Stories

Recommended Reading: Resources for critical reflection, prayer, and action for racial justice

In light of the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many others, and of the widespread calls for justice and change these have sparked, the Hank Center offers this brief list of resources on race and racism in America, focusing especially but not exclusively on works that address these issues from a Catholic Christian perspective.

Everything Is Connected: Reflections on "Home" on the 5th Anniversary of <i>Laudato Si'</i>

May 21, 2020. A compelling conversation marking the 5th anniversary of the publication of the landmark encyclical. Featured Paul Elie, Michael Schuck, and Nancy Tuchman.

Pope Francis' Urbi et Orbi address

On March 27, 2020, Pope Francis gave this address to the world during an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi blessing.

COVID-19 Update

An update on upcoming Hank Center events with regard to COVID-19. Please watch for more updates.

Stephen Colbert and Being Catholic in the Public Square, with Stephanie Brehm

March 11, 2020, 4:00 - 5:30 PM
IC 4th floor, LSC
Stephanie N. Brehm of Northwestern University discussed her new book: America’s Most Famous Catholic (According to Himself): Stephen Colbert and American Religion in the Twenty-First Century. This event was free and open to the public.

In Stride with St. Ignatius: A Weeklong Pilgrimage to Sanctuaries and Cities in Spain

May 10-17, 2020
POSTPONED
Faculty, staff, and alumni of Loyola University Chicago are invited to join Father D. Scott Hendrickson, S.J., on a Spain pilgrimage in the footsteps of St. Ignatius. As part of the University’s 150th anniversary in 2020 and celebrating 150 years of Ignatian heritage, the institution draws from the rich spiritual and pedagogical tradition established by St. Ignatius and his first companions. In places of great historical and religious significance, such as Loyola, Arántzazu, Xavier, Montserrat, and Manresa, and in the nearby cities—Bilbao, San Sebastián, Pamplona, Zaragoza, and Barcelona—we will have the chance to explore and learn more about the life and legacy of St. Ignatius and gain an appreciation for our role as faculty, staff, and alumni of Loyola University Chicago in embracing and carrying forth the Ignatian mission and vision.

Catholic Conversion Narratives in Modernist Aesthetics

In collaboration with the Catholic University of Leuven, the Hank Center is pleased to host this international and interdisciplinary conference, which will explore a variety of modern conversion narratives.

The Hank Center's 2018 Living Tradition Award honors Dr. Jon Nilson

The Hank Center celebrated Dr. Jon Nilson, Professor Emeritus - the 2018 Living Tradition Award recipient.

Habemus Papam +5

Marking the fifth anniversary of the election of the first Jesuit Pope, CCIH welcomes Massimo Faggioli, Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University who will provide the keynote.

What Loyola’s Final Four Run Can Teach Us about Catholic Schools and Sports by Michael P. Murphy

America Magazine publishes insightful commentary by Hank Center Director, Michael P. Murphy.

JESUITICAL: a podcast for young Catholics

In collaboration with America Magazine, and co-sponsored by Catholic Studies and the Jesuit Community, the Hank Center proudly presents Jesuitical, a podcast from America Media.

1968 Series Part I: The Legacy of Humanae Vitae & What It Means to Be "Pro-Life"

This symposium features presentations and discussions on the legacy of the papal encyclical, fifty years after its promulgation.

The Hank Center Presents, Live from Loyola George: Saunders Radio Hour

An evening with MacArthur Genius and the Man Booker Prize-winning author, George Saunders. Raised Catholic in Chicago but now also a practicing Tibetan Buddhist, the author has a decidedly individual take on spirituality that informs his fictions.

Good God, But Life Could Be Less Than Easy: George Saunders and the Fiction of Radical Humanism

This symposium features not only a morning address by George Saunders, but also traditional conference panels interspersed with creative expressions and responses to conference themes. The day concludes with a special visit from the creative writing students at 826Chi, a local nonprofit organization, and a book signing session.

Women and Faith: How to Approach Tradition after the “Me Too” Movement

Loyola students are invited to join a candid conversation about the “Me Too” movement and the Catholic Church. Discussion will be facilitated by leading women from the Loyola community in an intimate and relaxed setting.

Faith and Neuroscience Colloquium- Perspectives on Personhood: Resources in Science, Philosophy, and Theology

This colloquium brings together resources from different academic disciplines to interrogate various perspectives on human consciousness and personhood. Keynote address by Dr. William Jaworski, Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University.

The 2018 Cardinal Newman Lecture: Leah Libresco Sargeant

CCIH welcomes Leah Libresco Sargeant to share with us her journey from atheist blogger to Catholic apologist. Leah's work has appeared in First Things, America, The American Conservative, Commonweal, and several other publications.

Faith in Focus Film Series Spring 2018 Screening: St. Frances Xavier Cabrini: The People's Saint

This 50-minute documentary filmed in 2017, the Centenary year of Mother Cabrini's passing, is a living portrait of the Italy-born saint that showcases her relevance in an ever-changing world. Mother Cabrini is considered the Patron Saint of Immigrants and Hospital Administrators.

Faculty Reading Group Spring 2018: Tenth of December by George Saunders

CCIH is pleased to announce our Faculty Reading Group text for this coming semester: Tenth of December (2013), a thought-provoking collection of short stories by acclaimed American author George Saunders that inspires reflections about faith, justice, culture, and politics.

Ramonat Lecture: “Perceiving the Other: Visual Counterpoints in Blackfeet Country, 1846”

The lecture will discuss the art work of Jesuit missionary Nicholas Point, the Blackfeet Indian artistic response, and the legacy of Jesuit missionaries in contemporary Indian country.

G.K. Chesterton: Prophetic Voice in the Public Square

Chesterton scholar, Fr. Ian Boyd of Seton Hall University will explore the contemporary resonance of G.K. Chesterton's Prophetic voice.

Recommended Reading

Each month CCIH will recommend new and notable books that integrate, interrogate, and celebrate the Catholic intellectual and artistic tradition.

The 2017 Hank Center's Living Tradition Award Honors Dr. Francis Fennell

Join the Hank Center in celebrating Professor Emeritus, Dr. Francis Fennell- this year's Living Tradition Award recipient.

Andalusia in Andalucía: An International Conference on Flannery O'Connor

Universidad Loyola Andalucía, in conjunction with the Hank Center, will be hosting a conference on the American writer Flannery O'Connor in Seville, Spain in June 2017.

America Magazine Welcomes Hank Center Alumnus: Angelo Jesus Canta

America Magazine Welcomes Hank Center Alumnus: Angelo Jesus Canta

Evangelical Fundamentalism and the Catholic Right: Dr. Michael Murphy, Dr. Miguel Díaz, and many others respond

Commentary on Fr. Antonio Spadaro, S.J. and Marcelo Figueroa's article, “Evangelical Fundamentalism and Catholic Integralism,” from the Hank Center and other leading theologians.

Cardinal Bernardin Common Cause Lecture: Called to Witness

The Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage, in collaboration with the Loyola University Jesuit Community, sponsors its inaugural Cardinal Bernardin Common Cause lecture this April 18. The lecture offers a Catholic prelate each year a platform to engage Loyola’s community in common cause with the Church on issues facing us today. In honor of Cardinal Bernardin’s legacy, Cardinal Blase Joseph Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, will address our common ground in a time of division.

Catholic Q&A: Why do Catholics think this way? The Hardwiring of the Catholic Imagination

Join Fr. Mark Bosco, SJ, director of the Hank Center and professor of English and Theology, as he sorts out some of the tendencies of the Catholic imagination today.

Faith in Focus Film Screening: Ignacio de Loyola

Ignacio de Loyola, directed by Paolo Dy and starring Andreas Muñoz is a thrilling look at the life of the founder of the Society of Jesus. Please join the Jesuit leaders of Loyola’s CLCs for a post-screening discussion.

Black History Month Lecture: The Jesuit Choice: Religious Freedom before Ecumenism and Slave Emancipation

Black History Month Lecture: The Jesuit Choice: Religious Freedom before Ecumenism and Slave Emancipation

Revolution of the Heart: A Symposium on Dorothy Day

This two-day symposium featured speeches by former Catholic Worker community member Robert Ellsberg and Dorothy Day's granddaughter Kate Hennessy, as well as the play "Haunted by God."

Catholicism and Vietnam

George Dutton, author of A Vietnamese Moses, will deliver a lecture followed by responses on Vietnamese Catholic life by Jesuit Scholastics, students, faculty, and Chicago community members.

Spiritual and Cultural Pilgrimage to Spain

This summer, follow in the footsteps of St. Ignatius of Loyola under the leadership of Fr. Mark Bosco, S.J., Dr. Natasha Ritsma, Curator of the Loyola University Museum of Art, and Kathleen Beaulieu, Board Member of the Loyola University Museum of Art.

The 2017 Cardinal Newman Lecture: Chris Haw

After a week in jail following an Iraq War protest in 2003, Chris Haw, as a disaffected evangelical, moved into "America's most dangerous city" to start a small community in an abandoned house and work with a Catholic church. In his lecture, "Rust Belt Apocalypse and the Eucharist," Haw will share how a poetic mixture of myth and logic, an active patience amidst godlessness, and the drama of scapegoating as symbolized in the Mass all permeate his ongoing conversion and research.

Ignacio de Loyola

Join Campus Ministry for film screenings and post-film discussions of the recent major release of the film Ignacio de Loyola.

Tracking the Catholic Literary Tradition in the 21st Century with Dr. Randy Boyagoda

Join the Hank Center for a colloquium, and conversation, with the Canadian writer and critic, Dr. Randy Boyagoda.

Black Lives Matter Conference: The Building Blocks of Activism: Purpose. Action. Justice.

Loyola University Chicago will host its first Black Lives Matter Conference which will bring together college students, nonprofit professionals, campus administrators, various activist organizations and members in the wider community to raise consciousness, empower people, promote healing, and form solidarity.

Black History Month Lecture: The Jesuit Choice: Religious Freedom before Ecumenism and Slave Emancipation

Black History Month Lecture: The Jesuit Choice: Religious Freedom before Ecumenism and Slave Emancipation

Ignacio de Loyola

Ignacio de Loyola, directed by Paolo Dy and starring Andreas Muñoz is a thrilling look at the life of the founder of the Society of Jesus. Please join the Jesuit leaders of Loyola’s CLCs for a post-screening discussion.

The 2017 Hank Center's Living Tradition Award Honors Dr. Francis Fennell

Join the Hank Center in celebrating Professor Emeritus, Dr. Francis Fennell- this year's Living Tradition Award recipient.

2017 Catholic Imagination Conference

The Hank Center is co-sponsoring a conference that will explore the role that Catholic writers play—and the role they will continue to play—in American culture and in the life of the church. Showcasing works that integrate the Catholic vision into the wider world, this forum is for scholars, writers, editors, publishers, critics, and all lovers of great writing.

Hank Center Fall 2017 Events Calendar

Hank Center Fall 2017 Events Calendar

Catholicism: Called to Tradition of Revolution?

On November 29, 2017, Jesuit scholastic, Michael Martinez spoke to over 70 students about what it means to be a young adult and practicing Catholic in the 21st century.

America Magazine Welcomes Hank Center Alumnus: Angelo Jesus Canta

This past week, America Magazine welcomed the latest O'Hare Fellows to its team. Among the three college graduates selected for this highly competitive program was Loyola University Chicago and the Hank Center's own Angelo Jesus Canta (pictured right).

Thank You and Farewell, Fr. Bosco

After 14 years at Loyola and 5 years as Hank Center director, Fr. Mark Bosco steps down and joins Georgetown University as Mission and Ministry VP.

I Was a Stranger: Student Stories of Religious Hospitality

In fall 2017 CCIH shifted the focus of its Catholicism in Dialogue event toward the contemporary challenge of living together in a multicultural and interfaith setting, and combines forces with Campus Ministry and the Department of Theology & Religious Studies to offer students a yearlong experience of hospitality through many events.

Sacred Sustainability: Life Hacking a Living Tradition

Social entrepreneur, speaker and author of Y on Earth, Aaron William Perry led the audience in an interactive, and educational discussion titled: “Sacred Sustainability: Life Hacking a Living Tradition”.

Fall 2017 Faculty Reading Group: Orthodoxy and Fr. Brown by G.K. Chesterton

The Fall 2017 reading group is dedicated to G.K. Chesterton's seminal work, Orthodoxy, and the mysteries of Fr. Brown.

Reformation Symposium Speakers Featured on NPR

The Hank Center's Featured Speakers, Aana Marie Vigen, Susan Ross, and Craig Muller, with Fr. Don Senior and David Goa, recently spoke on NPR about the Protestant Reformation’s 500th anniversary and the Hank Center's upcoming Symposium.

That We May All Be One: Reformation and the Spirit of Christian Unity

On October 18, 2017 CCIH marked the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's 95 Theses with a day-long symposium that examined ecumenical dialogue through the years and the legacy of the Reformation.

Faith in Focus Film Series: The Ultimate Sacrifice

CCIH presented this important film about Juozas Vitkus, legendary Lithuanian Colonel who led a resistance movement against Soviet occupation in the 1940s & 50s, with Discussion led by grandson of Colonel Vitkus & former Jesuit Provincial of Lithuania and Latvia, Fr. Gintaras Vitkus.

G.K. Chesterton: Prophetic Voice in the Public Square

In this lecture, the LUC community welcomed Fr. Ian Boyd, distinguished professor of Catholic Studies at Seton Hall University and author of The Novels of G.K. Chesterton, to offer his insights about the contemporary relevance and prophetic nature of the Chesterton's prolific writings.

Perceiving the Other: Visual Counterpoints in Blackfeet Country, 1846

Dr. Sally Thompson discussed the art work of Jesuit missionary Nicholas Point and the legacy of Jesuit missionaries in contemporary Indian country at this lecture sponsored by CCIH, the History Department, and the Ramonat Seminar.

Catholicism: Called to Tradition or Revolution?

On November 29, 2017, Jesuit scholastic, Michael Martinez spoke to over 70 students about what it means to be a young adult and practicing Catholic in the 21st century, emphasizing the importance of truth and love of neighbor in daily life.

Synodal Conversation with Cardinal Cupich

January 23, 2024 at 4pm
4th Floor Information Commons, LSC
Cardinal Cupich visits Loyola to join the student community in the next stage of the Synodal Conversation. The theme of the synod is: “For a synodal church: Communion, participation, mission” and Cardinal Cupich will join his voice in reflecting on the instrumentum laboris that will help shape the agenda for the final convening in fall 2024. The foundational question of the working document remains: what are “the characteristic signs of a synodal church?” This gathering is cosponsored by CCIH, the Office of Mission Integration, and Campus Ministry.

Video Available | Preventing Unjust War: A Catholic Argument for Selective Conscientious Objection

Why does humankind continue to be plagued by war?
With the example of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at hand, Loyola sociologist of religion Fr. Paddy Gilger, SJ, engaged author Roger Bergman in a lively discussion of what the Catholic intellectual heritage can contribute to this perennial problem.
May 25, 2022
12:00-1:30 PM CT
Zoom Forum

Video Available| Unequal Impact: Environmental Racism and Faith Based Resources in Restorative Justice

Climate change and Restorative Justice are deeply connected. From workers’ rights, to land use, to pollutant loads in neighborhoods, people of color are exposed to far greater environmental health hazards than others. The Hank Center and special guests were pleased to host a conversation on these vital topics. Part of SES’s Sixth Annual Climate Change Conference.
March 16, 2022
6:00-7:30 PM CT
Zoom Forum

Video Available | Faith and Secularization: A Dialogue

Featuring Jerome Baggett, Paul Lakeland, and Kaya Oakes.
October 1, 2020, 4:00 - 5:30 PM

Video Available| The Storm Cloud of the 21st Century: Capitalism, the Technocratic Paradigm, and the Sacramental Imagination

Featuring Eugene McCarraher of Villanova University. Co-sponsored by Commonweal.
October 15, 2020
7:00-8:30PM CT

Pope Francis' Address at the Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination

On May 27, in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father Francis received in audience the participants in the conference organized by “La Civiltà Cattolica” with Georgetown University on the theme: “The Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination”. The Pope’s address to those present at the meeting can be found by clicking on the title of this box.

Faith In Focus Film Series: J.E.S.U.S.A.

CCIH hosted a viewing of J.E.S.U.S.A. (2020), a compelling documentary that explores the relationship between Christianity, American nationalism, and violence. Post-film dialogue with Suzanne Ross of the Raven Foundation.
February 18, 2020, 7:00 PM
Damen Cinema, LSC

The 2019 Living Tradition Award honoring the Rev. Dr. Mark McIntosh

Every year the Hank Center presents the Living Tradition Award to a Loyola University Chicago emeritus faculty member who has exemplified the integration of Catholic thought into their work, research, and teaching. The 2019 Living Tradition Award honored the Rev. Dr. Mark McIntosh, Professor of Christian Spirituality at Loyola University Chicago.‌

Gema Kloppe-Santamaría Named a 2020 Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Distinguished Scholar

Congratulations to Gema Kloppe-Santamaría, Assistant Professor of History and a past recipient of a Hank Center research grant, on being named a 2020 Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Distinguished Scholar for her research project In the Name of Christ: Religious Violence and Its Legitimacy in Mexico (1920-2020). She spoke on her research on Wednesday, March 17, at 5:15 PM EDT/ 4:15 CDT.

Stephanie Brehm: Stephen Colbert and Being Catholic in the Public Square

Stephanie N. Brehm of Northwestern University discussed her new book, America’s Most Famous Catholic (According to Himself ): Stephen Colbert and American Religion in the Twenty-First Century.
March 11, 2020, 4:00 - 5:30 PM
IC 4th floor, LSC

Catholic Q&A with Brother Mark Mackey, S.J.

Catholic Q&A offers students an opportunity to dialogue with Jesuits in an intimate and personal setting. Br. Mackey led discussion on “Responsible Hope in the Midst of Environmental Crisis”.
February 20, 6:00 - 7:00 PM
Damen Den, LSC

15 Years at the Hank Center!

Last year we recognized and celebrated 15 amazing years and the generous support the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage has received. Throughout the year we will had several events and initiatives to mark this important milestone.

Envisioning a Livable Future: Environmental Politics

Laudato Si' at 10 Series
April 9, 2025 | Webinar
6:30 pm – 7:45 pm U.S. Eastern Time

What are practical, effective forms of political action to counter the climate crisis and build both solidarity and momentum? Are all the winds countervailing, or are there promising movements and trends?

The fourth of seven events in the serial conference "Envisioning a Livable Future," marking the tenth anniversary of Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato Si': On Care for our Common Home.

Restorative Justice: <i>Unguarded</i> Viewing and Discussion

November 16, 2022 at 7:00 PM
Damen Cinema, LSC
Join us for a viewing of Unguarded, a documentary film that tells the story of successful restorative justice work in Brazil and America through the experience of Association for the Protection and Assistance of the Convicted (APAC). Discussion with film director and producer, Simonetta D'Italia-Wiener, film producer and Loyola Alumnus, T.J. Berden, Loyola Criminal Justice and Criminology Graduate School Alumnus, Phil Whittington, and The Honorable Thomas More Donnelly of Loyola University's School of Law followed viewing. This event was Co-sponsored with the School of Communications, the School of Law, the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, and the Center for Criminal Justice. Free and open to the public.

Envisioning a Livable Future: The Political Economy of Climate Change

Laudato Si' at 10 Series
March 11, 2025 | Webinar
5:30 pm – 6:45 pm U.S. Eastern Time

How do we move from what Pope Francis has called an “economy that kills” both people and planet to an economy that is truly sustainable and just? What are the levers of such a system change, and what are the obstacles to it?

The third of seven events in the serial conference "Envisioning a Livable Future," marking the tenth anniversary of Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato Si': On Care for our Common Home.

Envisioning a Livable Future: The Contribution of Catholic Social Thought | Video Now Available

Laudato Si' at 10 Series
February 17, 2025 | Webinar
6:30 pm – 7:45 pm U.S. Eastern Time

Ten years after the publication of Laudato Si’, what are, or ought to be, the growing edges of Catholic social thought? What does it have to contribute to our understanding of the climate crisis and the development of an ecological conscience?

The second of seven events in the serial conference "Envisioning a Livable Future," marking the tenth anniversary of Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato Si': On Care for our Common Home.

The event video is now available

Envisioning a Livable Future: The Current State of Climate Change | Video Now Available

Laudato Si' at 10 Series
January 29, 2025 | Webinar
6:30 pm – 7:45 pm U.S. Eastern Time

What’s happening? Are we too late? Can we bend the curve even now? What has changed since 2015? Further, what needs to be done, by when, and how to do it?

This was the first of seven events in the serial conference "Envisioning a Livable Future," marking the tenth anniversary of Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato Si': On Care for our Common Home.

The event video is now available

Video Available | Election 2020: "There is no Catholic Vote--and, it's Important"

Fall 2020 Series on Catholic Thought, Citizenship, and the Common Good
Featuring E.J. Dionne, Emma Green, Steven Millies, and Michael Bayer.
September 17, 2020, 4:00 PM
Zoom Forum

2023 Annual Newman Lecture: Dawn Eden Goldstein "You cannot do this without God’s Grace": Newman, Dowling, and Conversion as Daily Practice

March 14, 2023
In the conversionary spirit and legacy of St. John Henry Newman, the Hank Center invites scholars each spring to recount their own discovery (or rediscovery) of the Catholic intellectual heritage. This year featured Dr. Dawn Eden Goldstein who integrated aspects of her own experience with her research for Fr. Ed: The Story of Bill W.'s Spiritual Sponsor--recently released biography of Fr. Ed Dowling, S.J.
This event was free & open to the public. Video now available on the event page.
7:00-8:30 pm
Information Commons 4th Floor, LSC

In Conversation: Hank Center Connects | Micheal O'Siadhail on the Birth of Modernity

In this short segment of a larger interview, Micheal O'Siadhail, acclaimed author of the groundbreaking poetry collection The Five Quintets, discusses the challenges and benefits of interspersing scientific and theological quotations to communicate a sense of the epoch of modernity.

Journeys of Dignity Lecture 2: “St. John Paul II and Pope Francis on Migration”

February 14, 2025
12:00pm – 1:00 pm
Zoom Only
The Hank Center proudly cosponsored Journeys of Dignity: A Lecture series on Migration through the Lens of Catholic Social Teaching and Jesuit Education.
Speaker: Jarek Mikuczewski, S.J., PhD
Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics
Stritch School of Medicine

Interview with Jason Blakely, Author of "Lost in Ideology"

Hank Center Director, Dr. Michael Murphy, sits down with Dr. Jason Blakely, political philosopher, Associate Professor of Political Science at Pepperdine University and author of the new book, "Lost in Ideology." Thirty minutes of rousing conversation about the themes that constitute Dr. Blakely’s timely, needed work.

Lunch with the Saints

This event featured speakers Father Jerome Overbeck, Dr. Michael P. Murphy, and artist David Csiscko. Discussion, hosted lunch, and gallery walk through the Saint Exhibit followed.
Friday, November 1st
11:30 AM-1:00 PM
Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA)
820 N Michigan Avenue (Water Tower Campus)

Journeys of Dignity Lecture 1: “Education and Migration: A Double Helix of Loyola’s Spiritual DNA” | Video now available

January 15, 2025
Zoom Only
The Hank Center was proud to cosponsor Journeys of Dignity: A Lecture series on Migration through the Lens of Catholic Social Teaching and Jesuit Education.
Speakers: Michael Canaris, PhD, Institute for Pastoral Studies
Aleja Sastoque Luna, MA, Campus Ministry

The event video is now available.

VIDEO AVAILABLE | Catholicism in Dialogue: Conversations on Racial Justice

An ecumenical and interfaith conversation exploring racial justice in Judaism, Islam, Catholicism, and Baha’i. Featuring Pastor Chris Harris (Bright Star Church Chicago), Omer M. Mozaffar (LUC), Steve Sarowitz (Baha'i Faith), and Rabbi Michal Woll (Congregation Shir Hadash). This thought-provoking event is part of our series on Catholicism in Dialogue.
September 22, 2021, 4:00-5:30 PM CDT
Zoom Forum

Remembering Pope Benedict

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a leading theologian of the 20th century and the first pope to resign from office in nearly 600 years, died on December 31st at the age of 95. The Hank Center has compiled some of the remembrances of Pope Benedict which focus not only on his life, but also his legacy.

VIDEO AVAILABLE | Conversations on the Catholic Imagination: Why Dante Matters Today

Marking the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death—and his enduring influence on the Catholic imagination in theology, art, politics, and culture. Part of our series of Conversations on the Catholic Imagination. Featuring Fr. Stephen Gregg (Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey), Angela Alaimo O’Donnell (Fordham University), Randy Boyagoda (University of Toronto), and Paul Mariani (Boston College, retired).
September 9, 2021, 4:00-5:30 PM CDT
Zoom Forum

Living Tradition Award Luncheon: Honoring Fr. Dan Hartnett, S.J.

April 15, 2025 | 11:30am–2:00pm

Each spring the Hank Center presents the Living Tradition Award to a retired Loyola University Chicago faculty member who has exemplified the integration of Catholic thought into their work. This award commemorates extraordinary lives of scholarship, research, service, and teaching in specific fields of expertise. This year we honor Fr. Dan Hartnett, S.J., an exemplary practitioner of Catholic Jesuit education and service--and a key voice in the foundation of the Hank Center.

By Invitation Only

Videos Available | A Prophet is Not Known in Her Town: Conversations on Visionary Women

Sr. Carol Zinn, SSJ, Ph.D., offered the keynote address for this special two-day symposium.
September 24 & 25, 2020

Dr. Joe Vukov featured on the AMDG Podcast

The Hank Center's Associate Director, Dr. Joe Vukov was recently interviewed in AMDG: A Jesuit podcast, discussing his new book, Staying Human in an Era of Artificial Intelligence.

Listen to the podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts. Check out Joe's new book here.

Congratulations, Joe!

Video Available| Conversations on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition: Catholic Higher Education in the 21st Century <br>Nexus Journal Launch

St. John Paul II proposed in in the landmark Ex Corde Ecclesiae “that a Catholic university unites “the search for the truth with the certainty of already knowing the fount of truth.” Thirty years later, what are the implications and challenges of this “constitution for Catholic higher education” for teachers, researchers, thinkers, and students in Catholic universities? Three Loyola professors and a doctoral student discussed education as the pursuit of truth, the philosophical and pedagogical balance between reason and faith, and challenges encountered in the multicultural landscape of the 21st Century. This event marked the launch of the Hank Center's journal, Nexus: Conversations on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. Presented in partnership with Mission Integration.
October 14, 2021, 3:30-5:00 PM CDT
Zoom Forum

Video Available| Faith in Focus Film Series: The Two Popes

The Two Popes is a moving portrayal of the real-life friendship between Pope Benedict XVI and the future Pope Francis. View the post-film discussion with Michael P. Murphy, Director of the Hank Center.
October 8, 2020, 7:00 PM CDT
Zoom Forum

Read More About Our Historic Event With Pope Francis

Interested in reading more about the 2022 event with Pope Francis? Below are two highlighted pieces, but all of the conversation surrounding this historic event can be seeing by clicking on the title above.
Pope Francis to meet with college students in virtual dialogue hosted by Chicago's Loyola University
By Brian Fraga
National Catholic Reporter
Pope Francis to speak with Loyola University of Chicago Students
Fox News 32 Chicago

“Is Catholicism's 'Woman Problem' a History Problem?” Teilhard de Chardin Lecture featuring Dr. Bronwen McShea

March 20, 2025
7:00-8:30 PM
Information Commons, 4th Floor, Lake Shore Campus

The Hank Center is honored to welcome the Spring, 2025 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. Fellow in Catholic Studies, Dr. Bronwen McShea, to offer this year’s Teilhard lecture.

This event is free and all are welcome

Highlights of the Third Biennial Catholic Imagination Conference

View a video retrospective on the 2019 Catholic Imagination Conference

Primitive Mysteries

November 21–24
Newhart Family Theatre, Loyola University Chicago, Lake Shore Campus

The Hank Center is proud to cosponsor Primitive Mysteries, Martha Graham’s 1931 masterpiece. This multi-layered series is a production of the Dance division of Loyola’s Department of Fine and Performing Art–led by Professor Sandra Kaufmann–and is its distinct project for the fall, 2024. Please join us for a signature performance and post-concert discussion on November 22 with Professor Sandra Kaufmann, Renée Darline Roden, and Dr. Michael Murphy, Director of the Hank Center.

Flannery Abroad: A Conference in Celebration of Flannery O'Connor's Centenary

June 6-8, 2025 | 7pm CST

Fordham University London, 2 Eyre St Hill, London, EC1R 5ET, United Kingdom

Call For Paper Proposal Deadline: February 14, 2025

Flannery O'Connor famously didn't like to travel. Nonetheless, in the tradition of the previous International Flannery O'Connor Conferences, we are taking O'Connor abroad in honor of her 100th birthday and to celebrate O’Connor’s influence on European writers, thinkers, and artists.

Sponsored by Fordham's Curran Center for American Catholic Studies, Loyola Chicago's Hank Center, Georgetown University, The Flannery O'Connor Trust.

The Way Forward Conference 2024

Laudato Si': Protecting Our Common Home, Building Our Common Church
University of San Diego, San Diego, CA
February 21-23, 2024

The title for this third annual ecclesial gathering was Laudato Si’: Protecting Our Common Home, Building Our Common Church, and was held at the University of San Diego on February 21 - 23, 2024. This year’s event, which brought together a select group of Cardinals, other Bishops, scholars, and journalists, focused on the encyclical, Laudato Si’, the recent exhortation Laudete Deum, and the reception of their themes in the Catholic Church in the U.S.

The gathering was organized by the Hank Center, Boston College’s Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture, and the Center for Catholic Studies at Sacred Heart University. It was hosted on the USD campus by the Frances G. Harpst Center for Catholic Thought and Culture.

Video Available| Reconciliation, Reparations, and Racial Justice in Healthcare: What do Catholic Institutions Owe? | October 28

October 28, 2020, 7:00 - 8:00 PM CDT
What would it look like for Catholic universities, medical schools, hospital systems, and other employers to implement true racial justice? What form might reparations take? White Coats for Black Lives at Loyola's Stritch School of Medicine hosted this series of important conversations. This series is supported by the Hank Center and other valued cosponsors.

Announcing the Hank Fellowships in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition for Graduate Students

The Hank Center administers yearly fellowships for graduate students who have demonstrated superior academic achievement and offer promise as scholars, teachers, and authors who will contribute to the dynamic life of the Catholic intellectual tradition. Learn More on our Fellowships Page

Building Bridges Initiative

Loyola University Chicago had the honor of hosting Pope Francis for his historic visit with college students on February 24, 2022. Yet this was just the beginning of the Building Bridges Initiative. Click here to read more and learn how you can be involved in this ongoing initiative.

The 2025 St. John Henry Newman Lecture: Abigail Favale

February 19, 7-8:30PM
Information Commons, 4th Floor, LSC

This year’s lecturer was Dr. Abigail Favale of the McGrath Center at the University of Notre Dame. Her story brings to life the wrenching tumult of conversion--a conversion that began after she entered the Church and began to pry open its mysteries. There she discovered the startling beauty of a sacramental cosmos, a vision of reality that upended her notions of gender, sexuality, identity, and authority. This is a thoroughly 21st century conversion, a compelling account of recovering an ancient faith after a decade of doubt. As Dr. Favale writes, "There are events in life that leave you changed forever, right down to the very roots and heart of your being, because they go 'into the deep.'”

Integrity and Accountability in the Catholic Church

Given the recent revelations reported in the news, our panel of experts discussed what all this means. After initial comments, Q&A from the audience followed. Panelists: Justice Anne M. Burke, Dr. Jennifer Haselberger, and Dr. Richard Gaillardetz. October 11 from 7:00-8:30 PM in Regents Hall, Lewis Towers, WTC. Co-sponsored by the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage and the Institute for Pastoral Studies.

Video Available | <i>A Canticle for Leibowitz</i> and the Monastic Figure in a Dystopian World

January 26, 2021
Avoiding excesses of both pietism and pessimism, Walter M. Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz has an enduring relevance. Video is available of this conversation about this classic of speculative fiction -- a novel that rhymes with many realities of 21st Century life. Featuring Fr. Stephen Gregg, O. Cist. in dialogue with Katy Carl, Editor in Chief of Dappled Things.

Video Available | Publication Lecture with Deborah E. Kanter: <i>Chicago Católico: Making Catholic Parishes Mexican</i>

Featured Deborah E. Kanter speaking on themes from her 2020 publication Chicago Católico: Making Catholic Parishes Mexican. This event was cosponsored by the History Department.
February 23, 2021, 4:00 PM CST
Zoom Forum

VIDEO AVAILABLE | A Better Way to Work: Pope Francis, the Care Economy, and the Future of Work

In the aftermath of the global pandemic, the economic value of care reemerges as what it has always been: a matter of human dignity and justice. Re-prioritizing care requires new mindsets--from building a world that is socially and environmentally just, to reevaluating the meaning of decent work in contemporary life, to developing feasible economic and public policies that place care of people and care of environment at the center of life. We were honored to host a dialogue about these crucial questions.
June 22, 2021, 11:30 AM CDT
Zoom Forum

Kathy Osberger Book Lecture: I Surrender: A Memoir of Chile's Dictatorship, 1975

February 5, 2024 at 4:00 pm
McCormick Lounge, Coffey Hall, LSC
Loyola welcomed Kathleen Osberger for a talk on her recently published memoir, I Surrender: A Memoir of Chile's Dictatorship, 1975. In September 1973, a CIA-assisted coup overthrew the democratically-elected president of Chile, ushering in the Pinochet dictatorship. In 1975, Kathleen Osberger, a recent graduate and lay volunteer from Notre Dame, left for Santiago to teach in a Catholic grade school. Upon arrival, she was told a secret: the religious women she would live with sheltered dissidents in the cross-hairs of Pinochet’s secret police. Soon, Osberger is handed a blindfold, a warrant, and must go on the run. This lecture is sponsored by Catholic Studies and the Hank Center. Students, arrive early to arrive early to receive a complementary copy of the book!
Event Video Coming Soon.

Father Stu Screening with Featured Guest Mark Wahlberg

We recently co-hosted a special premiere screening of Father Stu starring Mark Wahlberg here at Loyola University Chicago. Mark Wahlberg was in attendance for some comments and introduction to this film for a full audience at the Damen Cinema on campus. Father Stu is based on a true story of Father Stuart Long, an amateur boxer who discovered his calling in the Church.
March 3, 2022, 7:00-9:30 PM CT
Damen Cinema

Second Annual Catholic Studies Centers and Programs Symposium

September 8-10, 2022
By Invitation Only
The Hank Center welcomed over 50 national scholars, leaders, and directors of centers in Catholic Studies. Topics for this year's symposium include:
Teaching Catholic Studies:What is distinctive about teaching in Catholic Studies? Catholic Studies course?
Outside the Classroom:What roles, over and above offering courses, does Catholic Studies play in an institution?
Faith, Reason, and Justice:How do faith, reason, and justice inform Catholic practice in the professions?
You can learn more about this symposium by clicking here.

Recommended Reading

Each month CCIH will recommend new and notable books that integrate, interrogate, and celebrate the Catholic intellectual and artistic tradition.

Video Available | War, Peace, and the Catholic Imagination

This event featured National Book Award winning novelist Phil Klay and multiple award winning poet Philip Metres discussing how violence, warfare, and oppression are mediated through an imagination that knows the profound failure of such human endeavors. Part of our series of Conversations on the Catholic Imagination.
March 11, 2021, 4:00 PM CST
Zoom Forum

Videos Available| Spring 2021 Series | Catholic Higher Education in Light of Catholic Social Thought

Read more about our multi-part series on the publication Catholic Higher Education in Light of Catholic Social Thought: Critical-Constructive Essays, edited by Bernard Prusak and Jennifer Reed-Bouley. This series was cosponsored by The Ann Ida Gannon Center for Women and Leadership.
Spring Semester 2021

Nexus: Conversations on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

New Issue!
Nexus is a digital-age journal that amplifies and publishes scholarly dialogue taking place in the Hank Center.
With its focus on the critical and creative work of younger, emerging scholars, Volume III: Catholic Imaginations both honors and continues this work by exploring the Catholic Imagination, one expression and offspring of the Catholic intellectual tradition.
May these pieces, provided by the next generation of Catholic artists and scholars, stimulate insight and engender constructive, life-giving conversation.

Things Hidden: The Life and Legacy of René Girard Screening & Discussion with Director Sam Sorich and Producer Trevor Cribben Merrill

September 12, 2024 | 7pm CDT
Damen Cinema, Lake Shore Campus

As part of the Faith in Focus series, the Hank Center screened "Things Hidden: The Life and Legacy of René Girard" and facilitated a discussion with director Sam Sorich and producer Trevor Cribben Merrill. This is a timely new documentary about René Girard, the thinker who coined "mimetic desire." Offering a deeply personal portrait of Girard the man and a sweeping narrative of his unfolding thought, "Things Hidden: The Life and Legacy of René Girard" explores the French polymath's passion for intellectual discovery, his midlife religious conversion, and his quest to uncover the violent origins of human culture.

Sam Sawyer Event Video: Now Available

Second Annual Jesuit Lecture: Video Now Available

2024 Annual Cardinal Bernardin Lecture featuring Papal Nuncio, Cardinal Christophe Pierre

April 11, 2024 at 7pm
McCormick Lounge, Coffey Hall, LSC
This lecture, named after Joseph Bernardin, Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago from 1982 to 1996, for his influential work toward Church reform after the Second Vatican Council through his Catholic Common Ground Initiative. Bernardin further sought to address social issues, especially in developing his “Seamless Garment Ethic of Life" He also worked toward ecumenism and interfaith dialogue throughout his life. This year’s Bernardin Lecturer was Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States. His lecture entitled, "Pope Francis: Discernment and the Dialectic of Mercy," explored the transformative power of grace and learning the language of mercy through dialectical encounters.
This event was free and open to the public. Video available using the link above.

Fourth Biennial Catholic Imagination Conference

Along with Cowan Center at the University of Dallas and a host of others, the Hank Center was pleased to once again serve as a major co-sponsor of the Fourth Biennial Catholic Imagination Conference last fall. This one-of-a-kind conference was held from September 30 - October 1, 2022 in Dallas; and, in a style that is characteristic of this conference, the circle expanded, and the session rooms were bursting at the seams. More than 400 attendees delighted in an array of substantive speakers and topics, spent good time and treasure in the bustling book room, and shared lovely meals and conversation with one another. View the program, proceedings, and session videos by clicking the title of this post -- and we hope to see you for CIC Number Five at the University of Notre Dame in the fall of 2024. All are Welcome!

Continental Philosophy Symposium

April 4-6, 2024
Regents Hall, Lewis Towers, WTC
The so-called “theological turn” of the mid-20th Century describes the several ways that Continental philosophy is frequently taken up in Catholic academic settings– both as a courting of religious belief and, as frequently, a way past belief. At the same time, debates within Continental Philosophy about secularization, atheism and the deconstruction of Christianity directly mark the decline of ontotheology in the West, which demands an opening to non-European voices. The rise of these secular forms becomes a critique of the West from within, a self-reflexive gesture made in the wake of the death of Europe’s God, while also providing liberation for those on the margins of its ‘civilizing’, violent ethos. This conference hosted an array of leading global voices–scholars who interrogated these questions and a host of others.
This event was a closed meeting by invitation only.

Leadership Roundtable: Catholic Partnership Summit

Living Synodal Leadership: Our Call to a Unified Church
The Hank Center was pleased to once again cosponsor the annual meeting of Leadership Roundtable in Washington DC. Featured speakers addressed tangible ways our Church answers the call to heal, strengthen, and unify the body of Christ. Representing a diversity of voices, perspectives, and experiences, they will share how they are living synodal leadership and offer best practices for other leaders. This meeting was by invitation only. You can learn more about the event by clicking here.

Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network: Panel Discussion with Cardinal Cupich

February 21, 2024
Time TBD
Location: The Athenaeum
The Hank Center is proud to support Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network, a much needed initiative created by the Honorable Thomas More Donnelly– Cook County Judge, Loyola Law Faculty, and Board Member at the Hank Center. Judge Donnelly will engage a panel of experts–including Cardinal Cupich and Jeannie Bishop–on this central movement and mandate of Restorative Justice. We joined our friends at Lumen Christi (who convened this conversation) and our friends at the Historic Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture at St. Alphonsus Ligouri (who hosted it). This event was by invitation only. If interested, please contact the Hank Center for more information.
Read the NCR report about this event by Heidi Schlumpf using the link above

In Stride with St. Ignatius: A Weeklong Pilgrimage to Sanctuaries and Cities in Spain

May 10-17, 2020
POSTPONED
Faculty, staff, and alumni of Loyola University Chicago are invited to join Father D. Scott Hendrickson, S.J., on a Spain pilgrimage in the footsteps of St. Ignatius. As part of the University's 150th anniversary in 2020 and celebrating 150 years of Ignatian heritage, the institution draws from the rich spiritual and pedagogical tradition established by St. Ignatius and his first companions.

2024 Annual Newman Lecture featuring Jason Blakely

February 27, 2024
7:00pm
McCormick Lounge
The St. John Henry Newman Lecture Series is named after the great 19th century English prelate who wrote movingly about his intellectual journey toward Roman Catholicism in his spiritual autobiography, Apologia pro vita sua (1864). Newman's work helped later generations of Catholics and converts map out ways to understand the datum of religious faith in light of the contemporary issues facing modern life. Honoring this engagement with the Catholic tradition, CCIH invites scholars each spring to recount their own discovery (or rediscovery) of the Catholic intellectual heritage in light of their ongoing scholarship. This year’s lecturer was Professor Jason Blakely from Pepperdine University. Dr. Blakely is a Political Philosopher and a leading scholar of contemporary "communitarian" and post-liberal thought, especially the work of philosophers Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor.Event Video Available Now!

Zoom Forum
All Are Welcome
This event included:
Remarks by Ann Strandoo of RISE
Interviews with student refugees, both here and abroad
Remarks from Fr. James Martin, SJ
A performance by the International Orchestra of Refugees (founded and directed by Loyola graduate Sebastian Agignoae)
An Examen prayer led by Jesuit Scholastics.
Thursday, April 22, 2021
4:00 - 5:15 PM CDT

Common Home Corps

The Hank Center of Loyola University Chicago is proud to support and host the Common Home Corps (CHC). The CHC is a grant-bearing initiative that addresses the related challenges of climate change, youth climate anxiety, Catholic disaffiliation, and lack of the U.S. Church’s fidelity to creation care. This program empowers young adults (18-35) to catalyze climate action in their parishes and dioceses by building on Pope Francis’s “culture of encounter.” The project is collaboratively led by Catholic Climate Covenant, the Hank Center and the School of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola University Chicago, and the Center for Justice and Peace at Creighton University.
Applications for the 2024 program participation will open soon.
See the 2023 Common Home Corps Reflection video using the link above.

An Evening with Micheal O'Siadhail

The Hank Center was most pleased to welcome Micheal O'Siadhail, Irish poet of international renown, for the unveiling of his latest poetry collection, The Five Quintets. Acknowledging both Dante's Divine Comedy and T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, O'Siadhail offers a sweeping reflection on modernity on the cusp of the first-ever global century. Thank you to those who joined us for readings by and conversation with one of the literary titans of our age. Watch the video recording of this reading on the event page.

The Synod and Women: Which Way to the Future?

September 27 at 4pm
Damen Student Center, Sister Jean MPR North
We were pleased to cohost a talk from Phyllis Zagano, an internationally claimed Catholic scholar and lecturer on contemporary spirituality and women's issues in the church. Dr. Zagano belonged to the 2016-2018 Papal Commission for the study of the Diaconate of Women and holds a research appointment at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York.
Free to attend for Loyola students, faculty, and staff.
Registration Required. Co-sponsored by the Women and Leadership Archives, University Libraries, and Gannon Center for Women and Leadership.

Hank Center Fellows Highlight

We are proud to highlight and celebrate the accomplishments of our Hank Center Fellows. Introducing Zachary Taylor, a doctoral candidate in Religious Ethics at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His dissertation, “An Augustinian Ethic of Collective Memory,” explores whether and on what basis Christians can justify collective memorial duties in the political sphere. You can learn more about Zachary and his research, as well as all of our other past and present Hank Center Fellows by clicking here.

Reckoning with History: Jesuit Slaveholding and the Present Work of Restorative Justice

October 17–18, 2024
Information Commons 4th Floor, Lake Shore Campus

The Hank Center welcomed Rachel L. Swarns, longtime correspondent with the New York Times and author of The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church, as keynote speaker for this multi-day event. The objective was to examine Georgetown University as a main basis from which to reflect on the following questions: How should we as individuals, as a university, as a church approach this history? How do we remember these truths and engage with proper recognition? Who should be a part of this ongoing conversation? What steps should be taken to move forward toward restorative justice and reconciliation? How might the Catholic intellectual and social traditions serve as a resource to these topics, requirements, and questions?

This two-day colloquium was co-sponsored by Loyola University Chicago's Institute for Racial Justice.

Admission is free and all are welcome.

Video Available| Catholic Vote 2020: How Will Faith be a Factor?

Featuring Cathleen Kaveny, Matthew Sitman, and Kenneth Woodward.
October 28, 2020, 7:00 PM CDT
Zoom Forum

Flannery: The Storied Life of the Writer from Georgia

An award winning film by Elizabeth Coffman and Mark Bosco, SJ. Production of this film was supported by the Hank Center and it premiered at the 2019 Catholic Imagination Conference. It premiered on PBS American Masters on March 23 (check local listings).

Healing the Wounds of Racism

August 26, 5:00 PM
The Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago and co-sponsors hosted a discussion with members of Chicago's Back of the Yards community and the Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation. Free and open to the public. Registration required.

Common Home Corps #3

June, 2025
Closed meeting and by invitation only

The Common Home Corps is a grant-bearing initiative that addresses the related challenges of climate change, youth climate anxiety, Catholic disaffiliation, and lack of the U.S. Church’s fidelity to creation care. The project is collaboratively led by Catholic Climate Covenant, The Hank Center and the School of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola University Chicago, and the Center for Justice and Peace at Creighton University. Twenty-five undergrads and young adults from across the US attended the first week-long training in June, 2023; and the setting of Cohort Three is underway– as Cohorts One and Two continue to work in the field.

The Pleasures of Pseudepigraphy Conference

March 30-31, 2025

Loyola University Chicago | Lake Shore Campus

Building on a growing body of recent scholarship on ancient pseudepigraphy and the varied ways in which ancient writers attributed texts to others, this conference will center the genre of the letter with an examination of epistolary fictions. We will consider what features particular to a letter make it particularly well suited for ancient pseudepigraphy, such as the ways it mediates presence across distance and associates itself with a particular personality.

The event will begin with a pre-conference graduate student symposium, drawing students from the University of Notre Dame and Loyola University Chicago for lightning-round presentations of their research and faculty responses. The conference will officially commence with an invited plenary lecture. On the second day, scholars from the fields of classical studies, ancient Judaism, and ancient Christianity will present pre-circulated papers in seminar format.

Sponsored by the Hank Center, the Loyola University Chicago Department of Theology and Department of Classical Studies.

Video Available| Stephen Schloesser, S.J. | THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING: Taking the Roots of our Traditions and Making for the Mountain

In his lecture, The Hank Center’s 2021 Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. Fellow, Dr. Stephen Schloesser, S.J., explored the ways that we can re-source the Catholic intellectual heritage so that we might creatively engender its innovative radiance. What elements of our traditions might we draw from as we as we make for the mountain? What materials, attitudes, and dispositions will we need?
October 26, 2021, 4:00-5:15 PM CDT
Zoom Forum

Videos Available| Signs of the Times: Context, Contingency, Crisis

This day-long symposium offered reflections on major events and current affairs impacting Catholics, the Church, and the study of theology and ethics today. Featured current LUC doctoral students and recent graduates.
April 23, 2021, 9:00 AM
Zoom Forum

Catholic Studies Minor Retreat: Finding Your Place - February 15 - 16

Join Catholic Studies minors for an overnight retreat at LUREC to explore our place in the church, culture, and Loyola community today. All students welcome! You don't have to be a Catholic Studies minor to attend. For more information, contact: mmurphy23@luc.edu

Videos Available | Catholic Higher Education in Light of Catholic Social Thought

View videos of the events in our series based on the book Catholic Higher Education in Light of Catholic Social Thought: Critical-Constructive Essays

Student Perspectives on Building Bridges North-South

Loyola students were excited to welcome Pope Francis! Please view our welcome message where students shared their hopes and dreams for the future. Video Available Here

Inaugural Jesuit Lecture: Bill McCormick, SJ The Christian Structure of Politics: On the De Regno of Thomas Aquinas

March 22, 2023
In an age dominated by guilt for historical complicity in violence and injustice, how are Christians to engage in public life? Through a reading of Aquinas’ De regno, McCormick argues for a political theology that is both public in its commitment to justice and humble in its awareness of the injustices in which it has been complicit.
This event was free & open to the public.
7:00-8:30 pm (with a Zoom Option)
Information Commons 4th Floor, LSC

Video Available| Race, Justice, and Catholicism

A conversation hosted by the Lumen Christi Institute and cosponsored by the Hank Center, featuring distinguished legal scholars Herschella Conyers, Vincent Rougeau, and Eduardo Peñalver.
Monday, June 22, 5:00 PM CDT

2023 Annual Cardinal Bernardin Common Cause Lecture - Bishop John Stowe, O.F.M. CONV.

April 11, 2023
The Cardinal Bernardin Common Cause lecture series provides Catholic prelates a platform to engage people of good will in common cause with the Church on important issues facing us today. The Hank Center welcomed our 2023 Bernardin Lecturer - the Most Rev. John Stowe, O.F.M. Conv., Bishop of Lexington, Kentucky.
This event was free & open to the public.
7:00-8:30 pm. Event video now available.
McCormick Lounge, Coffey Hall, LSC

“Teología del Pueblo”: The People of God in the Theology of Pope Francis

The John Courtney Murray, SJ Chair in Public Service and the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage at Loyola University Chicago will host Fr. Carlos María Galli, Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, for a panel discussion on the Pope's ecclesiological vision.

Welcome and Protect: Jesuit Refugee Service's Response to the Ukraine Crisis

February 9, 2023
Video now available. We were pleased to welcome Jesuit Refugee Services staff members, Diana Haidemak, a legal counselor for JRS Romania, and Oleana Zinkevych, Ukrainian Team Coordinator. Diana and Oleana shared stories from their work providing support to refugees from Ukraine, as well as refugees from across other parts of the world.
This event was free & open to the public.
4:00-5:00 pm (with a Zoom Option)
McCormick Lounge, Coffey Hall, LSC

"In Defense of Others, In Defense of Faith: The Camden 28 Trial and the Vietnam War" with Michelle Nickerson

September 18, 2024 | 4:30pm CDT
Ceremonial Courtroom, Corboy Law Center, Water Tower Campus

Historian Michelle Nickerson joined us for the debut of her new book, Spiritual Criminals: How the Camden 28 Put the Vietnam War on Trial . Defendant Kathleen "Cookie" Ridolfi (Emerita, Santa Clara School of Law) and expert witness Joseph Daoust S.J. (Red Cloud School) gave reflections.

Video Available| Venerating the Saints: An Ancient Tradition Actual Today

On November 1, 2020, the Lumen Christi Institute hosted John W. O'Malley, S.J. for this talk in honor of All Saints' Day. Co-sponsored by the Hank Center and many others.

Catholic Vote 2020: How Will Faith be a Factor?

October 28, 2020, 7:00 - 8:30 PM

A Better Way to Work: Pope Francis, the Care Economy, and the Future of Work

June 22, 2021, 11:30 AM CDT
Zoom Forum
In the aftermath of the global pandemic, the economic value of care reemerges as what it has always been: a matter of human dignity and justice. Re-prioritizing care requires new mindsets--from building a world that is socially and environmentally just, to reevaluating the meaning of decent work in contemporary life, to developing feasible economic and public policies that place care of people and care of environment at the center of life. We were pleased to host a dialogue about these crucial questions. This event was free and open to the public.

Through the Lens of Data: The Enslaved Population Owned & Sold by the Maryland Province Jesuits

The Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities and CCIH hosted special guest speaker Sharon Leon of Michigan State University, who talked about her work on the Jesuit Plantation Project. This event was also the first in a new Jesuit Studies Series being offered by the Hank Center.
Friday, February 22, 2 PM
McCormick Lounge, Coffey Hall

Robert Alter: The Challenge of Translating the Bible

Professor Alter is author of more than 20 books of criticism, translation, and commentary, most recently The Art of Bible Translation (2019). His complete translation of the Hebrew Bible, a work 24 years in the making, was published by W.W. Norton in 2018 and has been acclaimed as stylistically faithful to the Hebrew while inventively artful in English.
Februrary 26, 2020, 4:00 PM
IC 4th Floor

Video Available| Conversations on the Catholic Imagination<br>Book Discussion with Cardinal Seán O'Malley<br><i>The Relevance of the Stars: Christ, Culture, Destiny</i>

Cardinal Seán O’Malley and Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete were friends for decades, starting before the latter entered the seminary. Though their particular paths in the Church diverged – O’Malley became the Archbishop of Boston and Albacete went on to lead the Communion and Liberation movement in the U.S. -- they shared a passion not only for the rich tradition of Catholic culture and thought but also for addressing the urgent question of how to live a Christian life in a postmodern era. The publication of a posthumous collection of some of Albacete’s most brilliant talks and essays -- “The Relevance of the Stars: Christ, Culture, Destiny” -- provided a perfect opportunity to reflect on the Mystical Monsignor’s legacy as a theologian, pastor, and public intellectual.
November 18, 2021, 6:00-7:30 PM CST
Zoom Forum

Video Available| Election Round-Up: Results, Reflection, Renewal

With Molly Andolina, Amanda Bryan, Miguel Diaz, Steven P. Millies, and Bernard Prusak.
November 5, 2020, 7:00 - 8:30 PM

The Way Forward 2025 | Fratelli tutti: Cultivating the Politics of Communion and Compassion

Fordham University, NYC
March 12–14, 2025

This year’s meeting, Fratelli tutti: Cultivating the Politics of Communion and Compassion brings together a select group of Cardinals, other Bishops, scholars, public-facing Catholics, and journalists to focus on Pope Francis’ encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, its specific themes of social friendship and a “better kind of politics,” and the reception of these themes in the Catholic Church in the U.S.

On Humility: Christopher Bellitto Book Lecture

November 12, 2024 | 7pm CST
McCormick Lounge, Coffey Hall, Lake Shore Campus

Humility, a cultural history and biography of the idea of humility, argues that the frightening alternative to humility has been the death of civility. In this book, Bellitto explores humility in Greco-Roman history, philosophy, and literature; in the ancient and medieval Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scriptures and sermons; in the Enlightenment; and in contemporary discussions of education in virtue and citizenship.

Research Fellowship Applications Now Available

Applications Due March 1, 2020.
Research fellowship of $2000 available to declared Catholic Studies minors. Completed applications must be submitted online through Loyola Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (LUROP). Awards will be announced on April 15. For more information about this research fellowship or the Catholic Studies Minor, email Dr. Michael P. Murphy at mmurphy23@luc.edu.

Video Available | The 2021 Saint John Henry Newman Lecture: Dr. Jennifer Frey

Jennifer Frey, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina, offers the 2021 Newman Lecture, which invites scholars to recount their own discovery of the Catholic intellectual tradition in light of their ongoing research and thought. Professor Frey, a convert to Catholicism, shared part of her spiritual autobiography-- with special attention to Augustine, Aquinas, and John Paul II-- and provide observations on dynamic relationship between faith and culture.
March 25, 2021, 4:00 PM CDT
Zoom Forum

VIDEO AVAILABLE | The 2021 Cardinal Bernardin Common Cause Lecture: Cardinal Joseph Tobin

Cardinal Joseph Tobin, C.Ss.R., Archbishop of Newark, offered the 2021 Bernardin Lecture, which seeks to engage LUC’s community in dialogue about issues facing the Church today. Co-sponsored by Loyola’s Jesuit Community.
May 4, 2021, 4:00 PM CDT
Zoom Forum

Election 2020: "There is no Catholic Vote--and, it's Important"

September 17, 2020, 4:00 PM

Panel and Reception at the North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting

May 24 | 4:00-6:00 PM
Lewis Towers, Water Tower Campus

This year marks the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicea, the first ecumenical council of the Church. Convened by the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine I, the council’s legacies are as contentious as they are historically and theologically signficant. Seventeen centuries later, what does it mean to teach Nicea? How do we approach it as simultaneously an historical document, a creed, a confession of faith, a cultural artifact, and an eccesial event? The Hank Center is hosting special panel session and reception to end the NAPS annual meeting.
This event is free & open to the public.

Conversations on the Catholic Imagination

Videos from the superb panels at the Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination Conference in May-- including an hour-long conversation with Martin Scorsese-- are now available here.

Reading the Catholic Imagination

Reading the Catholic Imagination is back for its second summer! RCI is an online summer reading and discussion series for readers and writers to explore together the Catholic literary imagination in its myriad forms: in new work by self-professed Catholic writers; in the crossings and convergences of old and new work, religious and secular; and in our own habits of reading. Registration will run from May 30 - June 30, 2024. Please see the link for more details about session offerings!

VIDEO AVAILABLE | Spirit and the Machine: Catholic Responses to an Increasingly Artificial World

An interdisciplinary conversation with Fr. Phillip Larrey (Pontifical Lateran University), Ann Skeet (Santa Clara University), and John W. Farrell (journalist) on Artificial intelligence (AI), one of the most important technologies in the world today-- but also one rife with serious spiritual, social and ethical questions.
May 12, 2021, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM CDT
Zoom Forum

Conversations on the Catholic Imagination

A public voices archive featuring writers, poets, playwrights, and more. Recorded at the 2019 Catholic Imagination Conference.

The Inaugural Graduate Summer Institute on the Catholic Imagination

“The definition of Christian art is to be found in its subject and its spirit. Everything, sacred and profane, belongs to it. God does not ask for “religious” art or “Catholic” art. The art he wants for himself is Art, with all its teeth.”
― Jacques Maritain, Art and Scholasticism (1935)
We are pleased to announce that after some delays due to the pandemic, the Inaugural Graduate Summer Institute on the Catholic Imagination occurred in Summer 2022. You can learn more about the sessions and GSI faculty here.

Faculty Seminar

The Hank Center has been tasked by the university to offer an innovative seminar for faculty and administrators on the mission of the university and its commitment to social justice.

<i>Fratelli Tutti</i>: A Conversation Addressing Pope Francis’s New Encyclical on Human Solidarity and its Socio-Political Implications for the United States

October 16, 2020, 12:00 - 1:30 PM
During this time when our nation experiences an unprecedented health and socio-political crisis, a nationally recognized panel of voices explored the teaching of this encyclical on human solidarity and draw some concrete implications for this pivotal moment in our nation’s history. With M. Shawn Copeland, John Gehring, Carmen Nanko-Fernández, and Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv.This event is free and open to the public. Registration Required.

<i>Lured: The Curse of Swans</i>

This play portrays three Irish women coming to terms with the death of Paddy, their husband and father, familial estrangement, and struggles for senses of personal authenticity. Written by Terry Boyle (Department of English) and directed by Becca Holloway.
April 11-13th
8:00 p.m.
Mullady Theatre, Mertz Hall

Video Available| Steven P. Millies | "The Gift of Our People": A Fresh Look at Our Faithful Citizenship in a Foreboding Moment

The Hank Center was honored to welcome the fall 2020 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. Fellow in Catholic Studies, Steven P. Millies. Dr. Millies is associate professor of public theology and director of The Bernardin Center at Catholic Theological Union.
October 29, 2020, 4:00 PM

<i>The Future of Catholicism in America</i> Discussion

In-depth dialogue on the publication The Future of Catholicism in America. Editors Patricia O’Connell Killen & Mark Silk, alongside other scholars, discussed themes explored in the book

SPRING 2019: <i>Quo Vadis?</i> Scholars and Journalists Discuss the Future of Catholicism

Catholicism in America is at a crossroads. What are the hopes and challenges of American Catholics today? Thanks to those who joined our panelists for a conversation on accountability, leadership, participation, and other issues facing the Church in America.

'No Kind of Place': Location, Migration, and Imagination

The Hank Center was pleased once again to cosponsor the International Flannery O'Connor Conference, hosted virtually this year by Nipissing University in North Bay, Ontario, Canada on August 2-3, 2021 and honoring the 57th anniversary of Flannery's death. The conference was held via Zoom and featured 24 presentations, music, film and poetry celebrating O'Connor's life and work, including audio drama of the short story "Revelation"--adapted and set by Karin Coonrod--on the evening of Monday, August 2nd.
August 2 & 3, 2021
Zoom Event

An evening with Marco Impagliazzo. “Religions: Leading the Way towards a Peaceful World”

October 19, 2023
7:00-8:30 PM CDT. Ignatius House, Lake Shore Campus
The Hank Center and the Jesuit Community were delighted to welcome Marco Impagliazzo, President of the Community of Sant’Egidio, for an evening of insight and conversation. Founded just after Vatican II, Sant’Egidio is a Christian community that pays close attention to the periphery and peripheral people– gathering men and women of all ages and conditions, uniting all by a fraternal tie through the listening of the Gospel, and a practicing voluntary commitment with (and for) the poor so as to engender peace. Sant’Egidio has become a network of communities in more than 70 countries of the world. Pope Francis asked Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, a longtime member of the Community of Sant’Egidio, to lead his mission for peace in Ukraine. Dr. Impagliazzo, a professor of History at University of Roma Tre, has been instrumental in this work.
Video Available.

Poets of Presence Conference

In-Person Conference and Workshop
October 27-28
Loyola University Chicago
Beane Hall, Lewis Towers, Water Tower Campus
Keynote Speaker, Christian Wiman
Presence is a community of writers who recognize Catholicism as fertile ground for the flourishing of contemporary poetry. The October conference consisted of a series of panels and workshops that explored how poetry navigates the intersection of matter and spirit, depicts the struggle between belief and doubt, and engages faith-- precisely by being surprised by it, taking joy in it, and even finding humor in it.
This In-Person Conference and Workshop was held from October 27-29, 2023 at Loyola University Chicago's Water Tower Campus. The Keynote Address on 10/28 was delivered by Christian Wiman.
Keynote Presentation Video Available Now!

Nexus Publication Luncheon

Monday, November 13, 2023
Room 425, Cuneo Hall, LSC.
Nexus: Conversations on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition is a digital-age journal that amplifies and publishes scholarly dialogue taking place in the Hank Center. Our second issue, titled Robots and Rituals: Reflections on Faith in the Era of Science and AI, was recently featured in America Magazine. We hosted a publication luncheon to honor those who contributed to the success of Nexus.
This was a closed meeting by invitation only.

Honoring the Class of 2020

Congratulations to the senior Catholic Studies Minors and the whole Class of 2020!

Blessed, Broken, and Given: Students’ Perspectives on the Eucharist and Social Justice

November 7, 2024
Palm Court, MDS Chapel, Damen Den, Ignatius House

As part of Ignatian Heritage Month, the Hank Center and Campus Ministry invites you to take part in an event investigating the connection between the Eucharist and Social Justice. The day will include two research colloquia where invited undergraduate students will present short papers on this topic, the celebration of Evening Prayer/Vespers, and dinner.

All members of the Loyola Community are invited to this event, but RSVP is required no later than October 31.

Against Free Market Economics: Lecture and Luncheon with Dr. Tony Annett

October 12, 2023
11:30 AM - 1:00 PM CDT, Beane Hall, Lewis Towers, WTC.
Free markets are good at producing wealth but fall quite short in engendering justice or well-being. On the other hand, Catholic social teaching– and the economic theories attached to the Catholic intellectual tradition–offer a more balanced view of market economies and who markets are meant to serve. Resisting free market ideology, Catholic social teaching emphasizes how the common good must take precedence in economic life. Anthony Annett, author of “Cathonomics: How Catholic Tradition Can Create a More Just Economy” explored the insights of this tradition in light of current debates. Response by Dayle M. Smith, Ph.D., Dean of the LMU College of Business Administration.
Video Now Available.

Video Available | The 2022 Cardinal Bernardin Common Cause Lecture: Bishop Daniel Flores

The Cardinal Bernardin Common Cause lecture series offers Catholic prelates a platform to engage people of good will in common cause with the Church on important issues facing us today. The Hank Center welcomed our 2022 Bernardin Lecturer - the Most Rev. Daniel E. Flores, Bishop of Brownsville, Texas.
May 5, 2022
6:00pm CT
Zoom Forum

Catholic Q&A: Faith & Science - The Lourdes Experience

A Students Only discussion about one of LUC’s most important programs: the mystery of healing at Lourdes and the spiritual dimensions of working in public health. Dr. Ann Solari-Twadell, Niehoff School of Nursing, led the conversation.
October 9, 7:00 PM
IC 4th Floor, LSC

Video Available| <i>Fratelli Tutti</i>: A Conversation Addressing Pope Francis’s New Encyclical on Human Solidarity and its Socio-Political Implications for the United States

During a time when our nation experienced an unprecedented health and socio-political crisis, a nationally recognized panel of voices explored the teaching of this encyclical on human solidarity and drew some concrete implications for this pivotal moment in our nation’s history. With M. Shawn Copeland, John Gehring, Carmen Nanko-Fernández, and Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv.
October 16, 2020, 12:00 - 1:30 PM

Spring 2025 Event Calendar

Check here for information about all of our Spring 2025 events and to access our events calendar for the semester! Click on individual events to access their landing pages.

Power of the Word Conference: La Sapienza, Rome

September 16-20, 2024
Dipartimento di Studi Europei, Americani e Interculturali, La Sapienza University, Rome

The Power of the Word: bringing together scholars in literature, philosophy, theology, ethics and religion in conversation with each other and with creative writers and their works. The Hank Center proudly sponsored the Power of the Word International Conference VII, which took place from 16-20 September, 2024, at La Sapienza University, Rome.

Fall 2023 Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. Lecture Series - Paddy Gilger, S.J.

November 9, 2023
7:00-8:30 PM CDT. McCormick Lounge, Coffey Hall, LSC.
Video Available
The Teilhard de Chardin, S.J., Fellowship in Catholic Studies is an annual, endowed fellowship sponsored by the Hank Center. Scholars from across disciplines and from around the world whose work intersects with the rich intellectual, artistic, and historical tradition of Roman Catholicism are invited to teach, research, and deliver a major lecture. This year’s Teilhard Lecture, “The Subject of Public Religion,” will be given by Teilhard Fellow, Fr. Paddy Gilger, S.J.
Event Video Now Available!

Video Available | Are God's Providence and My White Privilege the Same Thing? With Mara Brecht

A Students Only Q&A with Mara Brecht, associate professor of Theology and Religious Studies at LUC.
November 19, 2020, 7:00 - 8:30 PM

William Byrd Celebration: November 3-19 2023

Loyola University marks the 400th anniversary of William Byrd’s death through a series of lectures and performances. Regarded as one of the most important English composers of the Renaissance, Byrd was also a devout Catholic during a period that condemned Catholicism and its followers. With programs presented by guest artists and Loyola music students, this series outlined his fascinating life and musical output. This series was led by Professor Kirsten Hedegaard and Department of Fine and Performing Arts with support from the Hank Center.
A full schedule of events is now available.
These events were free and open to the public.

The Storm Cloud of the 21st Century: Capitalism, the Technocratic Paradigm, and the Sacramental Imagination

October 15, 2020
Featuring Eugene McCarraher, Villanova University. Free and open to the public.

2022 Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. Lecture

Video Available on the Event Page
October 13, 2022
7:00pm-8:30pm
McCormick Lounge
The Hank Center was honored to welcome the Fall 2022 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. Fellow in Catholic Studies, Kathleen Sprows Cummings to offer this year’s lecture. This year's lecture was titled "A New Kind of Saint: Catholics and Canonization in the 21st Century," and also includes a discussion and Q&A following the lecture.
This event was in person and livestreamed on Zoom. The event video is available at the link above and on the Hank Center YouTube Channel.

2024 Catholic Imagination Conference

October 31–November 2, 2024
University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana

The Hank Center was proud to partner with the University of Notre Dame’s de Nicola Center for the Fifth Biennial Catholic Imagination Conference, "Ever Ancient, Ever New: On Catholic Imagination.” With a particular focus on the literary arts, this conference explored unique expressions of the Catholic imagination in more than 150 presentations, performances, and discussions across the disciplines including philosophy, theology, ethics, law, history, and the natural and social sciences, as well as the creative domains of film, music, theater, and the visual arts.

The Global 1968 Symposium: Days of Past Present

The Hank Center was proud to present its anticipated Global 1968 Symposium, a three-day event that surveyed the tumultuous confluence of events that took place that year.

The Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination - Videos available

May 25-27, 2023
La Civiltà Cattolica
Rome, Italy
Videos Available.
The Hank Center was excited to co-host a conference in May in Rome. The gathering brought together both critical readers and creative artists from North America, South America, Africa, Europe, and East Asia who self-identify as Catholic or pay homage to Catholicism as a formative dimension of their artistry.
The Hank Center's own Dr. Michael Murphy offered an inside look to this historic event recently in America Magazine. You can read that article here.
This conference was co-sponsored by The Office of Mission & Ministry at Georgetown University, La Civiltà Cattolica, The Hank Center, and The Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham University.

Catholic Mobilizing Network Conference

October 5-7
Minneapolis, MN
This year’s National Catholic Conference on Restorative Justice took place on the theme, Journeying Toward Restoration. Ever aware of past and ongoing violations of dignity and relationships, Journeying Toward Restoration signifies renewed promise for restorative justice as an instrument for human flourishing both within and beyond the institutional Church. The Hank Center was proud to co-sponsor this conference along with other CMN initiatives.
For more information about this conference and the registration link please see the conference website linked in the title of this post.

Novitate Conference on René Girard – New Models of Thought and Desire

November 2-4
Washington, D.C.
The Hank Center was proud to co-sponsor the inaugural 2023 Novitate Conference in Washington, D.C. This gathering draws inspiration from the ideas of the French social theorist René Girard. Convening on the centennial year of his birth, the conference hosted a full day of presentations, panels, and dialogue, concluding with a dinner banquet to honor his legacy. The question of conformity—which Girard’s mimetic theory explores—lies at the heart of many of the important personal and societal questions in our world today involving institutions, politics, education, civics, media, and much more.
For more information about the conference, please see the conference website linked in the title of this post.

Pope Francis - A Man of His Word

As part of a week dedicated to marking the 6th anniversary of the election of Pope Francis, the Hank Center was excited to host a viewing of this documentary film, which focused on the life and goals of Pope Francis. Directed by Wim Wenders.
Tuesday, March 19th, 7:00 p.m.
Damen Cinema, Damen Student Center

Heretic? Pope Francis and His Critics

Thursday, March 21st , 7:00 p.m.
IC 4th Floor, LSC
As part of a week dedicated to marking the 6th anniversary of Pope Francis's election, the Hank Center invited expert in Catholic History, doctrine, and higher education, Fr. James Heft (University of Southern California) to speak on popular appraisals of Pope Francis. This event was free & open to the public.

<i>Eyes to See</i>: An AJCU Anti-Racism Examen

The Anti-Racism Examen focuses on matters of race and racism that are specific to Jesuit Catholic institutions. Consisting of a video, guided Examen, and resources for further discussion, it has been developed for college/university colleagues.

Hank Interfaith Dialogs: On the Sixtieth Anniversary of Nostra Aetate

May 12, 2025
6:00–8:00 PM
Regents Hall, Water Tower Campus

Nostra Aetate, the 1965 Declaration on the Church's Relationship to Non-Christian Religions, was one of the most influential and celebrated documents issued by the Second Vatican Council. Highlighting deep spiritual and religious kinship, it made possible a renewed and positive relationship between Jews and Catholics. Please join the Hank Center as we welcome Cardinal Blase Cupich and Rabbi Noam Marans, Director of Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee, to offer some reflections and join in dialog as we mark this important anniversary.

This event is by invitation only.

<u>Catholic Q&A</u>: Does Ethics Sell? A Discussion about Morality and the Marketplace

Thursday, February 21st, 7:00-9:00 p.m
Information Commons, 4th Floor
Thank you to the Catholic Studies minors and Fr. Frank LaRocca for a fascinating discussion about ethics in Corporate America.
Students only. All students welcome.

Laudato si’@ 10 events at the Climate Change Conference: Panel and Reception

March 12–15: Climate Change Conference
March 15: Panel & Reception: Laudato si'@ 10: Pope Francis and Caring for Our Common Home Today

The Hank Center has supported the annual Climate Change Conference from its inception and is proud to host a special panel this year: Laudato si'@ 10: Pope Francis and Caring for Our Common Home Today. This event includes a hosted post-panel reception with beer, wine, and heavy hors d'oeuvres and is one of the free sessions offered by the conference.

This panel is free and all are welcome; registration for the conference is not required to attend this final session.

There is a concert that follows the reception and we hope you are able attend that as well. The concert is a ticketed event, which can be purchased here.

Confronting Poverty in the USA: Discussion, Dialogue, Action

Keynote speaker Anna Galland (Executive Director of MoveOn.org) provided remarks, discussion, and a workshop about addressing and abating poverty.
October 30, 2:30 - 5:30 PM
McCormick Lounge, Coffey Hall, LSC

Fall 2019 Faith in Focus Film: <i>Shadowlands</i> (1993)

This film, based in Oxford University, narrates the surprising, late-in-life love story of philosopher (and The Chronicles of Narnia author) C.S.Lewis and American poet Joy Davidman. Post-film dialogue with Oxford study abroad students.
November 5, 7:00 PM
Damen Cinema, LSC

Ignatian Heritage Month: Lecture

LUC alum David Gandolfo (Chair of Poverty Studies at Furman University) reflected on the “Social and Historical Implications of Ignacio Ellacuría’s Insights on Being Human.”
November 7, 4:00 PM
McCormick Lounge, Coffey Hall, LSC

2025 Annual Cardinal Bernardin Lecture featuring Bishop Mark Seitz

April 22, 2025 | 7–8:30 pm
McCormick Lounge, Coffey Hall, Lake Shore Campus

The Hank Center is excited to welcome Most Rev. Mark J. Seitz, Bishop of El Paso and Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration, to deliver the annual Cardinal Bernardin Common Cause lecture.

Immigration is a particularly critical issue at the present moment in the United States. In the midst of the contentious public dialog, Catholics find themselves at an important theological and moral crossroads. This is especially true in light of Pope Francis’ recent letter to the United States calling for all bishops to work closely with migrants and refugees, and for all Catholics to reject narratives that discriminate and dehumanize. Just as Pope Francis has been a consistent and firm voice on the infinite dignity of migrants over the past decade, so too has Bishop Seitz.

In addition to being outspoken on the duty to care for immigrants, Bishop Seitz has served migrant families and refugees face-to-face in El Paso with compassion, solidarity, and love. Yet as Bishop Seitz’s ministry models, the gospel obligation to welcome the stranger with openness is not just the work of a ‘border bishop’ like himself, but rather it is for all who are part of a true ‘border church,’ which, in the vision of Pope Francis, exists to go out to the margins.

This event is free and open to the public.