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While Roman civilization collapsed around him, Benedict a fifth-century monk and abbot authored his Rule for monks and set forth a way of life for the monasteries that would become one of the few lights of wisdom and civility in an age of increasing darkness and social isolation. Benedict taught those who lived in these dark ages how to make their daily lives an integrated whole of prayer and work, enlightened by the wisdom of Christ. In this respect, his Rule contains many lessons that apply to Christians in contemporary life.

In many ways, the supposed conflict between science and religion is really a conflict between “scientific materialism” and religion. The lecture will review the story of the relation between Christianity and science, discuss several discoveries of the twentieth century (primarily in physics), and argue that these are more consonant with the traditional Judeo-Christian view of the cosmos and of human beings than with scientific materialism

Dr. Gary Anderson (author of Sin: A History, and Charity) is featured. When modern persons think about assistance for the poor the two major categories that tend to dominate are the motivations of the donor (altruism) and the effects of the donation (social justice).  Though both of these attributes were part of classical Christian thinking, they stood on a deeper foundation: a description of the type of world God had made. And so, charity was as much about metaphysics as it was morality.

Aquinas is almost exclusively regarded as an outstanding scholastic philosopher and theologian. But what is little known is that he was also a master of the spiritual life and a very considerable poet, perhaps even the greatest Latin poet of the Middle Ages. Dominican Father Paul Murray is featured.

Monsignor Michael Heintz outlines the particular character of patristic theology and spirituality, illucidating the early Christian father’s relevance for the Catholic faith today.

Dana Gioia, an award-winning poet and former chair of the National Endowment of the Arts, argues “Why Beauty Matters,” and stresses the need to recover an appreciation of beauty in a culture that has lost sight of its meaning and value.

Fr. Robert Barron discusses how to put faith into action in today’s increasingly secular world. With Pope Francis as a model of how to present “the joy of the Gospel,” Barron argued that Catholics have a duty to awaken the faith of the baptized and bring back those who have drifted.