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In a lecture that he delivered at the Library of Congress in January 2014, the theological ethicist Robin Lovin spoke of the impoverishment of our nation’s political life – of a polarization in which persons of similar minds tend to speak only with one another, of a loss of public space in which persons with different views must bump up against one another, and of a loss of a moral language with which persons with different views can talk to one another and explain to one another their desires and hopes. This impoverishment of our nation’s political life is of utmost concern to a Catholic university with a Jesuit commitment to social responsibility and justice since this impoverishment threatens the very conditions that allow for the Catholic commitment to peace and justice to be made in the public sphere. The Renewal of Public Moral Discourse project is the Theology Department's attempt to  address the impoverishment of our nation's public discourse.