Lumen Christi Institute

Newman Forum Summer Institute | Encountering Transcendence: Truth, Beauty, and Goodness in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition
2025-08-06 - 2025-08-10 | IL
APPLY HERE
Registration for the Newman Forum Summer Institute is currently full. All new applications will be placed on a waitlist.
Registration Deadline: June 15th, 2025 | $450
Attendance Fee: EXTENDED to May 22nd, Early Bird Registration | $250
This project was made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors.
Cosponsored by the Archdiocese of Chicago Vocations Office and The University of Saint Mary of the Lake at Mundelein Seminary.

“Wherefore if the goodness, beauty, and sweetness of creatures are so alluring to the minds of men, the fountainhead of the goodness of God Himself, in comparison with the rivulets of goodness which we find in creatures, will draw the entranced minds of men wholly to itself.”
-Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, II.2.3.
“A test of what is real is that it is hard and rough. Joys are found in it, not pleasure. What is pleasant belongs to dreams.”

–Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace
What is Real? Where might we look to find it? And if we do find it, what will it be like to experience it?
In this 5-Day Summer Institute, high school students are introduced to college-level philosophy and theology through an investigation of the three “transcendentals” (truth, goodness, and beauty). Notre Dame professors Jay and Jennifer Newsome Martin will lead students through a discussion of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Bonaventure, Aquinas, Newman, Ratzinger, von Balthasar, and relevant biblical texts. Throughout, we will investigate the role Truth, Goodness, and Beauty play in the life of the Christian.
We balance academic excellence with spiritual formation. Students learn how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours together, attend Daily Mass, and reflect on the vocation to which God is calling us. We also balance work and play. Mornings are for lectures and discussion; afternoons and evenings for excursions including an art tour and workshop at St. Gregory’s in Andersonville
Draft itinerary may be found HERE.
Testimonies
“I now have an entire community backing me up, and I feel empowered to set forth into college strong in my Faith and bring it into my everyday life.”
“Even if I don’t know exactly where I am on my pilgrimage, I know that I’m on my way to Christ.”
“Lumen Christi’s Newman Forum has created and developed a program that we wish every Catholic high school student could attend, not only to help begin them on their own intellectual and spiritual journeys, but also to have a staggering amount of fun, too. The thoughtful balance of intellectual, spiritual, and social activities in the gorgeous natural setting of the Mundelein Seminary campus made this event the highlight of our son’s year…”
-Jenny and Jay Martin, Professors of Theology at Notre Dame (and high school parents!)

Vocation of the Catholic Scholar
2025-08-10 - 2025-08-15 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
The Vocation of the Catholic Scholar seminar was catalyzed by LCI’s Postdoctoral Fellows Program in Catholic Studies, which launched this fall. For the inaugural cohort of fellows, the institute was only able to accept two out of a pool of nearly seventy, highly-qualified candidates. This week-long seminar was born out of the interest of so many talented young Catholic scholars, seeking intellectual community and greater connection with the Church’s rich tradition. The seminar made it possible to bring an additional eleven of these young scholars for a week of formation, friendship, and discussion about the meaning of the role in the Church to which God has called them.
Each morning, Fr. Stephen Fields, SJ (Georgetown University) led a conversation on the seminar’s primary text: St. John Henry Newman’s The Idea of a University. Each afternoon, senior scholars shared their own reflections on research and teaching in the university in the light of their faith. They encouraged seminar participants to consider how the Catholic tradition enriches the scholarly vocation.

"In the One, we are One": Christian Unity and the City of God - Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Sources of Pope Leo XIV | West Suburban Catholic Culture Series
2025-09-10 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Ruth Lake Country Club, 6200 South Madison Street, Hinsdale, IL
The West Suburban Catholic Culture Series

Ever Ancient, Ever New:
The Sources of Pope Leo XIV
REGISTER HERE

September 10th:
“In the One, we are One”: Christian Unity and the City of God
Schedule: 6:30 p.m. Drinks | 7:00 p.m. Dinner, Lecture, & Q&A | 8:30 p.m. End
LECTURE DESCRIPTION
In the City of God, Augustine eloquently speaks about “two cities” that are divided by their two loves. In God’s city, there are angels and humans united in their love of God. In the earthly city, there are demons and humans united in their devotion to their own wills. For Augustine, the city of God on earth is the Church, but in this life it is a church which intermingles citizens of the two cities. It is a church on pilgrimage which longs to be fully united and secure with the heavenly city of God. But even now, in the Eucharist and in the miraculous intercession of the saints, the Church can achieve a foretaste of the unity it will experience in heaven.

(Business casual attire encouraged. For questions, please email Margaux (Killackey) Taffet at mkillackey@lumenchristi.org).

SERIES DESCRIPTION
Since the election of Pope Leo XIV on May 8, 2025, Catholics and non-Catholics alike have wondered what kind of a Pope he would be. Perhaps the best perspective on that question may be found in two of his most consequential decisions, both of which were highlighted in his first remarks from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
First, at the age of 22, Robert Prevost entered the Augustinian order. As “a son of St. Augustine,” he is guided by the spirituality of that great 5th century Western Doctor of the Church whose thought has shaped Catholic doctrine and philosophy since that time. Augustine lived in a time of intense political upheaval as the mighty Western Roman Empire was falling. Old things of seemingly invincible splendor were collapsing. And the new thing of Christianity was transforming the world at an astonishing pace.
Secondly, in choosing the name Leo, our new Pontiff consciously placed himself in the line of several consequential popes of that name. The most recent, Leo XIII, Pope from 1878 through 1903, is celebrated for his seminal writings on contemporary Catholic social doctrine. The best known of these, Rerum Novarum, references the “new things” facing the Church and the world in the wake of decades of technological, political, intellectual and religious revolution.
The new Pope’s first remarks following his election hinted at the trajectory of his papacy by tapping into two deep wells of patristic and papal teaching. In this, the sixth season of the West Suburban Catholic Culture Series, our speakers will explore some of the most significant writings of St. Augustine and Pope Leo XIII in light of the influence they may have on the new Pope’s priorities. Like both of these men, this Pope faces a time of roiling social change. Like them, he faces a world in which old things are passing and new things are afoot. These sources may help us understand how Pope Leo seeks to carry the Church forward in a world such as ours.

CALENDAR
September 10: “In the One, we are One”: Christian Unity and the City of God
Jared Ortiz (Van Kley Professor of Religion and Department Chair, Hope College; Founder and Executive Director, St. Benedict Institute at Hope College)
October 15: Our Hearts are Restless: Augustine’s Confessions and Modern Anxiety
Scott Moringiello (Associate Professor in Catholic Studies, DePaul University; Scholar-in-Residence at St. Gregory Hall)
November 12: Unless You Believe, You Will Not Understand: Augustine’s Theory of Education
Erika Kidd (Associate Professor, Catholic Studies, University of St. Thomas)
March 18, 2026: On New Things: Rerum Novarum and the Foundations of Catholic Social Thought
Speaker To Be Announced
April 15, 2026: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a Mustard Seed: Development in Catholic Social Thought
Speaker To Be Announced
May 13, 2026: The Gospel’s Response to the “Fatigue of Living”
Speaker To Be Announced

A Spiritual Manual for the Technological Age: A Discussion of Paul Kingsnorth's Against the Machine
2025-09-25 17:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | University Club of Chicago, 76 E Monroe St Chicago, IL 60603, Downtown, IL
This event is full. You can register for the livestream below. To inquire about the waiting list for the in-person event, please email Margaux (Killackey) Taffet: mtaffet@lumenchristi.org.

“A Spiritual Manual for the Technological Age” is the Lumen Christi Institute’s 2025 Kolber Lecture.

REGISTER HERE (Online Only)
5:00 Cocktail and Hors d’Oeuvres | 6:00 Dialogue and Q&A | 7:30 End
“Our culture is not in danger of dying; it is already dead, and we are in denial. This, now, is the reality we have to wrestle with—and transcend.”
We all experience how the rapid advance of technology, especially AI, has affected the way we live, think, and experience the world. But has it also changed who we are? In his new book, Against the Machine: on the Unmaking of Humanity, Paul Kingsnorth explores the consequences of hyper-technologized society. With the deftness of an essayist who is also a poet, Kingsnorth takes us through the historical and theological roots of post-Industrial Revolution advancement. He ultimately suggests that the dangers we face have a spiritual cause, and spiritual consequences. “If you knock out the pillars of a sacred order,” he writes, “the universe itself will change shape.” This technological reshaping will lead man to become the machine—unless we can learn to transcend it.
Paul Kingsnorth is a poet, novelist, and essayist. He wrote his first book after traveling around the world to study the effects of globalization on culture; since then, he has written five other works of nonfiction, three novels, two collections of poetry, and has contributed essays to numerous journals, including First Things, The Guardian, London Review of Books, and The Ecologist. He also writes a popular Substack, “The Abbey of Misrule,” with a following of over 70,000 subscribers. Kingsnorth resides in Ireland with his family.
We at the Lumen Christi Institute are excited to host Paul Kingsnorth at the University Club as he takes his book tour for Against the Machine. The evening will begin at 5:00pm with cocktails and appetizers. At 6:00pm, Kingsnorth will bring us into the major themes of his book in dialogue with another great contemporary poet and cultural critic, James Matthew Wilson, followed by an audience Q&A, and a book signing. You may pre-order a signed copy of the book when you register.
Registration for the livestream will go live on September 1st.

The Part The Muses Give Us
2025-09-26 12:00 - 17:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
(Note: The schedule below has been pushed back)
Lunch 12:00 | Master Class 1:00-4:30 | Wine & Cheese 4:30-5:30
This master class is intended for graduate and advanced undergraduate students. Others interested in attending should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org for more details.
The nature, form, and purpose of poetry was called radically into question in the last century, and yet even now this art form remains a paradigm for what it means to make for the sake of beauty.
In this master class, we will consider an account of poetry grounded in the four essential M’s (making, memory, metaphor, and meter) to see what it discloses about the function of the art in general. We shall then study and savor a handful of poems that bring particular clarity to each of these essential qualities. Preparation includes reading the final chapter of The Fortunes of Poetry in an Age of Unmaking; a small anthology of poems will be distributed for consideration during the class itself.
Participants will receive a copy of The Fortunes of Poetry in an Age of Unmaking.

Welcome Back Ice Cream Social With Pizza
2025-10-01 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTRATION BELOW
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Open to all students at the University of Chicago. This event is co-sponsored by Calvert House.
Welcome back! As school starts up again, the Lumen Christi Institute and Calvert House would like to invite all students to a welcome back social. Meet other Catholics and friends of LCI to kick off the year! Pizza and an ice cream bar will be available. All students are welcome. Grad students are invited to bring spouses and children.
For those bringing a spouse and/or children, please DO NOT include them in “Persons registering.” Please mark them in the field called “How many children/spouse will attend with you? (If applicable).”

The Works and Legacy of St. Augustine
2025-10-07 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-10-14 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-10-21 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-10-28 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-11-04 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-11-11 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-11-18 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
6:00 Dinner | 6:30 Lecture (last 20 Q & A) | 7:30 End
This event is designated for current University of Chicago graduate and undergraduate students. University of Chicago faculty and staff are also welcome to attend. Others interested in auditing should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org.
In his first public address, Pope Leo XIV declared himself “a son of St. Augustine, who once said, ‘With you I am a Christian, and for you I am a bishop.’” This moment served as an ode to the Augustinian order, of which he is a member, and marked St. Augustine as a central influence to his papacy.
In order to understand Pope Leo XIV, we must return to St. Augustine.
St. Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354–430) was a North African bishop and theologian whose writings, like The Confessions and The City of God, shaped Christian thought. After a life of searching and struggling with what is true, he embraced the Christian faith. His philosophy ultimately centers on the idea of the restless soul finding rest in God.
Join us as we survey one of the most prominent theologians in the history of Christianity and explore his enduring legacy on the Church today.

Schedule:
Oct 7 – Week 1: City of God pt 1
Willemien Otten (Dorothy Grant Maclear Professor of Theology and the History of Christianity; also in the College; Associate Faculty in the Department of History, Social Sciences Division, The University of Chicago)
The City of God is a major historical-theological work that gives both a macrohistory of the world but also a microhistory of Adam and Eve folded within it. The first two sessions of the class will deal respectively with the dynamics of the macro- and the microhistorical view.
To focus on City of God, books 1, 5 and 11-13. See also the article by James Wetzel, “Augustine on the Origin of Evil: Myth and Metaphysics.”
Oct 14 – Week 2: City of God pt 2
Willemien Otten
The City of God is a major historical-theological work that gives both a macrohistory of the world but also a microhistory of Adam and Eve folded within it. The first two sessions of the class will deal respectively with the dynamics of the macro- and the microhistorical view.
To focus on City of God, books 14-15 and 19. See also the article by Willemien Otten, “Between Exegesis and Naturalization: Gender and Creation in Augustine.”
Oct 21 – Week 3: Confessions
Ryan Coyne (Associate Professor of the Philosophy of Religions and Theology; also in the College, The University of Chicago)
Oct 28 – Week 4: On The Trinity
Bernard McGinn (Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology and of the History of Christianity in the Divinity School and the Committees on Medieval Studies and on General Studies, The University of Chicago)
Augustine’s “De Trinitate” is one of his longer and most difficult writings. The book makes three significant contributions to Christian theology of the Trinity: (1) sorting out the biblical basis for the Trinity; (2) establishing a “grammar” of correct speaking about the doctrine, and (3) exploring the inner appropriation of the Trinity into the life of the believer.
Nov 4 – Week 5: On Christian Teaching
Scott Moringiello (Chair of the Department of Catholic Studies, Associate Professor, DePaul University)
Augustine’s On Christian Teaching (De Doctrina Christiana) is in some ways an overlooked classic. But this book gets to the heart of Augustine’s theological vision. In explaining the proper way to interpret the Scriptures and to preach Augustine offers a vision of how to do theology. If you read the Scriptures, and love does not increase in you, you’re misreading them.
Nov 11 – Week 6: Augustine and the Sociology of the Self
Cassandra Sever (Postdoctoral Fellow, The Lumen Christi Institute)
What if the key to understanding today’s cultural crises is hidden in an ancient vision of the self? This lecture explores Augustine’s idea of the self as ordered to the sacred and meaning-seeking—and shows how this vision can illuminate the sociology of who we are, what we long for, and the fractures of the contemporary world.
Nov 18 – Week 7: History of the Augustinian Order
Fr. Peter Funk, O.S.B. (Prior of the Monastery of the Holy Cross)

The Vice of Curiosity
2025-10-13 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-10-20 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-10-27 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-11-03 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-11-10 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
6:00 – 7:30 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago graduate students. Other students interested in attending should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org. Students will receive a copy of the texts.
This project is made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors.
In our Information Age, we are constantly bombarded by a deluge of new knowledge, whether it be academic works, social media alerts, or 24/7 news blasts. In the academy in particular, we are taught from an early age that the ideal student is the one with insatiable curiosity – a never-ending appetite for knowledge in whatever guise it may come. And yet if we are honest, this ceaseless quest for total knowledge often leaves us more distracted and anxious than ever before. St. Augustine would have a surprising diagnosis for our age – we suffer from the vice of curiositas, a kind of malformed appetite for knowledge that prizes novelty and control over the intrinsically true, good, and beautiful.
In the Vice of Curiosity and Intellectual Appetite, esteemed theologian Paul J. Griffiths outlines an Augustinian critique of the modern academy’s ways of knowing, including the history of how modernity turned curiosity from vice into virtue, a theological criticism of patent law, and analysis of why plagiarism is not in fact theft. In this five week reading group, we will dive into the thought of both St. Augustine and Griffiths as we seek to understand what a properly catechized intellectual appetite looks like and how we can rightly desire knowledge as students.
Schedule:

Oct 13 – Week 1: Introduction (Optional Reading, Intellectual Appetite: 9-18 of Introduction)
Oct 20 – Week 2: The Vice of Curiosity, p. 1-21 (Optional: I.A. p. 19-22 & 75-91)
Oct 27 – Week 3: V.C., p. 22-41 (Optional: I.A. p. 139-162)
Nov 3 – Week 4: V.C., p. 41-59 (Optional: I.A. p. 163-186)
Nov 10 – Week 5: V.C., p. 60-79 (Optional: I.A. p. 125-138)

Religion, Politics, and Revolution in The Ancient City
2025-10-15 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-10-29 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-11-12 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
6:00 p.m. Dinner | 6:15 p.m. Discussion | 7:30 p.m. End
This event is designated for current University of Chicago undergraduate students. All registrants will be provided with a free copy of the text.
This seminar and the Nicklin Fellows are made possible by the First Analysis Institute. This seminar is co-sponsored by the Seldon Institute and is made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors.
Description:
Nothing could be stranger than life in the cities of ancient Greece and Rome:

Property is private, but its sale is forbidden
Celibacy is illegal
Marriage ceremonies combine ritualized force and denunciation of ancestors
Politics is all-consuming

The more one looks at the ancient world, the odder it appears–until one realizes that ancient religion was the key to the social state.
The Ancient City is the great masterpiece of the 19th century French historian, Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges. By turning an incisive eye towards the primary sources of Ancient Greece and Rome, supplemented by comparisons to ancient Hindu texts, Coulanges reconstructed the basis of ancient Greek and Roman society. At the root of this society was ancient religion and the domestic cult. Only by understanding ancient religion could one begin to understand the nature of ancient law, property relations, and political organization.
Coulanges traced the origin and development of the ancient city, its transformation among various social and political revolutions, and its demise. Coulanges’ new approach to old things paved the way for 20th century developments in anthropology and the sociology of religion.
Join us as we read selections of The Ancient City and discuss Fustel’s theses about the beginnings of religion, the birth of political life, and the nature of human society.
Schedule:
Each session will have about 15 pages of assigned reading. An additional 30 pages of recommended reading are suggested as well.

Oct 15 – Week 1: The Family and the Domestic Cult
Oct 29 – Week 2: The City
Nov 12 – Week 3: Revolutions

Please click here for the syllabus with more detailed reading assignments. PDFs of readings for the first session can be found here.

Series Description:
Fundamental Questions Seminar
This event is part of Lumen Christi’s Fundamental Questions program, a quarterly seminar designed for undergraduate students at the University of Chicago. By fostering intellectually rigorous conversation around culturally resonant texts, we aim to allow students to experience the force of the deep existential concerns which animate our lives: “Where do my values come from? What is the good life? How can I become happy?” Our aim is not to answer such fundamental questions, but rather to equip students with the intellectual skills needed to recognize and articulate them for themselves. This group welcomes students from all religious and philosophical backgrounds because existential questions of being are of concern to all.
In addition, undergraduate students who participate in this seminar are eligible to become “Nicklin Fellows.” These fellows will have exclusive access to research and development grant funds to pursue their intellectual interests. Grants can be used to do things like the following:

Organize a reading group
Bring a speaker to campus
Organize a movie night
Develop and plan future fundamental questions seminars
Write a paper for a journal
And more!

Our Hearts Are Restless: Augustine’s Confessions and Modern Anxiety - Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Sources of Pope Leo XIV | West Suburban Catholic Culture Series
2025-10-15 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Ruth Lake Country Club, 6200 South Madison Street, Hinsdale, IL
The West Suburban Catholic Culture Series

Ever Ancient, Ever New:
The Sources of Pope Leo XIV
REGISTER HERE

October 15th:
Our Hearts Are Restless: Augustine’s Confessions and Modern Anxiety
Co-sponsored by St. Gregory’s Hall
Schedule: 6:30 p.m. Drinks | 7:00 p.m. Dinner, Lecture, & Q&A | 8:30 p.m. End
LECTURE DESCRIPTION
The twentieth century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein said that Augustine’s Confessions was possibly the most serious book ever written. There’s good reason to think he was right. In the book – equal parts memoir, prayer, philosophical treatise, and theological masterpiece – Augustine explores the nature of goodness, the puzzle of sin, and the necessity of friendship. He savors the love of God that is offered in Christ and his Church. He even realizes (as we all do eventually) that his mother was right all along.
In this lecture, Prof. Moringiello will introduce the Confessions, one of the greatest books in the Western canon, and one especially dear to Pope Leo’s heart. He will talk about his experience teaching it to undergraduates at Villanova University and DePaul University. And he will focus on how one of the most famous lines in the book — “our hearts are restless until the find rest in You, Lord” (1.1.5) – speaks to his students and to all of us who live in a world dominated by restlessness and who continually search for the rest that God’s love provides.
Business casual attire encouraged. For questions, or if you would like to request a comped ticket as a priest, religious, or high school teacher, please email Margaux (Killackey) Taffet at mtaffet@lumenchristi.org.

MacIntyre’s Dependent Rational Animals
2025-10-16 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-10-23 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-10-30 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-11-06 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-11-13 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-11-20 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
5:00-6:30 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for current University of Chicago graduate and undergraduate students. University of Chicago faculty and staff are also welcome to attend. Others interested in auditing should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org.
“What is ‘in your character’ (NOT ‘in your wallet’)?” Who is your guide to a happy, fulfilled life–Nietzsche or Aristotle? Given the ethical confusion, indeed meltdown, afflicting our society, who offers the most reliable “moral compass” to help us find our way?
This reading course will read and discuss Dependent Rational Animals by Alisdair MacIntyre. Drawing on Aristotle, MacIntyre describes our biologically rooted condition and the need to cultivate the virtues that take account of our shared human condition. Macintyre criticizes Aristotle’s ideal of the “great souled” man; he argues for the cultivation of virtues that acknowledge our inescapable dependence and inter-dependency.
A midlife convert from atheistic Marxism to Catholicism, MacIntyre is considered by many to be the most important moral philosopher of the past 50 years. He died in the spring of 2025, making a re-assessment of his life’s work all the more timely.
Copies of Dependent Rational Animals will be provided to all participants. Weekly meetings are held over dinner. Weekly reading assignments are kept at or below 40 pages.

SCHEDULE

Oct. 16 Introduction (readings available in class Google Folder)
Oct. 23 DRA, preface + chapters 1-4, pp. 1-41
Oct. 30 DRA, chapters 5-7, pp. 43-80.
Nov. 6 DRA, chapters 8-9, pp. 81-118.
Nov. 13 DRA, chapters 10-11, pp. 119-146
Nov. 20 DRA, chapter 12-13, pp. 147-166

The Silmarillion
2025-10-16 19:00 - 20:30, 2025-10-23 19:00 - 20:30, 2025-10-30 19:00 - 20:30, 2025-11-06 19:00 - 20:30, 2025-11-13 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
7:00 – 8:30 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago graduate students. Other students interested in attending should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org. Students will receive a copy of the texts.
Peter Thiel wants to live forever, and he’s cited the works of JRR Tolkien as a justification: “why can’t we be elves?” But a careful reader of Tolkien’s works, especially the cosmological and mythic stories in The Silmarillion, knows that the answer to that question is very complicated. In this group, we will discuss what Tolkien has to say about death, mortality, and suffering, along with his rich worldbuilding and epic tales.
Schedule:

Oct 16 – Week One (52 pages): Ainulindalë (pages 13-23), Quenta Silmarillion chapters 1-8 (pages 35-77)
Oct 23 – Week Two (52 pages): QS chapters 9-16 (78-130)
Oct 30 – Week Three (56 pages): QS chapters 17-19 (131-187)
Nov 6 – Week Four (49 pages): QS chapters 20-22 (188-237)
Nov 13 – Week Five (45 pages): QS chapters 23-24 (238-257), Akallabêth (257-283)

Greek New Testament
2025-10-17 10:00 - 11:00, 2026-01-23 10:00 - 11:00, 2026-01-30 10:00 - 11:00, 2026-02-06 10:00 - 11:00, 2026-02-13 10:00 - 11:00, 2026-02-20 10:00 - 11:00, 2026-02-27 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. | Refreshments Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago graduate and undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the texts.
“In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” This dramatic opening salvo of the Letter to the Hebrews, summarizing salvation history, is one of the most famous and consequential one-liners in the New Testament. But who is this Son? How is he “appointed heir of all things”? What is the relationship between God’s message through him and His message through the prophets? In this reading group, we will examine, through careful study of the Koine Greek text, how the Letter to the Hebrews answers these questions and more, with an eye to the authorship, audience, and genre of this mysterious text. All levels of Greek proficiency are encouraged to join. Advance preparation is recommended but not required.
Schedule:

Oct. 17: Introduction; Hebrews 1.1-4: God’s Son
Oct. 24: Hebrews 1.5-14: The Son’s Superiority to the Angels
Oct. 31: Hebrews 2.1-9,:The Son’s Abasement
Nov. 7: Hebrews 2.10-18: The Son, the Pioneer of Our Salvation
Nov. 14: Hebrews 3: The Son and Moses
Nov. 21: Hebrews 4.1-13: God’s Promised Rest

Jan. 23: Hebrews 4.14–5.14

Jan. 30: Hebrews 6.1–20

Feb. 6: Hebrews 7.1–22

Feb. 13: Hebrews 7.23–8.13

Feb. 20: Hebrews 9.1–14

Feb. 27: Hebrews 9.15–28

Doing Justice and Loving Mercy: A Michigan Conversation on Criminal Justice
2025-10-21 17:00 - 20:30 (America/Detroit) | Saint Mary Cathedral Parish Hall, 220 N Walnut St, Lansing, MI, 48933, United States
In partnership with the Diocese of Lansing and the Michigan Catholic Conference, the Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network is hosting an evening event entitled “Doing Justice and Loving Mercy: A Michigan Conversation on Criminal Justice.” Rooted in Catholic Social Teaching, this program brings together individuals actively working within the criminal justice system and those directly impacted by it–returning citizens and survivors of crime.

Registration Link

For more information, contact CCJRN@Lumenchristi.org

This event is intended for those working in or impacted by the criminal justice system.

A History of the Impossible: Carlos Eire on They Flew
2025-10-29 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Swift Hall 3rd Floor Lecture Hall, 1025 E 58th Street, Chicago, IL
REGISTER BELOW
5:30 Lecture | 6:20 Response | 6:45 Audience Q & A | 7:00 End
This event is open to the public, registration is required, please contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org for any questions.

This event is co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Divinity School and the Workshop on the Early Modern World.
Levitation. Bilocation. Witchcraft. Demonic Possession.
Europe in the early modern era was simultaneously the site of Kepler, Newton, Copernicus–and of eyewitness accounts of levitating saints and nocturnal witches’ sabbats.
In his history of the impossible, award-winning historian Carlos Eire mines the firsthand accounts and archival evidence of the miraculous and demonic. How did an increasingly skeptical and scientific culture account for events deemed impossible by its leading intellectuals? What does this say about the supposed boundaries between the natural and supernatural that marked the transition to modernity?
In this lecture, Carlos Eire will explore the major themes of They Flew and ask: what makes something impossible? And is there more to reality than meets the eye?
University of Chicago Divinity School professor Kirsten Macfarlane will offer a response and engage Eire in a conversation about They Flew. Audience Q&A will follow.

This project is made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors.

Magis Lecture | Why Do We Need Saints and Miracles?
2025-10-30 17:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Saint Ignatius College Prep, 1076 W Roosevelt Rd, Chicago, IL
REGISTER HERE
5:00 Mass | 5:30 Drinks & Hors d’Oeuvres | 6:30 Lecture | 7:30 Close
Cosponsored by the Bollandist Society, St. Ignatius College Prep. Supported by the Fr. Paul V. Mankowski, S.J., Memorial Fund for Jesuit Scholarship at Lumen Christi. This project is made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors.
Free and open to the public. Registration required. For questions, please contact Margaux (Killackey) Taffet mtaffet@lumenchristi.org.
Lecture Description
Two of the most significant features of Catholic Christianity are its focus on holy men and women and the miracles ascribed to them. What is it that makes saints and miracles so significant? What difference does this characteristic of Catholicism make, not just for its history, but for us, here and now? Asking such questions is absolutely necessary for Catholics, and in this talk we will explore why this is so. Please join the Lumen Christi Institute, the Bollandist Society, and St. Ignatius College Preparatory School for this lecture delivered by Yale scholar, Carlos Eire.
About the Magis Series
The Magis Series on Faith and Reason is a partnership between the Lumen Christi Institute, St. Ignatius College Prep, and Loyola Academy to bring accessible yet sophisticated lectures on the Church’s intellectual tradition to the broad lay public. The event is open to everyone from high school students to retirees. Anyone who desires a lively entrée into the mind of the Church is welcome and encouraged to attend; no affiliation with either high school is needed.

Faculty Colloquium on They Flew by Carlos Eire
2025-10-31 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago) | The Catholic Theological Union, 5416 S Cornell Ave, Chicago, IL, 60615, United States
This event is by invitation only. For more information contact Geoffrey Zokal gzokal@lumenchristi.org
The Lumen Christi Institute will host a faculty colloquium with Carlos Eire on his book They Flew: A History of the Impossible. Remarks will be given by Richard Kieckheffer (Northwestern University) and Barbara Newman (Northwestern University) with responses followed by Carlos Eire. The colloquium will be moderated by Father Andrew Summerson.

Augustine the Teacher – Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Sources of Pope Leo XIV | West Suburban Catholic Culture Series
2025-11-12 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Ruth Lake Country Club, 6200 South Madison Street, Hinsdale, IL
The West Suburban Catholic Culture Series

Ever Ancient, Ever New:
The Sources of Pope Leo XIV
REGISTER HERE

November 12th:
Augustine the Teacher
Schedule: 6:30 p.m. Drinks | 7:00 p.m. Dinner, Lecture, & Q&A | 8:30 p.m. End
LECTURE DESCRIPTION
Doctor of the Church, Saint Augustine of Hippo, has a lot to say about teaching. He writes memorably about the way his early teachers failed him, teaching him to love praise and worldly success. He writes too about the vocation of the teacher, a vocation he lived in many different ways as rhetorician, father, priest, and bishop. In his early work “On the Teacher” he insists teaching is not a matter of passing along information. Instead, he writes, true teaching is an invitation to attend to the voice of Christ. Join Dr. Erika Kidd to learn more about Augustine’s timeless teaching wisdom and its continued relevance today.
Business casual attire encouraged. For questions, or if you would like to request a comped ticket as a priest, religious, or high school teacher, please email Margaux (Killackey) Taffet at mtaffet@lumenchristi.org.

Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life
2025-11-14 18:00 - 21:30 (America/Chicago) | 5554 S. Woodlawn Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
REGISTER BELOW
6:00 – Dinner | 6:30 Film | 9:30 End
Please reach out to Graham Certain (gtcertain@uchicago.edu) with any questions.
Widely considered Terrence Malick’s masterpiece, The Tree of Life is a meditation on the transcendent order of creation and the place of man in it. The film tells the story of Jack O’Brien and his family as he grows up in 1950s suburban Texas, interwoven with scenes from his adulthood and from the dawn of the universe. It is a glimpse into how nature and grace, suffering and beauty, strife and love all come together in a cosmic whole which surpasses understanding.
The event will consist of dinner beginning at 6pm, some brief introductory remarks beginning at 6:30, the film itself immediately following, and a discussion to conclude. Runtime is 139m.
The movie screening will be held at the Woodlawn House, a Victorian mansion located at 5554 S Woodlawn Ave. It is the site of the Lumen Christi Institute’s residential student community.

Conversion in the Modern Church: The World, the Flesh, and the Devil
2025-11-15 17:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | The Monastery of the Holy Cross, 3111 South Aberdeen St. Chicago, IL 60608, Chicago, IL
REGISTER BELOW
This event is primarily designated for current University of Chicago students. This event is co-sponsored by the Calvert House. Please reach out to William Hurley (whurley@lumenchristi.org) with any questions.
Experience the silence, prayer, and chant with the monks at the Monastery of the Holy Cross. In addition to a taste of the contemplative life, join a conversation hosted by the Prior of the Monastery, Fr. Peter Funk. He will lead a discussion on “Conversion in the Modern World,” with a focus on “The World.”
Lumen Christi will coordinate rides to and from the monastery for those without transportation.
SCHEDULE:

5pm – Arrival
5:15pm – Vespers
6:00pm – Dinner (with reading)
6:20pm – Silent Prayer
6:40pm – Discussion
7:05pm – End Discussion
7:15pm – Compline
7:30pm – End

Virtual Masterclass: The Thought of John Henry Newman
2026-01-09 13:00 - 14:30 (America/Chicago) | IL
Recently canonized as the first English saint since the Reformation and declared the 38th Doctor of the Universal Church and Co-patron of Catholic Education (along with St. Thomas Aquinas), John Henry Newman (1801-1890) stands as the most important Catholic thinker between the Council of Trent of the sixteenth century and the second Vatican Council (1962-65).
Newman’s intellectual autobiography (Apologia pro Vita Sua), treatise on higher education (Idea of a University), theory of knowledge (Grammar of Assent), and major work of theology (Development of Doctrine) stand as classics in their genres. In addition, his prolific sermons cover both his Anglican career at Oxford and Catholic career in Birmingham.
We will discuss two sermons from his Anglican years, delivered as “University Sermons” on the relation between faith and reason. In them, Newman offers creative insights that deepen the classic Catholic position put forth by Aquinas.
This masterclass will provide a glimpse of the 2026 intensive summer seminar on Newman’s thought. A full syllabus of the masterclass can be found here.
The Zoom link will be distributed in advance of the seminar.
This program is restricted to graduate students from any university or discipline.
This program is part of the project “In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide” (Grant #63614) supported by the John Templeton Foundation.
For more information contact Geoffrey Zokal at gzokal@lumenchristi.org

The Miraculous and the Supernatural
2026-01-13 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-01-20 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-01-27 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-02-03 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-02-10 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
6:00 Dinner | 6:30 Lecture (last 20 Q & A) | 7:30 End
This event is designated for current University of Chicago graduate and undergraduate students. University of Chicago faculty and staff are also welcome to attend. Others interested in auditing should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”…or acknowledged by materialistic naturalism! [Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” act 1 sc.5]
This 5-session course will study Jesus’s miracles and miracles performed in Jesus’s name, the Eucharistic miracle in which bread and wine are transformed into his Body and Blood, and his miraculous Resurrection whereby he was raised body and soul from the dead. If the Shroud of Turin is the actual burial cloth of Jesus, it is both a relic of his tortured death and a witness to his heavenly transformation! The course will also investigate the mystical experiences of saints such as Francis of Assisi, Ignatius of Loyola, and Theresa of Avila. Supernatural reality also includes the demonic, so exorcisms will be studied.
Schedule:

Jan. 13: The miraculous & the supernatural. Jesus the Miracle Worker and miraculous healings. The dogmatic limits of philosophical materialism.
Jan. 20: The Miracle of the Eucharist and eucharistic miracles.
Jan. 27: “They Flew”: mystical experiences of the saints.
Feb. 3: The reality of evil, the demonic and exorcisms.
Feb. 10: Near death experiences and the Shroud of Turin: experiential evidence for Life after death.

Why Think? Hannah Arendt and the Life of the Mind
2026-01-14 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-01-28 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-02-11 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-02-25 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
Meets Bi-Weekly on Wednesdays: Jan. 14, Jan. 28, Feb. 11, Feb. 25
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the texts. Please reach out to William Hurley for any questions (whurley@lumenchristi.org).
What is “thinking”? This question attracts Hannah Arendt’s attention in her later works. Though Arendt claims that thinking is utterly without purpose and leaves no trace behind, she also proposes that it can provide a protective effect against certain forms of evil-doing in our time.
With that said, what is the practical relevance of thinking, today? Given the destructive, resultless nature of this activity, why bother? In short: Why think? In this seminar led by Prof. Magnus Ferguson, we will investigate what it means to ‘think’ in an Arendtian sense through close readings of key excerpts from Hannah Arendt’s final work, The Life of the Mind, as well as several short essays.
Copies of The Life of the Mind will be provided to all participants. Bi-weekly meetings are held on Wednesday evenings over dinner. Weekly reading assignments are kept at or below 30 pages.
Schedule:

Jan. 14: “Thinking and Moral Considerations”
Jan. 28: Life of the Mind Vol I (p. 69–98)
Feb. 11: Life of the Mind Vol I (p. 141–151, 166–182, 187–193)
Feb. 25: Life of the Mind Vol. I (p. 197–216), and “Karl Jaspers: A Laudatio”

Series Description:
Reading Course
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a student-centered reading course at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading course is usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any undergraduate interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation is necessary.

Image Credit: Samuel Bak, “In Search of a Roof of One’s Own” (2017)

Mythmaking and the Epic Tradition in Tolkien's Silmarillion
2026-01-15 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-01-22 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-01-29 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-02-05 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-02-12 19:30 - 21:00 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
Meets Weekly on Thursdays: Jan. 15, Jan. 22, Jan. 29, Feb. 5, Feb 12
*Note: Start Date has Been Moved Back a Week from Jan. 8 to Jan. 15
7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the texts. Please reach out to William Hurley for any questions (whurley@lumenchristi.org).
There are few figures as foundational to the epic fantasy genre as J.R.R. Tolkien, and few works as wide-ranging in that genre as The Silmarillion. Written over the course of nearly 60 years and inspired by the folk traditions of northern Europe, Greece, and the personal ethical and historical philosophies of Tolkien himself, The Silmarillion is a story of morality, greed, bliss, and tragedy. We invite you to join us in a discussion of The Silmarillion’s most dramatic tales, from the creation of the world to the forging of the One Ring.
Copies of The Silmarillion will be provided to all participants. Weekly meetings are held over dinner. Weekly reading assignments are kept at or below 30 pages.
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any undergraduate interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation (or prior knowledge of Tolkien!) is necessary.
Schedule:

Jan. 15: Ainulindalë and Valaquenta (p. 15-32)
Jan. 22: The story of Fëanor and the Silmarils (p. 63-90, 106-107)
Jan. 29: The story of Beren and Lúthien (p. 162-187)
Feb. 5: The story of Túrin Turambar and Nienor Níniel (p. 198-226)
Feb. 12: Akallabêth

Glimpses of Wonder: Faith, Reason, and Technology in the University Today
2026-01-23 09:00 - 10:30 (America/Chicago)
One great challenge in the modern research university is the siloing of information and of knowledge. While specialized knowledge is valuable, pressing questions confronting the contemporary world require that diverse forms of knowing be integrated, both in the heart of the knower and in society. A Catholic Institute is uniquely poised to speak to this challenge since the Catholic intellectual tradition has sought to embrace and integrate five intellectual virtues as presented in Aristotle (NE, VI:3) and St. Thomas Aquinas (ST, 1a-IIae, q. 57): wisdom, science, art, prudence, and mind or understanding. The Franciscan tradition has also emphasized the importance of wonder at the beauty of creation in this synthesis. In this class, we will engage the unity of these virtues under the guidance of wonder and discuss specific applications to new technologies in artificial intelligence and ecological engineering. True human flourishing is not necessarily about slowing down or accelerating the advance of progress as finding a new measure that allows one to see epiphanies of beauty and learn from them about oneself, the world, and the creator of the beauty of the world.
This masterclass will provide an engagement with topics related to the 2026 Summer Seminar “Glimpses of Wonder: Epiphanies of Beauty in the Midst of Technological Change” and will help students explore in advance related themes.
The Zoom link, reading, and syllabus will be distributed in advance of the seminar.
This program is restricted to graduate students from any university or discipline.
This program is part of the project “In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide” (Grant #63614) supported by the John Templeton Foundation.
For more information email Geoffrey Zokal at gzokal@lumenchristi.org

Winter Newman Forum Conference for High School Students: Back to the Future!
2026-02-21 09:30 - 14:30 (America/Chicago) | University of Saint Mary of the Lake, 1000 East Maple Avenue Mundelein, IL 60060, Mundelein, IL
REGISTER BELOW
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum. Open to current high school students. This conference is cosponsored by the University of Saint Mary of the Lake at Mundelein Seminary, and the Archdiocese of Chicago Vocation Office. For more information, please email Margaux Taffet at newmanforum@lumenchristi.org.
What is the relationship between the past and the present? And how can this relationship prepare us for our future? How do we think about the past in a world fixated on the new? If our world is constantly changing, what does it mean to profess eternal truths?
On February 21, 2026, the Newman Forum’s “Back to the Future!” conference will gather high school students at the University of St. Mary of the Lake to discover the fascinating realities of everyday and misunderstood scientific, historical, literary, and religious topics. Students will meet with presenters and discuss the wonders of science, the lessons of history, the beauty of literature, and the mysteries of faith.
Students will get to pick three 20-minute “lightning round” presentations. Presentation topics may include: “Is there time in heaven?” “Did the Medieval world make modern science possible?” “Was St. Augustine anxious?” “What would Aristotle say about post-modern art?” or “Does the past still matter?”

PROGRAM

Registration
Welcome & Opening Prayer
Lightning Round Talks by invited professors and graduate students from the University of Chicago, Notre Dame, and other Universities
Lunch at the USML dining hall
Office Hours to engage with the faculty and learn about their interest, research, and school
Eucharistic Adoration

COST
$15 by Friday, January 30 | $30 after Friday, January 30th
$10/participant for groups over 10.

Please register a group of 9 or fewer using this “Individual Ticket” option. Indicate the number of participants you are registering, and record their names.
For a group of 10 or more, please register using this “Group Ticket” option. Indicate the number of participants you are registering, and record their names. For example, if you are registering a group of 30, be sure to select 30 tickets.
Please note: everyone must be pre-registered for this event by name. If a participant arrives who has not been registered by name, they will not be able to attend the conference. For questions, please email Margaux Taffet at newmanforum@lumenchristi.org.

The Mystery of Christ from Chalcedon to Maximus
2026-06-14 - 2026-06-20 | Sheptytsky House at the University of St. Michael’s College, 81 St. Mary Street, Toronto, ON M5S 1J4, Canada
Apply here
The Mystery of Christ from Chalcedon to Maximus
The seminar, to be held at the University of Toronto, will offer a contextual study of doctrine of the person of Jesus, beginning with the council of Chalcedon and culminating in Maximus the Confessor. This period is determinative for Christian thought on Christ for subsequent centuries and maps a complex interrelation between philosophy, politics, scriptural exegesis, and the accrued weight of prior Christian tradition. Students will be exposed to a wide range of texts and equipped to teach them effectively in the classroom.
Lewis Ayres, Angelicum University/Durham University
Paul Blowers, Milligan University
Fr. Andrew Summerson, Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies
Co-presented with the Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at the University of St. Michael’s College.

There are no tuition costs for the seminar and all course materials are provided. Lodging and most meals will be provided. Students will be responsible for some meals on their own.
After completion of the seminar, participants will receive a travel reimbursement of up to $350 to offset travel expenses.
Participants will arrive on Sunday, June 14 and depart on Saturday, June 20.
Fifteen applicants will be admitted to the seminar.

Working knowledge of relevant ancient languages will be helpful, but not essential. Preference will be given to Ph.D. students in theology, philosophy, classics, and other relevant fields of study. Advanced M.A. students will also be considered.
There will be two sessions each day in the morning and in the afternoon. Each session will include lectures and seminar-style discussions. Students will be expected to prepare the readings carefully and participate in the discussions of the material.
The application deadline is February 2, 2026.
Contact us with any questions at seminars@lumenchristi.org.

Glimpses of Wonder: Epiphanies of Beauty in the Midst of Technological Change
2026-06-14 - 2026-06-20 | Duke University, Chapel Drive Durham , NC 27708, Durham, NC
Apply here
Glimpses of Wonder: Epiphanies of Beauty in the Midst of Technological Change
Cosponsored by the Society of Catholic Scientists.
Eugene Wigner, a winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1963, was not only a celebrated scientist but also defended the “unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics” in aesthetic terms. The beauty of the natural realm and the capacity of mathematical reason not only to measure the world but to see beyond its own finitude and look for a whole in the midst of parts is both mysterious and ubiquitous. In times of technological change, those parts move at an accelerated pace. True human flourishing is not necessarily about slowing down or accelerating the advance of progress as finding a new measure that allows one to see epiphanies of beauty and learn from them about oneself, the world, and the creator of the beauty of the world.
The point of this seminar will be to compare ancient visions of the wonder and beauty of creation, above all in the Augustinian and Franciscan intellectual tradition, with the challenges of technological revolutions, medieval and modern. The idea of the mechanical arts predates Newtonian mechanism and is already a theme in 13th century Paris, as can be found in distinct realms of technological advancement ranging from the motion of mechanical clocks to the engineering of the Gothic cathedral. The point is not to vindicate ancients, moderns, or contemporaries but to create a fruitful dialogue between ancient grammars of wonder and the intellectual, moral, spiritual, and everyday challenges that arise in the midst of rapid and accelerating technological change.
In order to give a foretaste for the summer seminar, Lumen Christi will offer a virtual masterclass on related themes, to be held on January 23, 2026 for graduate students from any university or discipline. The program is entitled “Glimpses of Wonder: Faith, Reason, and Technology in the University Today” and will be led by the seminar organizers, Peter Casarella and Sr. Damien Marie Savino. Click here for more information and registration.
Instructor: Dr. Damien Marie Savino, FSC, University of Notre Dame,
author of Learning the Language of Creation: Catholic Social Teaching and Integral Ecology, forthcoming in the spring of 2026 with Liturgical Press.
Other presenters from Duke:
Peter Casarella,
author of The Song of Creation: Saint Bonaventure’s Franciscan Pilgrimage into God, forthcoming, Word on Fire Academic.
Matthew Whelan, author of Christianity and Agroecology, Cambridge UP, 2025.
Norman Wirzba, author of Love’s Braided Dance, Yale UP, 2024.
Reinhard Huetter, Duke Divinity School and International Theological Commission
Kevin Hart, author of Lands of Likeness: For a Poetics of Contemplation. Chicago, 2023.
Co-Sponsors:
In Lumine Network
Fons Vitae
LOCATION AND FORMAT:
The seminar will take place at Duke University in Durham, NC. Admitted students will be required to arrange their own travel to and from the seminar.
Admitted students will be granted a stipend of $350 to offset travel costs in addition to having their lodging and meals covered for the duration of the seminar.
Participants will arrive in Durham, NC on Sunday, June 14 and depart on Saturday, June 20. The seminar will take place from Monday to Friday, with a lecture and discussion session each morning and afternoon.
Participants will be required to read the assigned materials in preparation for the seminar.
In order to receive the $350 stipend, students must participate fully in all seminar activities and complete a survey at the end of the seminar.
Open to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in STEM fields, medicine, the history of science, philosophy, theology, and relevant fields.
Applicants must submit an online application, including details on their course of study, a statement of interest, and a letter of recommendation (optional).
Make application inquiries to Dr. Peter Tierney at ptierney@lumenchristi.org
15 applicants will be admitted to the seminar.
This project is made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors.
The Application Deadline is February 2, 2026.
Contact us with any questions at seminars@lumenchristi.org.

Catholic Social Thought in Business Education
2026-06-16 17:00 - 2026-06-19 14:00 (America/New_York) | Catholic University of America, 620 Michigan Ave NE, Washington, DC 20064, Washington, DC
Apply here
We are pleased to announce the sixth annual seminar on “Business and Catholic Social Thought: A Primer.” During the seminar, graduate students and faculty members in business schools will cover foundational principles in Catholic social thought and apply them to their own field of research and teaching. This seminar aims at widening epistemological preconceptions and showing practical implications of Catholic social thought for business in a way that affirms the goodness of business directed toward the common good. Participants will delve into social encyclicals, secondary sources, and relevant business texts that show the path for principled entrepreneurship in order to gain knowledge, exchange experiences, receive help with their syllabi and consider how best to integrate Catholic social thought into business education.
The seminar is co-sponsored by the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law, and Business, the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame; the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship at the Catholic University of America; the Lumen Christi Institute; and the Markets, Culture and Ethics Research Centre at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome.

Location:
The seminar will take place at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. between Tuesday June 16 (day of Arrival) and Friday June 19 (Departure after lunch).

A limited number of travel grants are available to all admitted applicants.

To apply for financial assistance, please complete and submit the attached request for funds to murphyinstit@stthomas.edu by April 27, 2026 – Click for the Attachment

There are no tuition/registration costs to attend the seminar. All participants will be provided with accommodations and meals.

Application Information

This seminar will be open to graduate students and faculty of any specialization in business schools.

Applicants will be required to submit a completed online application, including:

An updated CV/resume.
A brief statement of research interest related to Catholic social thought no longer than 750 words.
All application materials can be submitted via the online application interface. Fifteen participants will be admitted to this seminar.

Application materials are due February 2, 2026.

This seminar will be led by:

David Cloutier, University of Notre Dame

Msgr. Martin Schlag, University of St. Thomas
Nicholas Schmitz, The Catholic University of America

Andreas Widmer, The Catholic University of America

"Judgment in Rome: Art and Papal Teaching from John Paul II to Leo XIV."
2026-06-21 - 2026-06-25 | Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, Piazza Santa Apollinare, 49, 00186 Roma, Italy, Rome, Italy
We are pleased to announce the inaugural summer seminar on Law in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, “Judgment in Rome: Art & Papal Teaching from John Paul II to Leo XIV.” During the seminar, participants will engage in seminar discussions on papal teachings (writings, speeches, etc.) from Pope St. John Paul II to Pope Leo XIV on the topics of law, justice, judgment, and related matters. Attendees will also encounter artistic works located throughout Rome that address the theme of judgment. Participants will be provided with a curated reader of papal teachings on seminar topics. One goal of the seminar is to equip participants to better incorporate Catholic teaching on judgment and jurisprudence into their teaching, scholarship, and service to the academic community and to the legal profession.
The seminar is co-organized by: The Center for The Constitution and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition at The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy at Villanova University, the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, The Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network at the Lumen Christi Institute, and Notre Dame Law School.
Location: The seminar sessions will take place in Rome, with seminars held at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and the Augustinianum, and artistic site visits taking place across Rome.
Participants will arrive on Sunday, June 21 and depart on Thursday, June 25.

All participants will be provided with accommodations and most meals as well as travel stipends of $750

The seminar is by invitation only.

Elisabeth Lev – Duquesne University/University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum)
Scott Roniger – Loyola Marymount University
Fr. Petar Popović – Pontificial University of the Holy Cross
Ralph van Bühren – Pontificial University of the Holy Cross

The Thought of René Girard
2026-07-02 - 2026-07-08 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
Apply here
The Thought of René Girard
One of the most influential 20th century Catholic thinkers, René Girard transformed our understanding of culture, religion, and human behavior. His “mimetic theory” builds on the demystifying power of the Old and New Testaments to illuminate the religious history of mankind. Through an intensive reading of his more accessible works, in conjunction with the fiction of the greatest writers, this five-day seminar for undergraduate students will explore Girard’s key insights into imitation, conflict, and scapegoating, connecting them to central themes of Christian theology.

Location and Format:
This seminar will be held at Gavin House in Chicago, Illinois.
Participants will arrive on Thursday, July 2 and depart on Wednesday, July 8.
The seminar will comprise of two 2.5-hour sessions each day (with only afternoon sessions on Sunday). Each session will have a seminar-style discussion of the text and the issues at hand. Students will be expected to prepare the readings carefully, submit study questions in advance, and participate actively in each session. The seminar will also include optional excursions within Chicago.
Admitted students will be granted a stipend of $350 to offset travel costs in addition to having their lodging and meals covered for the duration of the seminar.
Application Information:
This seminar is open to all undergraduate students (including 2026 graduates) interested in understanding the thought of one of the great modern Christian apologists. Applicants must be 18 by the time of the seminar.
Applicants will be required to submit an online application form including:
A list of completed coursework.
At least one and as many as two letter(s) of recommendation from a professor at the school in which the student is currently enrolled.
A statement of interest no longer than 750 words, which includes an explanation of how this seminar might bear on the student’s current intellectual interests.
All application materials can be submitted via the online application. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Fifteen applicants will be admitted to this seminar.
Application Deadline is February 2, 2026.

The Thought of John Henry Newman
2026-07-19 - 2026-07-25 | The National Institute of Newman Studies, 211 N. Dithridge St., Pittsburgh, PA, PA 15213, United States
Apply here
National Institute of Newman Studies, Pittsburgh, PA
Fr. Stephen Fields, SJ, Georgetown University
Staff of the National Institute for Newman Studies
Now in its twelfth year, this intensive seminar will examine the achievements of Saint John Henry Newman as a theologian, philosopher, educator, preacher, and writer. Remarkably, in each of these areas Newman produced works that have come to be recognized as classics: An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, The Grammar of Assent, The Idea of a University, and the Apologia Pro Vita Sua. This seminar will approach Newman’s thought through a critical engagement with these texts.
Students will also be introduced to the work and digital Humanities’s tools of the National Institute for Newman Studies.
This seminar is cosponsored by the National Institute of Newman Studies (NINS).
LOCATION AND FORMAT:
The seminar will be held at the National Institute of Newman Studies in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
There are no tuition costs for the seminar and all course materials are provided. Lodging and most meals will be provided.
After completion of the seminar, participants will receive a travel reimbursement of up to $350 to offset travel expenses.
Participants will arrive on Sunday, July 19 and depart on Saturday, July 25.
Participants will be required to read the assigned texts in preparation for the seminar.
Fifteen applicants will be admitted to the seminar.
In order to give a foretaste for the summer seminar, Lumen Christi will offer a virtual masterclass on related themes, to be held on January 23, 2026 for graduate students from any university or discipline. The program is entitled “Glimpses of Wonder: Faith, Reason, and Technology in the University Today” and will be led by the seminar organizers, Peter Casarella and Sr. Damien Marie Savino. Click here for more information and registration.
QUALIFICATIONS AND APPLICATION:
This seminar is open to Ph.D. students in theology, philosophy, classics, and other relevant fields of study.

A completed online application form. An updated CV.
At least one and no more than two letter(s) of recommendation.
A statement of research interest no longer than 750 words, which includes an explanation of how this seminar might bear on the student’s current or future research plans.
One academic writing sample (30 pages maximum).
All application materials can be submitted via the online application.

THE APPLICATION DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 2, 2026.
Contact us with any questions at seminars@lumenchristi.org.

Economics and Catholic Social Thought: A Primer
2026-08-02 - 2026-08-05 | University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, Notre Dame, IN
Apply here
Now in its ninth year, this seminar is designed as an introduction and immersion into Catholic social thought for graduate students and (junior) faculty in economics, finance, or related fields. Participants will cover foundational principles in Catholic social thought, starting with the human person, dignity, freedom, subsidiarity, solidarity, and the common good, and moving toward applications of these principles to conceptual understandings and ethical considerations involving economic topics such as utility theory, firm and business ethics, wages, markets, globalization, poverty, and development. Participants will delve into social encyclicals, secondary sources, and relevant economics texts.
This seminar is sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute; the Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization; the De Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture; the Kellogg Institute for International Studies; and the the Institute for the Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, College of Arts and Letters, University of Notre Dame.
Format: There will be two sessions each day, featuring a different instructor. Each instructor will open with a lecture, and then we will turn to a seminar-style discussion of the texts and issues at hand. In the final sessions, we will discuss how the material can be applied to each student’s particular area of interest.
Location: The seminar will take place at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend.
Participants will arrive on August 2 and will depart on August 5.
There are no registration or tuition costs to the seminar.

All participants will be provided with accommodations and meals.
Partial travel reimbursement funds are available as awarded to offset travel costs.

Application Information: This seminar will be open to PhD students and faculty in economics, finance and related fields.
Applicants will be required to submit a completed online application form, including:
An updated CV.
A brief statement interest no longer than 750 words.
All application materials can be submitted via the online application.
Fifteen students will be admitted to this seminar.
The application deadline is February 2nd.
Please direct any further questions to seminars@lumenchristi.org

Catholic Social Thought: A Critical Investigation
2026-08-02 - 2026-08-08 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
“The Lumen Christi Institute will host its second week-long seminar for recent PhDs interested in the Catholic intellectual tradition. In this seminar, participants will read, analyze, and discern continuities and discontinuities in Catholic social thought from the late 19th century to the present. Lectures, seminar reports, and discussion will focus on original sources (encyclicals and other magisterial documents), beginning with Rerum novarum (1892) and concluding with Caritas in veritate (2009) and Evangelii Gaudium (2013). This intensive course is multi-disciplinary, since this tradition of social thought overlaps several disciplines in the contemporary university including political science, political philosophy, law, economics, theology, and history. The seminar is an opportunity to meet 12 to 15 promising scholars working in different academic fields, all with interests tied to Catholicism.
This seminar is our 2026 annual postdoctoral/early career scholar seminar.
There are no seminar fees and reading materials are provided. LCI will cover accommodations and most meals. Additionally, participants will reimburse travel expenses up to $500. The seminar will begin with Vespers, followed by a welcome dinner on Sunday, August 2 and conclude the evening of Friday, August 8.”
This project is made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors.
The seminar is by invitation only.
