Church, and the Tabor Life Institute.
Upcoming Series Lectures:
Thursday, September 24, 7 p.m. CDT
Eastern Churches, Latin Territories: Ecclesial Catholicity and the Notion of Diaspora | Alexander Laschuk (Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at University of St. Michael’s College)
Thursday, October 1, 7.p.m. CDT
Expanding the Archive: Syriac Literature and the Study of Early Christianity Today | Erin Walsh (University of Chicago)
Monday, November 12, 7 p.m. CDT
Quo Vadis: The Direction of Eastern Catholic Theology, a Pastoral Perspective for the 21st Century| Archbishop Borys Gudziak (Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the USA)

Eastern Churches, Latin Territories: Ecclesial Catholicity and the Notion of Diaspora
2020-09-24 19:00
Free and open to the public. This event will be presented on Zoom (registration required), as well as through live-stream on YouTube. This event is presented in collaboration with the Godbearer Institute as part of a Fall webinar lecture series on “Eastern Catholic Theology in Action.”
According to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, all Eastern Catholic Churches have same rights and obligations as the Latin Church and are equal in dignity. They also share the obligation to preach the Gospel to the whole world. At the same time, the jurisdiction of the Eastern Churches is circumscribed to the notion of canonical territory. Inside this territory, the hierarchy has certain rights, while outside this territory there are numerous limitations. The talk will first discuss the notion of the Church sui iuris and the understanding of the Catholic Church as a communion of Churches. Second, it will then examine the idea of canonical territory in the Catholic Church. Historical roots of the juridical concept will be examined before looking at the current theological and canonical expression. Finally, the notion of canonical territory as currently existing will be critically examined, with special attention to the conciliar teachings as well as ecumenical implications.

Eastern Catholic Theology in Action
Distinct in their liturgy, theology, spirituality, and discipline of Church life, 23 Eastern Churches are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council urged the Eastern Catholic Churches to cultivate and promote their unique share of the tradition. This series responds to that mandate and features leading scholars in the field to offer their theological perspectives drawn from the wisdom of Christian East. In view of broadening our understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition, this series draws attention to the vantage points of Christians who worship, think, and pray in continuity with the first 1,000 years of the undivided Church.
This series is co-presented with the Godbearer Institute and co-sponsored by the Beatrice Institute, the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Catholic Theological Union, the Institute for Faith and Culture, God With Us Online, the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, the Nova Forum, the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, the Saint Benedict Institute, the St. Paul University Catholic Center, St. Stephen Byzantine Catholic Church, and the Tabor Life Institute.
Upcoming Series Lectures:
Thursday, October 1, 7.p.m. CDT
Expanding the Archive: Syriac Literature and the Study of Early Christianity Today | Erin Walsh (University of Chicago)
Monday, November 12, 7 p.m. CDT
Quo Vadis: The Direction of Eastern Catholic Theology, a Pastoral Perspective for the 21st Century | Archbishop Borys Gudziak (Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the USA)

Expanding the Archive: Syriac Literature and the Study of Early Christianity Today
2020-10-01 19:00
Through the work of editing and translating Syriac manuscripts, scholars continue to enrich our historiography of the formative centuries of Christianity. This research has been particularly fruitful in the areas of biblical interpretation, asceticism, the history of doctrine, and the role of women within the church. Dr. Walsh will provide a brief overview of these developments before focusing on the importance of poetry for biblical storytelling and spiritual formation. Using examples from the poetry of Narsai and Jacob of Serugh, Dr. Walsh will explore the ways poets inherited the legacy of Ephrem and applied their own artistic brilliance to articulate a Christian worldview, exhorting believers to live with fervent faith both in their own time and today.

Professor Walsh has generously assembled a bibliography of additional resources and introductory readings for Syriac Studies:
Books/Articles

Brock, Sebastian P. The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World Vision of Saint Ephrem the Syrian. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1985.
Brock, Sebastian P. An Introduction to Syriac Studies. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2006.
Brock, Sebastian P. and Susan Ashbrook Harvey. Holy Women of the Syrian Orient. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. o Also see the Gorgias Press website for the published translations of mēmrē by Jacob of Serugh and Narsai!
Harvey, Susan Ashbrook. “Spoken Words, Voiced Silence: Biblical Women in Syriac Tradition.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 9, no. 1 (2001): 105-131.
Harvey, Susan Ashbrook. “Revisiting the Daughters of the Covenant: Women’s Choirs and Sacred Song in Ancient Syriac Christianity.” Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 8, no. 2 (2005): 125-149.
Van Rompay, Lucas. “Past and Present Perceptions of Syriac Literary Tradition.” Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 3, no. 1 (2000): 71-103.
Van Rompay, Lucas. “Society and Community in the Christian East.” In The Cambridge Companion to Justinian, edited by Michael Maas, 239-266. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Wickes, Jeffrey. Bible and Poetry in Late Antique Mesopotamia: Ephrem’s Hymns on Faith (University of California Press, 2019). o UC Press is an important publisher for research on early Christianity and Syriac literature

Websites and Online Resources – many of these organizations are on social media!

Gorgias Press and Beth Mardutho o They also publish Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of Syriac Heritage – edited by Sebastian P. Brock, Aaron M. Butts, George A. Kiraz, and Lucas Van Rompay
Hill Museum and Manuscript Library o Follow the Syriac Manuscript Cataloger, Dr. James Walters on Twitter
Syriaca.org – The Syriac Reference Portal
Syri.ac – The Annotated Bibliography of Syriac Resources Online
Hebrew University’s Comprehensive Bibliography of Syriac Christianity
To learn more about the contemporary study of ancient Judaism and Christianity, read and follow the web journal, Ancient Jew Review

Eastern Catholic Theology in Action
Distinct in their liturgy, theology, spirituality, and discipline of Church life, 23 Eastern Churches are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council urged the Eastern Catholic Churches to cultivate and promote their unique share of the tradition. This series responds to that mandate and features leading scholars in the field to offer their theological perspectives drawn from the wisdom of Christian East. In view of broadening our understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition, this series draws attention to the vantage points of Christians who worship, think, and pray in continuity with the first 1,000 years of the undivided Church.
This series is co-presented with the Godbearer Institute and co-sponsored by the Beatrice Institute, the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Catholic Theological Union, the Institute for Faith and Culture, God With Us Online, the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, the Nova Forum, the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, the Saint Benedict Institute, the St. Paul University Catholic Center, St. Stephen Byzantine Catholic Church, and the Tabor Life Institute.
Upcoming Series Lectures:
Thursday, November 12, 7 p.m. CDT
Quo Vadis: the Direction of Eastern Catholic Theology, a Pastoral Perspective for the 21st Century | Archbishop Borys Gudziak (Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the USA)

Fearful Symmetry: Cosmic Order and a Divine Creator
2020-10-15 18:30
Free and open to the public. This event is organized by the Harvard Catholic Forum and is co-presented with the Lumen Christi Institute. This event will be held on Zoom (registration required) and live-streamed to the Harvard Catholic Forum’s YouTube page.
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For thousands of years, some philosophers and scientists have argued that order in the universe points to a creator God. How does this argument hold up against the scientific discoveries of recent decades? Join us as theoretical particle physicist Stephen Barr examines the cosmic order and its relationship to a Divine Creator.

Integral Bioethics in the Anthropocene
2020-10-16 12:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Free and open to the public. This event is being co-presented with the International Academy for Bioethical Inquiry, and co-sponsored by the Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics. This event will be held on Zoom (registration required) and live-streamed on YouTube.
In 2000, scientists argued that human impact on the Earth reached levels meriting the creation of a new geological epoch, naming it the Anthropocene. The challenge of the Anthropocene is more than just an acknowledgement of changes to our planet, but also a challenge to humanity, pressing us to reconsider human health, action, and ethics. Can theological insights, ranging from early Christian thinkers to Pope Francis’s Laudato si’, help orient us in the Anthropocene, or do they fall short of the challenge? Join as this interdisciplinary panel brings scientific, theological, and ethical perspectives to bear on integral bioethics in the Anthropocene.

Christ, the True Origin of Humanity
2020-10-20 12:00
This event is co-presented by the Society of Catholic Scientists and the Science and Religion Initiative at the McGrath Institute for Church Life, and is co-sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute.
“Its beginnings are no measure of its capabilities, nor of its scope.” These words of St. John Henry Newman describing the character of great ideas works equally well in describing the human species. For many, what we were in prehistory is what defines us now. But the Christian faith has a much different, and more exciting, perspective. In this presentation, Chris Baglow will connect the beginning and the end of humanity, relying on Scripture, Tradition and the insights of modern science as well as modern theologians.

The United Nations at 75: Catholic Perspectives
2020-10-22 14:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Free and open to the public. This event is co-presented with America Media, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, and the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, and is co-sponsored by the Beatrice Institute, the Collegium Institute, the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Institute for Faith and Culture, the Institute for Human Ecology, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and the St. Paul Catholic Center. This event will be held on Zoom (registration required) and live-streamed to YouTube.
Historically, the Bishop of Rome and the diplomats representing the Holy See have played important roles in international affairs involving Empires and Kingdoms, sometimes in making war, sometimes negotiating marriages and alliances, ideally in making peace. With the loss of the Papal States in 1870 and the creation of, first, the League of Nations, and later, the United Nations, the Holy See has continued to play an important—and sometimes contested—role. Of course, lay Catholics played an important role in founding the UN—as they did for the EU and in writing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This panel discussion explores the history of the Holy See’s relations with the United Nations, the role of lay Catholics and Church leaders in developing the human rights tradition, and the growing role of Catholic NGOs as they work alongside the UN for justice, peace, religious freedom, and integral human development around the world. Moderated by Paolo Carozza (Notre Dame), this panel features the participation of Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations; Joseph Donnelly, Delegate of Caritas Internationalis to the UN; and Mary Ann Glendon, former US ambassador to the Holy See and expert in human rights.

Fratelli Tutti: Engaging Pope Francis's New Encyclical on Social Friendship
2020-10-27 17:00 - 18:30
Free and open to the public. Cosponsored by the Institute for Human Ecology at Catholic University of America and America Media. The event will take place online over Zoom and YouTube livestream.
Who is my neighbor? Who is my brother and sister? Drawing on central gospel themes found in the Good Samaritan narrative, Pope Francis applies them to the whole “human family,” proposing that the logic of social friendship and neighborly love move beyond the personal to touch on every major social sphere. Join as this panel of experts in Catholic Social Thought discuss Pope Francis’s latest social encyclical, Fratelli Tutti.

Great Texts in Legal History Seminar and Discussion
2020-10-28 18:00 - 19:00
REGISTER HERE
$104 Registration Fee/ $50 for JD students.
Open to lawyers and law school students. CLE credit available.
Others interested in participating should contact us. Seminars will be held online over Zoom.
The Lumen Christi Institute has partnered with the Catholic Lawyers Guild to offer a monthly close-reading seminar on “Great Texts in Legal History.” The seminar will be led by Austin Walker (Assistant Director of the Lumen Christi Institute) and moderated by Judge Tom Donnelly. This monthly online seminar will allow lawyers to read and analyze great short works that illuminate the relationship between law, ethics, free will, authority, and God. Selections are short enough to read immediately beforehand. We will also read them during the session.

SCHEDULE
September 23 | The Ten Commandments
October 28 | Lincoln’s Second Inaugural
November 18 | 2 Samuel 11 and 12: David and Bathsheba & Nathan rebukes David
December 16 | Frederick Douglass, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? (excerpts)
January 20 | Thomas Aquinas, Treatise on Law (excerpts)
February 24 | Lawrence Joseph, Curriculum Vitae (poem)

Education and the Catholic Intellectual Life
2020-10-28 19:00 - 20:00
Open to current University of Chicago students (undergrads and grad students welcome). This event will take place over Zoom.
Join Calvert House and the Lumen Christi Institute for an hour-long panel discussion and Q&A on the Catholic Intellectual Life. Why do we pursue education in the first place? Why study topics that may not be directly relevant to our work? Do Christians approach their studies differently? There is no better time to think broadly about the meaning of education than at the start of a new school year.
The panel will feature Fr. Andrew Liaguminus, chaplain of Calvert House; Jennifer Martin, professor in the Program of Liberal Studies at Notre Dame; and Andrew Horne, postdoctoral fellow at the Lumen Christi Institute

What Do Genesis 1-3 Tell Us About Creation in a Scientific Age?
2020-10-29 18:30
Free and open to the public. This event is organized by the Harvard Catholic Forum, co-presented by the Lumen Christi Institute, and co-sponsored by the Society of Catholic Scientists and the Science & Religion Initiative at the McGrath Institute for Church Life. This event will be held on Zoom (registration required) and live-streamed to the Harvard Catholic Forum’s YouTube page.
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Modern readers fall naturally into a series of typical mistakes when interpreting the creation accounts in Genesis. Urging us to consider these texts with fresh eyes, Fr. Clifford asks: Why does Genesis 1 describe creation as a 6-day work week? Why is Genesis 2-3 set on a large farm? And if today we cannot accept some of the Biblical writers’ assumptions, how can they still instruct us?

Venerating the Saints: An Ancient Tradition Actual Today
2020-11-01 16:00 - 17:00
Free and open to the public. This event is co-presented with the Bollandist Society and America Media, and is co-sponsored by the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, the Nova Forum, the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC, the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage, the Georgetown Office of Mission and Ministry, and the Collegium Institute. This event will be held on Zoom (registration required) and live-streamed to YouTube.
Few Christian practices are as ancient and widely popular as veneration of the saints. It is appropriate on this Feast of All Saints to review that history, consider the challenges it has faced, and reflect on its appeal even in our day. Beginning with the early veneration of the martyrs, especially in Rome, the presentation will show how it expanded to confessors who “confessed” or witnessed to the faith under trial and then came to include the veneration of images and relics, which provoked severe controversy. The talk will conclude with consideration of Jesuit saints, saints today, and the work of the Bollandist Society, a unique group of Jesuits based in Belgium who have, for centuries, provided crucial editing and scholarship that have defined the field of “hagiography,” the serious, critical historical study of the lives of the saints.
You can learn more about the Bollandist Society here.

Thinking Inside and Outside the University: Zena Hitz on the Inner Life
2020-11-10 18:00
Free and open to the public. This event will be held online through Zoom (registration required) and YouTube live-stream. This event is presented by the Lumen Christi Institute Forum on the Church in Higher Education as part of its Liberal Arts Colloquium. This event is cosponsored by The Point magazine, the Saint Benedict Institute, Calvert House Catholic Center, Princeton University Press, and the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage.
In a world where efficiency and utility are the standards by which we measure success, how do we appreciate what resists quantification? And at a moment of institutional change and instability for higher education, what do we hold onto?
In her new book, Lost in Thought, Zena Hitz lays out the case for the inner life as a good in itself. Today, when even the humanities are often defended only for their economic or political usefulness, Hitz says our intellectual lives are valuable not despite but because of their practical uselessness. Within or without institutional structures, the intellectual life offers a source of meaning and fulfillment.
In this webinar conversation with Jared Ortiz, Hitz will elucidate the hidden pleasures of contemplation, assess the possibilities for its re-emergence in the contemporary university, and debate whether figures as dissimilar as the Virgin Mary, Albert Einstein, and Malcom X can be said to participate in a common intellectual activity.

Quo Vadis: The Direction of Eastern Catholic Theology, a Pastoral Perspective for the 21st Century
2020-11-12 20:00
Free and open to the public. This event will be presented on Zoom (registration required), as well as through live-stream on YouTube. This event is co-presented with the Godbearer Institute and the Collegium Institute.
Metropolitan Borys Gudziak has spent his life committed to Catholic education. He helped to found Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, the only Catholic University between Poland and Japan. The University’s mission was simple: to bring the Christian humanist vision of the Catholic University to Ukraine to heal the wounds inflicted by Soviet oppression. Gudziak was rector of Ukrainian Catholic University until 2012 and became president upon his episcopal ordination. After seven years as ordinary for Ukrainian Catholics in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Switzerland he was named metropolitan archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia in 2019. From the depths of his experience living between continents, eastern and western Europe, the academy and pastoral life, Gudziak will offer a pastoral perspective on the Eastern Catholic theological voice and its role in communicating the Gospel today.

Eastern Catholic Theology in Action
Distinct in their liturgy, theology, spirituality, and discipline of Church life, 23 Eastern Churches are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council urged the Eastern Catholic Churches to cultivate and promote their unique share of the tradition. This series responds to that mandate and features leading scholars in the field to offer their theological perspectives drawn from the wisdom of Christian East. In view of broadening our understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition, this series draws attention to the vantage points of Christians who worship, think, and pray in continuity with the first 1,000 years of the undivided Church.
This series is co-presented with the Godbearer Institute and co-sponsored by the Beatrice Institute, the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Catholic Theological Union, the Institute for Faith and Culture, God With Us Online, the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, the Nova Forum, the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, the Saint Benedict Institute, the St. Paul University Catholic Center, St. Stephen Byzantine Catholic Church, and the Tabor Life Institute.
Previous Lectures in the Series
Thursday, September 3, 7 p.m. CDT
Introduction to Liturgical Mystagogy | Daniel Galadza (University of Regensburg)
Thursday, September 10, 7 p.m. CDT
A Theology of Wonder: An Introduction to the Poetry of Ephrem the Syrian | Andrew Hayes (University of St. Thomas, Houston)
Thursday, September 17, 7 p.m. CDT
Christ the Lover of Mankind: Philanthropia, Mystery, and Martyria in Eastern Christianity | Robin Darling Young (Catholic University of America)
Thursday, September 24, 7 p.m. CDT
Eastern Churches, Latin Territories: Ecclesial Catholicity and the Notion of Diaspora | Alexander Laschuk (Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at University of St. Michael’s College)
Thursday, October 1, 7.p.m. CDT
Expanding the Archive: Syriac Literature and the Study of Early Christianity Today | Erin Walsh (University of Chicago)

Master Class on Yves Simon on Natural Law
2020-11-13 14:00 - 16:00
A FOLLOW UP MASTER CLASS ON PART 2 OF THE BOOK WILL BE HELD ON JANUARY 15.
Open to current graduate students. It will take place online on Zoom. Copies of the readings will be provided. Others interested in participating should contact us.
Join us for a master class on Yves Simon’s The Tradition of Natural Law: A Philosopher’s Reflections (Fordham University Press, 1999).
You can watch Professor Hittinger’s lecture on Part 1 of the book here.

ABOUT THE BOOK
The tradition of natural law is one of the foundations of Western civilization. At its heart is the conviction that there is an objective and universal justice which transcends humanity’s particular expressions of justice. It asserts that there are certain ways of behaving which are appropriate to humanity simply by virtue of the fact that we are all human beings. Recent political debates indicate that it is not a tradition that has gone unchallenged: in fact, the opposition is as old as the tradition itself.
By distinguishing between philosophy and ideology, by recalling the historical adventures of natural law, and by reviewing the theoretical problems involved in the doctrine, Simon clarifies much of the confusion surrounding this perennial debate. He tackles the questions raised by the application of natural law with skill and honesty as he faces the difficulties of the subject.
Simon warns against undue optimism in a revival of interest in natural law and insists that the study of natural law beings with the analysis of “the law of the land.” He writes not as a polemicist but as a philosopher, and he writes of natural law with the same force, conciseness, lucidity and simplicity which have distinguished all his other works.

Human Rights and Human Wrongs: The Catholic History of Human Rights
2020-11-14 10:00 - 14:30 | University of Saint Mary of the Lake, 1000 East Maple Avenue Mundelein, IL 60060, Mundelein, IL
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum. Open to current high school students. This event was made possible by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute, and is cosponsored by the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, Mundelein Seminary, and the Archdiocese of Chicago Vocation Office.
You can email Austin Walker or Madison Chastain with any questions or concerns!
Online Schedule
9:30 Opening Prayer & Welcome
9:45 1st Lecture
10:20 1st Q&A
10:45 Break
11:00 2nd Lecture
11:35 2nd Q&A
11:45pm Online Breakout Discussion Groups
12:30pm Conclusion

What makes something right? What makes something wrong? What is a “right,” and why ought it be respected? What happens if two people’s rights come into conflict? What is justice? Why (and how) ought it be pursued?The Newman Forum is excited to continue its yearly tradition of day-long academic conferences during the Autumn and Winter Quarters.
On Saturday, November 14, the Newman Forum will host a conference about the relationship between rights, justice, and–the theme we’ve chosen for our year–human dignity. Professor Paolo Carozza will introduce us to the development of the earliest human rights tradition by Spanish Dominicans in the 16th century, and chart the course of its expansion into our contemporary language of human rights and social justice, which fails to achieve its ends when it loses the Catholic understanding of human dignity. It can seem to us that the Catholic Church is new to topics of justice and rights, but not only were Catholics some of the first to develop the language of rights and justice, but the Catholic understanding of human dignity is pivotal to our contemporary pursuit of a just society!

This November, our fall conference will be a hybrid event. IN-PERSON REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.
High school teachers and youth ministers are encouraged to bring online groups. If they so desire, they will be given their own virtual discussion room after the lectures to discuss the content with their students. Otherwise, your students can be assigned to a group led by one of our trained graduate-student discussion leaders. A separate pre-event prep meeting is offered to teachers who would like it.
In-Person Schedule
9:00 Grab-and-go breakfast (Coffee Room)
9:30 Prayer and Welcome (Chapel)
9:45 1st Lecture (Chapel)
10:20 1st Q&A (Chapel)
10:45 Break & Snack (Coffee Room)
11:00 2nd Lecture (Chapel)
11:35 2nd Q&A (Chapel)
11:45 Transition to Eucharistic Adoration (Chapel)
12:10pm Grab-and-Go Lunch (Coffee Room) & Discussion Groups (Breakout Rooms)
1:00pm Final Q&A (Chapel)
1:30pm Closing Prayer (Chapel)
There will be mandatory health screenings at the start of the in-person experience. Masks will be required at all times during the day, except for when students are eating. Refusal to wear a mask or follow appropriate social distancing protocols will be grounds for removal from the event, as it will violate the Newman Forum’s contract with Mundelein Seminary.

Extraterrestrial Life: The Science and the Theology
2020-11-14 13:30
A webinar discussion with Jonathan I. Lunine (Cornell University), and Christopher Baglow (University of Notre Dame). This presentation is the second part of the the Steno Lectures: Discussions at the Intersection of Faith and Science, presented by the Society of Catholic Scientists and the Science and Religion Initiative at the McGrath Institute for Church Life. This event is co-sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute.
Might Extraterrestrial life exist? Where? How would we search for it? (Do we already have evidence of it?) Could such life have human-level intelligence? If Extraterrestrial intelligent life (or “ETI” life) exists, what would be its theological implications? These questions will be addressed by two distinguished Catholic scholars: Cornell astrophysicist, Prof. Jonathan Lunine, and Universiy of Notre Dame theologian, Prof. Christopher Baglow.

COVID-19 and the Worldwide Church
2020-11-14 16:00
Free and open to the public. This event is organized by the Harvard Catholic Forum, co-presented with the Lumen Christi Institute, and co-sponsored by the Saint Benedict Institute, the Collegium Institute, the Institute for Faith and Culture, the Nova Forum, and St. Paul’s University Catholic Center. This event will be held on Zoom (registration required) and live-streamed to the Harvard Catholic Forum’s YouTube page.
The pandemic of 2020 has disrupted the sacraments and public worship, scattered communities, and put local churches into new, sometimes strained, relationships with civil authorities. The Church has also been a significant actor in the crisis, offering relief services and spiritual care on a massive scale. What does all this mean for the worldwide Church, now and in the years to come?

Image credit: Vatican Media

Friends in Heaven: Edmund Campion and the Martyrs of England & Wales
2020-12-01 20:00
Free and open to the public. This event will be held online through Zoom (registration required) and live-streamed to YouTube. This event is co-presented with the Bollandist Society and America Media.
“The expense is reckoned, the enterprise is begun; it is of God; it cannot be withstood.” With these bold words Edmund Campion, SJ, communicated to Her Majesty’s Privy Council in 1581 the Catholic plan to restore the faith in England. On December 1, the Church celebrates Campion and his fellow martyrs of England and Wales. They did not succeed in restoring the faith, but they did carry out one of the most dangerous and fascinating clandestine missions in the history of the Church. “Friends in Heaven” explores the origin, activities, and ultimate demise of these men, as well as the lay Catholics who aided them, in the Elizabethan age, and concludes with a brief discussion of how they came to be canonized.

Presented on the feast day of St. Edmund Campion, this event continues our event series on the saints, examining the lives of the martyrs of England and Wales.
Previous events in this series:

“Venerating the Saints: An Ancient Tradition Actual Today” with Fr. John O’Malley, S.J.

Food Insecurity in the U.S.: Insights from Catholic Social Thought and Economics
2020-12-03 20:00
7:00 PM CST / 8:00 PM EST
Free and open to the public. The event will be held online over Zoom and will be livestreamed on YouTube. This event is co-presented with the Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization (CREDO), and is co-sponsored by America Media, Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Center for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame, the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO).
Food insecurity has become a leading indicator of well-being in the U.S. due to the tens of millions of food insecure Americans and the accordant negative physical and mental health outcomes and higher health care costs. Its importance has become even more stark during COVID-19, as rates are predicted to rise by almost 50% in 2020 in comparison to 2019. Join us for a discussion of food insecurity in the context of Catholic Social Thought with a panel comprised of a theologian, Margaret Pfeil (University of Notre Dame), and of economists Bruce Weber (Oregon State), and Craig Gundersen (University of Illinois), moderated by economist Chris Barrett (Cornell).

Additional reading on food insecurity and work of our cosponsor, Catholic Charities: https://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/story/as-food-insecurity-rises-pantries-work-overtime-to-meet-the-growing-need/

A Catholic Life in the Secular University: A Conversation with George Dennis O'Brien
2020-12-09 20:00
Cosponsored by Commonweal Magazine, and the Sheil Catholic Center at Northwestern University. This event is presented by the Lumen Christi Institute Forum on the Church in Higher Education as part of its Liberal Arts Colloquium.
John F. Kennedy once quipped that a Catholic would be president of the United States before a Catholic would be president of Harvard. As the Catholic president of two secular universities, Dennis O’Brien was a trailblazer. In this interview, O’Brien discusses his long career in higher education as a Catholic, a philosopher, and an administrator, with reflections on the past, present, and future of American higher education.
O’Brien was raised in a south-side Chicago parish in the 1930s and 1940s. Educated at Yale, he came to the University of Chicago to write a PhD on Hegel. He was appointed president of Bucknell in 1976 and the University of Rochester in 1984. O’Brien’s varied career offers a fascinating window onto the history of American higher education in the twentieth century. Philosopher and fellow Hegelian Mark Alznauer will conduct this interview, focusing on higher education both Catholic and secular, as well as O’Brien’s experiences growing up in Chicago and attending the University of Chicago.

Is there a Catholic Vote? An Evangelical Vote? Religion, Polls and Presidential Elections
2020-12-16 18:00
REGISTER HERE
Free and open to the public. This event will be held online through Zoom (registration required) and YouTube live-stream. This event is cosponsored by America Media and the Institute for Human Ecology.
The 2020 presidential race seemed to highlight the central role of religion in the electorate. Democrats spent heavily on campaign ads emphasizing Joe Biden’s Roman Catholicism. President Trump has spent the past four years courting Evangelicals and conservative Catholics. But is there really a religious vote? In this panel, experts will examine the relationship between religion, polls, and presidential elections.

Partners in Charity: St. Louise de Marillac and St. Vincent de Paul
2021-01-07 18:00
Join us February 13 for the next event in this series on “Pledges of the Saints: the Cult of Relics in the Catholic Tradition.”
This event is co-presented with the Bollandist Society
In this talk, we will examine side by side the lives and legacies of two major saints of French Catholicism’s seventeenth-century golden age. Louise de Marillac and Vincent de Paul co-founded the Daughters of Charity, one of the most successful socially-oriented women’s congregations in the Church’s history, when the Tridentine-era bishops were attempting to enforce strict claustration for women religious. They also collaborated with a wide circle of lay and religious women and men of different social backgrounds in ways that transformed Christian life in and beyond France for centuries. We will reflect on the two saints’ fruitful spiritual friendship of several decades. We will also consider why De Marillac is far less well known than De Paul in modern times, something that stems in part from the different trajectories their causes for sainthood took in the wake of each saint’s death, only several months apart from the other’s, in 1660.

Laudato Si at 5-years: Towards an Ecology of Culture
2021-01-11 17:00
How do we develop a culture marked by an ethic of ecological awareness? In Laudato Si, Pope Francis called for an ecological conversion to just such a culture. The ecological conversion he envisions entails more than just tinkering with technology or the economy; rather, we must reshape our sense of culture and society. Pope Francis has asked that this year be dedicated to a reflection on the continuing importance of Laudato Si.
How does an ecologically aware ethic change the ways we live together, create art, and encounter nature? What kind of culture should we be developing to live out an ecological conversion? How can art, design, and urban planning contribute to an ecology of conversion? How can we change our own lifestyles to develop an ethic of ecological awareness? How can a non-consumerist approach to the good life help save our planet? How can religion in conversation with the secular world help advance such a change in culture.
Presented by the Collegium Institute and the Pontifical Council for Culture. Csponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute.

Speakers

Bishop Paul Tighe

Kate Soper

Makoto Fujimura

Phil Bess (ND)

Master Class on Yves Simon on Natural Law, Part 2
2021-01-15 14:00 - 16:00
Open to current graduate students. It will take place online on Zoom. Copies of the readings will be provided. Others interested in participating should contact us.
Join us for a master class on part II of Yves Simon’s The Tradition of Natural Law: A Philosopher’s Reflections (Fordham University Press, 1999).

ABOUT THE BOOK
The tradition of natural law is one of the foundations of Western civilization. At its heart is the conviction that there is an objective and universal justice which transcends humanity’s particular expressions of justice. It asserts that there are certain ways of behaving which are appropriate to humanity simply by virtue of the fact that we are all human beings. Recent political debates indicate that it is not a tradition that has gone unchallenged: in fact, the opposition is as old as the tradition itself.
By distinguishing between philosophy and ideology, by recalling the historical adventures of natural law, and by reviewing the theoretical problems involved in the doctrine, Simon clarifies much of the confusion surrounding this perennial debate. He tackles the questions raised by the application of natural law with skill and honesty as he faces the difficulties of the subject.
Simon warns against undue optimism in a revival of interest in natural law and insists that the study of natural law beings with the analysis of “the law of the land.” He writes not as a polemicist but as a philosopher, and he writes of natural law with the same force, conciseness, lucidity and simplicity which have distinguished all his other works.

Beyond Test Scores: Measuring the Contributions of Catholic Schools and Universities
2021-01-19 11:00
Join us on February 16 for the next event in this series, “Learning Poverty and Education Pluralism: The Global Catholic Education Report 2021.”
Catholic schools and universities aim to educate the whole person. Beyond strong academics, they aim to educate towards fraternal humanism. Do we have any evidence that they succeed? Based on recent research for the United States conducted under the new collaborative Global Catholic Education project (www.GlobalCatholicEducation.org), including a set of papers prepared for a special issue of the Journal of Catholic Education, this webinar will explore this question. Topics to be considered include (1) whether parents sending children to Catholic schools have different priorities for what children should learn in school than other parents; (2) whether students in Catholic schools exhibit self-discipline; (3) whether different stakeholders have different worldviews for Catholic schools; (4) whether there is less violence in Catholic schools than in other schools; (5) whether going to Catholic schools is associated with particular patterns of family formation later in life; and (6) more generally, what is meant by a Catholic identity. While the discussion will focus in large part on schools, implications for Catholic universities will also be discussed. After a presentation summarizing findings from recent research, panelists will share their views on how Catholic schools and universities could rely on these and other research findings to improve the education they provide “beyond test scores”.
Free and open to the public. The event will be held online over Zoom and will be livestreamed on YouTube. This event is organized with the Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization (CREDO), Global Catholic Education, Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education (GRACE), the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU), the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA), and the International Office of Catholic Education (OIEC). This event is cosponsored by America Media, and the Roche Center for Catholic Education.
Presentation:
Quentin Wodon, International Office of Catholic Education
Discussants:
Annie Smith, Director of Research and Data Management, National Catholic Education Association
Andrew Miller, Assistant Professor, Boston College
Timothy Uhl, Superintendent, Montana Catholic Schools

What it Means to be Human
2021-01-28 20:00
This symposium is hosted by Sheil Catholic Ministries serving the Chicago Campus. This event is co-sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute, the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago, the Catholic Physician’s Guild of Chicago, the Christian Legal Society, CMA Student Section at Feinberg School of Medicine, the St. Thomas More Society, and Catholics at Kellogg.
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The First Annual Feeney Symposium
What it Means to Be Human
Followed by A Faith-Informed Professional Response by Northwestern Scholars
Keynote
O. Carter Snead will propose a new paradigm for what it means to be human. Professor Snead is William P. and Hazel B. White Director of the Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, Professor of Law, and Concurrent Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. He is a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, the principal bioethics advisory body to Pope Francis, and a Fellow of the Hastings Center.
Panel
This symposium engages three scholars from Northwestern’s professional schools in a response to O.Carter Snead’s new paradigm to public bioethics:

Dean Emeritus Daniel Rodriguez, Pritzker School of Law
Harry Kraemer, Kellogg School of Management
Mary Keen, MD, Northwestern Medicine, Feinberg Alumna, president, CMA Chicago

The panel will be moderated by Rita Gitchell. The symposium facilitator is Carol Leitch Miller Dotson.

Inner Wholeness Beyond Isolation, Shame, and Despair
2021-02-04 20:00 - 22:00
This event is presented by the Veritas Forum at the University of Chicago and co-sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute, the University Bible Fellowship, Christ Church Chicago, Living Hope Church, Vineyard Church Hyde Park, CRU, Poema, the Christian Legal Society, InterVarsity, UChicago Lutheran Campus Ministry, and Brent House.
The isolation of the pandemic has only obscured and amplified the issue of mental health across US college campuses. In marshaling resources to find wholeness and combat isolation, shame, and despair, are students limited to the expertise of mental health experts? Does the wisdom of religious traditions have anything to contribute? Are these in conflict? Join for a discussion on neuroscience, psychology, and spiritual practices with psychiatrist and author Dr. Curt Thompson and Professor Miwa Yasui, moderated by Rev. Cynthia Lindner.

Humanism as an Educational Ideal
2021-02-06 16:00
The ideal of educating the total human person – the project that took on the name “humanism” – became a widespread norm for education in the Christian world of early modern Europe, whence it spread to North and South America. This humanist ideal has competed for influence with other educational ideals, most especially with those pursued by universities. Fr. John O’Malley examines the sources of the humanistic style of learning, the place of that style in Catholic culture, and, more broadly, in the world in which we live. He examines the courses of study that came to characterize it, how humanism has developed and adapted over time, and what may be its prospects in the future.
This event is co-presented with the Harvard Catholic Forum, and co-sponsored by the Saint Benedict Institute, the Collegium Institute, the Nova Forum, the Institute for Faith and Culture, the St. Paul’s Catholic University Center, and the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.

Pledges of the Saints: The Cult of Relics in the Catholic Tradition
2021-02-13 11:00
This event is co-presented with the Bollandist Society. This event is co-sponsored by America Media, the Collegium Institute, the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, the Nova Forum, the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC, the Saint Benedict Institute, and the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage.
The physical remains of saints are often referred to as pignora, that is, as security deposits or pledges of the continued concern that the saints, although in heaven, continue to show for those who venerate them. In this lecture will discuss the origin of the cult of relics, the process by which these cults, originally concentrated on the tombs of saints, became mobile, and how the veneration of saints led to the dismemberment of saints’ bodies and the distribution of relics throughout Christendom. It will also consider the resulting anxieties about relics’ authenticity, the efforts to control and regulate the cult of relics, and the competition that relics have received from other types of sacred or sanctified objects.

Learning Poverty and Education Pluralism: The Global Catholic Education Report 2021
2021-02-16 11:00
Catholic schools serve close to 62 million students globally at the preschool, primary, and secondary levels, with in addition more than 6 million students enrolled at the post-secondary level. By managing the largest non-governmental network of schools and universities in the world, the Catholic Church plays an important role in efforts to achieve SDG4, especially in low-income countries. In 2020, OIEC released the first Global Catholic Education Report. The second edition of the report for 2021 under the new collaborative Global Catholic Education project (www.GlobalCatholicEducation.org) focuses on learning poverty, education pluralism, and the implications of the COVID-19 Crisis. The report explores the impact of the crisis on educational attainment and learning across countries, as well as the issue of education pluralism, suggesting that education pluralism should be taken into account when considering state support for nonprofit faith-based schools and universities. The report also discusses regulatory framework for Catholic schools and universities, as well as interventions that could improve educational outcomes. Finally, the report includes an updated statistical annex on enrollment trends in Catholic schools and universities in more than 100 countries. After a presentation summarizing the main findings from the Global Catholic Education Report 2021, panelists will share their views on how Catholic schools and universities globally could improve the education they provide and confront some of the most pressing challenges they face.
Free and open to the public. The event will be held online over Zoom and will be livestreamed on YouTube. This event is organized with the Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization (CREDO), Global Catholic Education, Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education (GRACE), the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU), the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), and the International Office of Catholic Education (OIEC). This event is cosponsored by America Media, and the Roche Center for Catholic Education.
Presentation:
Quentin Wodon, International Office of Catholic Education
Discussants:
François Mabille, Secretary General, International Federation of Catholic Universities
Augusta Muthigani, National Executive Secretary, Commission for Education and Religious Education, Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops
Halsey Rogers, Lead Economist, World Bank, Washington, DC

Miracles: Source of Truth or Violation of Natural Law?
2021-02-18 19:30
From the beginning, Christian faith has been founded on the evidence of miracles: the Incarnation, the Resurrection, the signs and wonders worked by Jesus, the workings of the Holy Spirit in the Church. But miracles, especially those claimed to have happened after New Testament times, have provoked unease and skepticism, even among Christians. Enlightenment rationalism tended to argue them away completely. Professor Johnson asks: what place do miracles have in the Biblical vision? And how should we understand them today?
This event is co-presented with the Harvard Catholic Forum, as their Daniel Harrington SJ Memorial Lecture. This event is co-sponsored by the Saint Benedict Institute, the Nova Forum, the Institute for Faith and Culture, the St. Paul’s Catholic University Center, St. Peter Parish (Cambridge, MA), Catholic Parishes of Arlington, MA, and the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.

Medical Ethics, Science Fiction, and What it Means to be Human
2021-02-20 10:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum. Open to current high school students. This event is cosponsored by the University of Saint Mary of the Lake at Mundelein Seminary, the Archdiocese of Chicago Vocation Office, and Duc in Altum schools collaborative.
In a world of genetic engineering, what does it mean to be human? Do rapid medical advancements tempt us to ‘play God’?
What if you could implant a device that would improve your memory? Would you do it? Should you do it? Should you be allowed to take the ACT with a “memory prosthesis?”
Should insurance companies be able to analyze your genetic code and offer you different rates based on when they predict you will die? Or even deny you insurance altogether?
How can we tally up the moral and ethical implications of medical advances when they’re moving so fast, they seem to come straight out of science fiction novels?
Join us on Saturday, February 20th for a half-day, online conference, “Medical Ethics, Science Fiction, and What it Means to be Human.” Professor Jeffrey Bishop (SLU) will guide us through the philosophical and theological problems connected to technological advancement. Professor Michael Murphy (Loyola Chicago) will show us how science fiction can help us think about ethical issues from a creative perspective.
While it may seem strange, the Catholic Church’s intellectual tradition may give us the resources we need to think about what we should do when technological advance has offered us the opportunity to “be as Gods” (Genesis 3:5).
Cost is $15 per participant. Scholarships are available. Group discount (flat rate of $100) for groups of 7+ student participants! Group leaders are invited to be discussion group leaders, if they so choose. Duc in Altum affiliates receive an additional discount. Please contact Austin (awalker@lumenchristi.org) or Madison (mchastain@lumenchristi.org) for more information on large group procedures.
Schedule:
9:00am — Welcome & Prayer
9:10am — 1st Lecture (35 minutes)
9:50am — 1st Q&A (15 minutes)
10:05am — short break
10:15am — 2nd Lecture
10:55am — 2nd Q&A
11:10am — Discussion Group (35/40 mins, w/time for break built in)
12:00pm — Final Panel w/both Lecturers
12:20pm — Closing Prayer (10 minutes)
We will introduce the prompts for our Spring Essay Contest at the conclusion of the conference!

The Impact of Asteroids
2021-02-24 13:30
This event is presented by the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame as part of The Steno Lectures; Discussions at the Intersection of Faith and Science and co-sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute, the Society of Catholic Scientists, and the Harvard Catholic Forum.
As the human race increasingly covers planet Earth, we are providing an ever-growing target for the regular impacts of near-Earth objects. What are the odds that impactors from space will do major damage to human life on Earth? What’s the underlying science? And what are the larger implications for our place in the universe?

Conversion and the Rehabilitation of the Penal System
2021-03-04 20:00
This event is co-sponsored by the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago, the Boston College Law School, the University of St. Thomas School of Law, Kolbe House Jail Ministry, St. Paul’s Catholic University Center, the Collegium Institute’s Legal Humanities Project, the National Center for the Laity, America Media, and Oxford University Press.
There is growing bipartisan awareness of the need to reform the American criminal justice system. Solutions have been sought for over-criminalization, over-incarceration, and the disproportionate effect of the system upon minority communities. Many have observed a difference between European models of criminal justice, such as that in Germany, and the unique harshness of their American counterpart.
Yet the answer to the ongoing crisis may lie beyond mere policy changes. Professor Andrew Skotnicki of Manhattan College argues that the problems inherent to our criminal justice system are rooted in misguided theology and anthropology. Join Professor Skotnicki and Cecelia Klingele (University of Wisconsin Law School) for their discussion of Skotnicki’s book, Conversion and the Rehabilitation of the Penal System (Oxford University Press, 2019), moderated by Cook County Judge Tom Donnelly. They will consider the origins of the current criminal justice system, the challenges that it faces, and the resources from the Catholic tradition that may offer a way forward.
This event is part of the Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network, a new initiative of the Lumen Christi Institute.

Spirituality and the Saints
2021-03-13 11:00
This event is co-presented with the Bollandist Society and co-sponsored by America Media, the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC, the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage, and the Harvard Catholic Forum.
In this presentation, Fr. Mark Rotsaert will look to sanctity as a gift of the Spirit and reflect on the different ways one can become a saint and the universal call to holiness according to Pope Francis’ exhortation Gaudete et exsultate. Do saints have a specific kind of spirituality? Is sanctity the same as perfection? Are the saints perfect?

Fragile Democracy: Technocratic Takeover and Popular Renewal
2021-03-20 10:00
This event is co-presented with the Nova Forum and co-sponsored by America Media, the Collegium Institute, the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago, and the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies.
We are experiencing a crisis of democracy more powerful than anything seen in a generation: inequality continues at a galloping pace; policing is increasingly racialized and militarized; political decision-making appears remote and divorced from the lives of ordinary people.
This panel discussion—including renowned philosopher Charles Taylor–will consider sources and solutions to the present crisis of democracy by drawing on two recent books: Reconstructing Democracy by Charles Taylor, Patrizia Nanz, and Madeleine Beaubien Taylor and We Built Reality by Jason Blakely.
Both works identify within our political and cultural crisis the loss of democratic participation and the rise of top-down technocratic, managerial rule.

Themes in Catholic Social Thought: Three Necessary Societies
2021-03-26 13:00 - 15:00
Open to current graduate students. This master class will take place online on Zoom. Copies of the readings will be provided. Others interested in participating should contact us.
The modern social magisterium, which emerged during the pontificate of Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903), held that the dignity of human society exemplified in three necessary societies. By nature or grace, human beings are domestic (marriage-family), political, and ecclesial animals. Each has an origin in some kind of necessity, but the necessities are paths to human excellence and happiness. In the first master class we will consider the political and documentary history of the teachings on the origin and interrelation of these societies. In the second master class we will look carefully at the deeper ontology of social order.
Join us on April 23 for a follow-up master class to this topic on “Society as Sacrament.”

A Good Man is Hard to Find: St. Joseph in Art
2021-03-27 15:00
This event is co-presented with the Harvard Catholic Forum and co-sponsored by the Saint Benedict Institute, the Nova Forum, the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, the Ars Vivendi Arts Initiative of the Collegium Institute, the St. Paul’s Catholic Center, the St. Lawrence Institute for Faith and Culture, and the New England Chapter of the Patron of the Arts Vatican Museums.
St. Joseph was an unassuming latecomer to the history of art, but once discovered, his images evolved rapidly to serve the Catholic Church during challenging times. From model for the papacy, to symbol of marriage and fatherhood, to guide for a good death and advocate for the worker, St Joseph’s many guises have made him one of the Church’s greatest spiritual treasures. Following Pope Francis’ dedication of 2021 to St. Joseph, this talk will look at Giotto, Raphael, Murillo and others as we uncover the many faces of this quiet saint.

How to be a Corinthian
2021-03-30 19:00
This event is cosponsored by Calvert House Catholic Center.
The first recipients of St. Paul’s letters did not keep their letters to themselves; as part of the organic life of the Church that Catholics call “Tradition,” the letters of Paul were collected together and incorporated into the New Testament. One amazing consequence of this Tradition at work is that everyone who reads these letters, regardless of time or place, becomes a Corinthian, or a Roman, or an Ephesian, thanks to the unifying power of the Holy Spirit. This conference will reflect on how the early Church received these letters, and highlight specific texts that reveal how the voice of St. Paul still reaches us, both individuals and the Body of Christ collectively, today.

The Origins of Mass Incarceration: The Courts and the 1960s Criminal Procedure Revolution?
2021-04-08 19:00
This event is co-sponsored by Georgetown University Law Center, Notre Dame Law School, Boston College Law School, the University of St. Thomas School of Law, the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago, Catholic Prison Ministry Coalition, Kolbe House Jail Ministry, Seattle University, the Seattle University Crime and Justice Research Center, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage, Fordham University School of Law, the Institute on Religion, Law and Lawyer’s Work at Fordham University School of Law, The Center on Race, Law, and Justice (Fordham University School of Law), the University of Denver College of Law Federalist Society, and the University of Colorado Federalist Society

American principles of justice and equality lead our culture to value the criminal trial as a fair hearing for the accused and vindication for the victims of crime. But the reality of the U.S. justice system falls far short of this ideal, making criminal trials the rare exception amidst a wave of plea bargains. When trials do take place, judges are often forced to impose mandatory sentences that do not fit the unique context of a given case.
Join Judge Stephanos Bibas from the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, and author of The Machinery of Criminal Justice (Oxford University Press, 2015), and Professor William Pizzi, as they discuss Pizzi’s new book, The Supreme Court’s Role in Mass Incarceration (Routledge, 2020). Pizzi provocatively argues that the Supreme Court’s attempts to expand defendants’ rights in the 20th century unexpectedly led to the mass incarceration crisis today. He points to Canada as a beacon of hope, where an unelected, professional judiciary customizes sentences to fit the actual case. Unlike American courts, where judges are forced by repeat-offender laws to sentence defendants to decades for a minor offense, Canada’s judiciary freely metes out proportionate sentencing.
The discussion will be moderated by Cook County Judge Tom Donnelly.
This event is part of the Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network, a new initiative of the Lumen Christi Institute.

The Eucharist in Art: Visualizing Mystery
2021-04-10 15:00
Free and open to the public. This event will be held online through Zoom (registration required) and live-streamed to YouTube. This event is co-presented with the Harvard Catholic Forum and co-sponsored by the Saint Benedict Institute, the Nova Forum, the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, the Ars Vivendi Arts Initiative of the Collegium Institute, the St. Paul’s Catholic Center, the St. Lawrence Institute for Faith and Culture, and the New England Chapter of the Patron of the Arts Vatican Museums.
The 17th century Catholic Church found itself engaged in a battle over the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Most Protestant Reformers rejected the teaching of Transubstantiation, while an increasingly empirical culture grew doubtful that a piece of bread and a glass of wine could ever be more than mere matter. To return the gaze of the faithful to mystery, to assist congregations to see beyond the material, the Catholic Church called upon the talent of Caravaggio. the Carracci School and other great artists, who produced works that still delight, teach and move people today. This talk will look at old masterpieces with new eyes, revealing how artists used their gifts to render the invisible, visible.

Teaching Catholic Doctrine en Español
2021-04-13 19:00
This event is part of a webinar series on Hispanic Theology. This event and series is made possible by a generous grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
Language matters, and it matters much when sharing the best of our faith convictions with one another. Without language there is no communication, understanding or community. Sharing faith in the United States of America in an increasingly Hispanic church demands that we take questions associated with language seriously. Nearly fifteen million Catholics in the U.S. are Spanish-speaking immigrants. Many are raising their children “in Spanish.” Even though the vast majority of Hispanics are U.S. born and English-speaking, Spanish constantly shapes their cultural and religious imagination. In this presentation, we will reflect on the intersectionality of language, culture and religious identity among U.S. Hispanic Catholics at the time of sharing the faith and reflect theologically. To teach Catholic doctrine “en español,” literally or metaphorically, is an invitation to embrace the many creative ways in which God calls us to be church in the twenty-first century.

Pierre Manent on Natural Law and Human Rights
2021-04-16 13:00 - 16:00
This event is cosponsored by University of Notre Dame Press and the de Nicola Center for Ethics & Culture.
Shortly after the promulgation of the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, Jacques Maritain wrote, “With regard to Human Rights, what matters most to a philosopher is the question of their rational foundations. The philosophical foundation of the Rights of man is Natural Law. Sorry that we cannot find another word!” In his recent book Natural Law and Human Rights: Toward a Recovery of Practical Reason (Notre Dame Press, 2020), leading Catholic political philosopher Pierre Manent takes a different and decidedly more critical approach to the relationship between natural law and human rights.
Manent argues that the project of human rights is inextricably tied to an erroneous modern understanding of human beings as naturally isolated and apolitical individuals. He tries to show that this impoverished understanding of human nature, and thus human rights as its offspring, distorts our self-understanding and saps the intelligibility of law, natural or otherwise, as well as the fecundity of human action. As part of a solution to these difficulties, he concludes the book with a novel approach to natural law thinking that he proposes as a way of recovering the dignity of practical reason and moral action. While this book represents Manent’s first extended treatment of natural law, he examines these issues through the same tripartite lens of politics, philosophy, and religion that he has developed in his earlier publications.
In this master class, we will situate Manent’s book on natural law within the wider context of his work as a whole, and we will then discuss his arguments concerning natural law and human rights in some detail, with due sensitivity to his method of integrating insights from politics, philosophy, and religion. Finally, we will attempt to see Manent’s book as part of a conversation between prominent Catholic and secular political philosophers.

Ambrose and Augustine on Christian Holiness
2021-04-17 14:00
Free and open to the public. This event was held online through Zoom and live-streamed to YouTube. This event was co-presented with the Bollandist Society.
While Saints Ambrose and Augustine never define Christian holiness, this was the pursuit that fueled all of their writings, all of their sermons, and directed their everyday lives. By examining the writings of these two pillars of the Western Church, today’s talk seeks to show how Ambrose and Augustine understood holiness and what that might mean for our lives today.
