“Let All Who Are Thirsty, Come: Examining the Appeal of Catholicism and Rise in Conversions Among Young Adults”
.jpg "Baptism MDS")
A conference cosponsored by the Hank Center and Mission Integration exploring the increase of inquirers and conversions to the Catholic Church. Panels of practitioners, students, and scholars will discuss enchantment/re-enchantment of the life of faith; media influence; class, gender, and culture in this revival; whether or not this is a revival; and what this means for young people and the Church in 2026. This event is free and all are welcome, especially students.
Schedule
All sessions in Crown Center Auditorium unless otherwise indicated.
8:30am: Mass in Madonna della Strada Chapel: Bishop John Siemianowski presiding (daily Mass with hymns)
9:15am: Breakfast
10:00am: Welcome/Intro remarks: Dr. Michael P. Murphy (LUC/Hank Center) and Dr. Derrick Witherington (LUC/Campus Ministry)
10:10am: Keynote Address: Bishop John Siemianowski
11:00am: Break
11:15am: Panel: "What’s Happening? Sociological and Theological Perspectives"
Moderator: Dr. Michael P. Murphy (LUC/Hank Center)
Panelists: Dr. Anna Bonta Moreland (Villanova University); Dr. Patrick Gilger, S.J. (LUC); Dr. Tricia Bruce (University of Southern California/Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies (IACS))
12:30pm: Midday Prayer and Lunch
1:30pm: Panel: "What Does this Mean for the Church?"
Moderator: Dr. Derrick Witherington (LUC/Campus Ministry)
Panelists: Dr. Steve P. Millies (Catholic Theological Union); Heidi Schlumpf (LUC/Commonweal); Fr. Michael Rossmann, S.J. (LUC)
2:45pm: Break
3:00pm: Panel: "What’s Happening on College Campuses?"
Moderator: Dr. Claire Noonan (LUC)
Panelists: Fr. Bradley A. Zamora (Sheil Center at Northwestern University); Dr. Derrick Witherington (LUC); Rachelle Kramer (Ministry Professional); Fr. Patrick Baikauskas, O.P. (Calvert House at The University of Chicago)
4:15pm: Break
4:30pm: Panel: "In Dialogue with the Experts: Young Adult Voices"
Moderator: Dr. Anna Bonta Moreland (Villanova University)
Panelists: Student Panel (TBA)
Speakers
Michael P. Murphy
Michael P. Murphy, Ph.D. is Director of Loyola’s Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage. His research interests are in Theology and Literature, Systematic Theology, and the literary/political cultures of Catholicism—but he also thinks and writes about issues in eco-theology, social ethics, and new media ecologies. Mike's first book, A Theology of Criticism: Balthasar, Postmodernism, and the Catholic Imagination (Oxford), was named a "Distinguished Publication" by the American Academy of Religion. His most recent scholarly work includes “Tinderization and Transcendence: Girard, McLuhan, and the Apocalyptic Imagination" in Theological Discourses on Social Media (Routledge, 2025) and "Technologies of the Incarnation: Catholic Cosmotechnics and New Horizons for Liturgical Participation" in Catholic Cosmotechnics in the AI Age (forthcoming from St. Augustine's Press, spring, 2026). Mike's more occasional pieces have appeared in America, NCR, and First Things, among other venues.
Derrick Witherington
Derrick Witherington, Ph.D. is the Assistant Director of Campus Ministry for Sacramental Life. Derrick is also an adjunct faculty member of Loyola’s Theology Department where he teaches classes in Systematic, Historical, and Sacramental Theology. Additionally, he is an associate editor for the Maryknoll School of Theology Review, an international journal of pastoral and academic theology. Derrick received both his B.A. and M.A. from Loyola University Chicago. After leaving Loyola, Derrick lived abroad in Belgium for several years where he received his doctorate in Systematic Theology from the Catholic University of Louvain (KU Leuven) while also serving in ministerial-leadership roles in parish and university settings.
Bishop John Siemianowski
Bishop John Siemianowski is an Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago and current pastor of St. Juliana Parish on the city's Northwest Side. Born in Chicago, he obtained a bachelor’s degree and a secondary education certificate from Southern Illinois University before entering the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary where he earned his master of divinity degree and a baccalaureate of sacred theology.
Anna Bonta Moreland
Anna Bonta Moreland, Ph.D. is a professor of Theology in the Department of Humanities and the Anne Quinn Welsh Endowed Director of the University Honors Program at Villanova University. A professor since 2006, Dr. Moreland completed her Ph.D. at Boston College under the direction of Michael J. Buckley, S.J. Her research focuses on comparative theology between Christianity and Islam, drawing upon the work of Thomas Aquinas, including her recent book Muhammad Reconsidered: A Christian Perspective on Islamic Prophecy (University of Notre Dame Press, 2020).
Patrick Gilger, S.J.
Rev. Patrick Gilger, S.J., Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Director of the McNamara Center for the Social Study of Religion at Loyola University Chicago. His current book project, The Subject of Public Religion, examines how religious practices shape democratic citizens. A Jesuit priest with graduate degrees in philosophy and theology, in 2021 Fr. Gilger received his Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research, where he was awarded the Alfred Schutz Prize in Philosophy and Sociology. His scholarly work has appeared in the Journal of Religion and Society, and the European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, with work forthcoming in A Quarter Century of Public Religions: The Sociology of Jose Casanova. Beyond academia, Fr. Gilger's writing has appeared in Vox, The Dispatch, La Civiltà Cattolica, and America, where he serves as Contributing Editor for Culture. His essay “Litany for a Pandemic” received the New York Press Club Award in 2021. A frequent media commentator, he has appeared on CNN, Fox, NPR, and many podcasts. In the spring of 2025 Fr. Gilger was appointed a Research Fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.
Tricia C. Bruce
Tricia C. Bruce, Ph.D. is a sociologist, researcher, and award-winning author of several non-fiction books and high-impact research reports. She holds expertise in religion (specializing in U.S. Catholicism) and social change (attentive to attitudes, organizations, and generational change).Dr. Bruce is the author of Our Lives: What Abortion Attitudes Reveal About Who We Are As Americans(University of California Press, forthcoming August 2026), Parish and Place: Making Room for Diversity in the American Catholic Church (Oxford University Press, 2017); and Faithful Revolution: How Voice of the Faithful Is Changing the Church (Oxford University Press, 2011/2014). She is also co-editor of Polarization in the US Catholic Church (Liturgical Press, 2016) and American Parishes: Remaking Local Catholicism (Fordham University Press, 2019). Her writing has appeared in Time Magazine, Science Advances, The Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Religions, Journal for the American Academy of Religion, Review of Religious Research, U.S. Catholic Historian, and more. Dr. Bruce holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a B.A. in sociology and communication from Southwestern University. She is a Senior Research Fellow with the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California, a 2026-2027 Affiliate with the Center for the Study of Religion and Society of the University of Notre Dame, and served as a papal-appointed Consultor to the Vatican General Secretariat of the Synod.
Steven P. Millies
Steven P. Millies, Ph.D. is Professor of Public Theology and Director of the Bernardin Center at the Catholic Theological Union. His scholarship explores the Catholic church’s relationship to politics in a perspective that embraces history, theology, law, ethics, sociology, philosophy, and political theory. Millies studied political theory at The Catholic University of America, completing his Ph.D. with a study of religion in British statesman Edmund Burke’s political ideas. Before coming to CTU, he was associate professor of political science at the University of South Carolina Aiken where he held the Strom Thurmond Endowed Chair in Political Science. Millies's book, Joseph Bernardin: Seeking Common Ground (Liturgical Press, 2016), won first place in the biography category for the Catholic Press Association’s 2017 Book Awards. He is a regular contributor to the National Catholic Reporter, and his commentaries have appeared in several periodicals that include America, Commonweal, The Hill, and the Washington Post. In 2020, he was the Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. Visiting Fellow in Catholic Studies at Loyola University Chicago’s Joan and Bill Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage.
Heidi Schlumpf
Heidi Schlumpf is an award-winning journalist and podcaster, currently serving as senior correspondent at Commonweal Magazine. She also is a co-host of the Francis Effect Podcast and a part-time faculty member in theology at Loyola University Chicago. She previously spent 16 years at the National Catholic Reporter as a columnist, correspondent and executive editor/vice president. Schlumpf has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s in theological studies from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She is based in Chicago.
Michael Rossmann, S.J.
Fr. Michael Rossmann, S.J. serves as a Jesuit chaplain in Campus Ministry, superior of Arrupe House, and adjunct professor in the Department of Theology at Loyola University Chicago. Originally from Iowa, he joined the Jesuits just after graduating from the University of Notre Dame. Fr. Rossmann’s Jesuit formation took place on five continents and in five languages, including two years teaching in Tanzania, graduate studies at Loyola Chicago and Boston College, and doctoral studies in missiology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Fr. Rossmann is the author of The Freedom of Missing Out and Online Pre-Evangelization. He gives talks and retreats across the Midwest and around the world. Active on social media, Fr. Rossmann is the creator of the “One-Minute Homily” and “One-Minute Jesuit” video series. He posts a weekly reflection at amdg.substack.com.
Claire Noonan
Claire Noonan, D.Min. is the Vice President for Mission Integration at Loyola University Chicago. Here she works to strengthen the Catholic, Jesuit identity of the institution and the intellectual and spiritual development of its students, faculty, staff, trustees, alumni, and affiliated community. Recognized nationally for her expertise, she is the founding board chair for the Catholic Higher Education Mission Officers Network. Dr. Noonan speaks locally and nationally on topics such as Ignatian spirituality, interfaith education, and vocation. She is author of Full of Grace, a book of spiritual essays and exercises for women. Her writing has also appeared in U.S. Catholic magazine, the Journal of Catholic Higher Education, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, and other publications. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from The Catholic University of America with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Religion. She earned a Master of Divinity degree at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, and an Ecumenical Doctor of Ministry degree at Catholic Theological Union, with a concentration in spirituality.
Bradley A. Zamora
Fr. Bradley A. Zamora, or “Fr. B”, is a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago and serves as the Catholic Chaplain at Northwestern University and Director of the Sheil Catholic Center. Before his appointment at the Sheil Center, Fr. Bradley served as the Director of Worship and Instructor in the Department of Liturgy and Music at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, Mundelein Seminary, where he also served as the Director of International Students beginning in 2015. Ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago on May 17, 2014 he served for three years as the Associate Pastor and the Director of Liturgy at Holy Name Cathedral while simultaneously, for two years, also serving at the seminary. Fr. Bradley is an associate member of the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Communions. In addition, Fr. Bradley is also on the national speaking team for CATECHUMENEON (catechumeneon.com) and served as Director of Worship and Music at Faith Hub Chicago. Fr. Bradley is the author of “Praying the Liturgy in the Face of Violence” Pastoral Liturgy, “The Transformative Power of the Rites” Catechumeneon Quarterly, and a contributor to the “Sourcebook for Sundays, Seasons and Weekdays” Liturgical Training Publications. Fr. Bradley holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Loyola University Chicago and a Master of Divinity (M. Div.) and Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology (S.T.B.) from the University of Saint Mary of the Lake.
Patrick Baikauskas, O.P.
Patrick Baikauskas, O.P. is the Chaplain and Director of Campus Ministry at Calvert House at the University of Chicago, and a Dominican friar of the Province of Saint Albert the Great. He came to the Dominicans by way of Bradley University, where he studied political science with a minor in English literature, and then by way of Washington. He worked on Capitol Hill and served three governors of Illinois before entering the Dominicans. Ordained to the priesthood in 2008 in the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana, he served for twelve years as Pastor and Director of Campus Ministry at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Center at Purdue University. Most recently he spent six years in St. Louis: two at the Washington University Catholic Student Center, then four at Aquinas Institute of Theology, the final two while also serving at Saint Margaret of Scotland Parish. He holds an M.Div. from Aquinas Institute. Since 2018 he has directed New Priory Press, the publishing arm of the Province of Saint Albert the Great, expanding its list and building a working relationship with Éditions du Cerf in Paris. He is a trained spiritual director and hosts the podcast Frank Friar Friday.
Map and Parking
Map (Crown Center marked with an asterisk)
