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” explores 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.
"The World Will Be Saved By Beauty: Dorothy Day's Message of Hope" by Kate Hennessey, the granddaughter of Day. This lecture was delivered as a part of The Joan and Bill Hank Center for Catholic Intellectual Heritage's "Revolution of the Heart: A Symposium on Dorothy Day" Recorded on 17 February 2017.
See the full schedule of the symposium here: http://luc.edu/ccih/stories/archive/dorothydaysymposium.shtml
“Dorothy Day: A Saint for Today” delivered by Robert Ellsberg recorded on 17 February 2017
Robert Ellsberg was a member of the Catholic Worker community in New York from 1975 to 1980, and served as the managing editor of The Catholic Worker newspaper from 1976 to 1978. He is now editor-in-chief of Orbis Books. Ellsberg looks at his good friend Day and the ways her mission should be carried out today. This lecture was delivered as a part of The Joan and Bill Hank Center for Catholic Intellectual Heritage's "Revolution of the Heart: A Symposium on Dorothy Day"
See the full schedule of the symposium here: http://luc.edu/ccih/stories/archive/dorothydaysymposium.shtml
Black History Month Lecture" "The Jesuit Choice: Religious Freedom before Ecumenism and Slave Emancipation" delivered by Dr. Thomas Murphy, S.J., on 9 February 2017.
Beginning in colonial times, the Jesuits in Maryland owned slaves as part of their belief that their Roman Catholic faith did not exclude them from an English subject's right to possess all forms of legal property. Despite the passage of the Bill of Rights by the recently independent United States in 1791, Jesuits remained insecure about the recognition of their American citizenship. They feared that advocating the removal of the protection of slavery from the Constitution would lead to their freedom of worship being removed from it too. They also began to see abolitionism as a Protestant heresy that they must reject. The result of these forces was that in 1838 they sold their slaves rather than set them free. Dr. Thomas Murphy S.J., department of history, Seattle University, will examine the legacy of these events for Jesuit ministries today.
"Astronomy and Faith: From Lemaitre's Big Bang to the Jesuit Fathers of the Vatican Observatory," delivered by Jonathan Lunine on November 10, 2016.
Dr. Jonathan Lunine is professor of physical sciences at Cornell University. As a part of a day-long Faith and Science Symposium, Lunine delivered this talk about Fr. Georges Lemaitre, whose "Big Bang" theory model of the universe was initially discredited by scientists because they attributed it to his Catholic faith and the politics of the Church. Dr. Lunine's talk offered insights about how science need not be disassociated from faith.
"A Luminous Absence: Poetry and the Need for God's Absence," delivered by John F. Deane on November 3, 2016.
Irish poet and novelist John F. Deane is the 2016 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ Research Fellow with the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage. Deane's talk explores the poetry of faith in an attempt to discover the personal response of poets to the person of Jesus Christ.
Introduced by Michael P. Murphy, Ph.D., Assistant Director of the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage.
“A Phenomenology of Revelation: Contemporary Encounters with Saint Ignatius of Loyola,” delivered by Robyn Horner at The Challenge of God: Continental Philosophy and the Catholic Intellectual Heritage Conference
Robyn Horner is an Associate Professor in the Office of the Dean of Theology and Philosophy at Australian Catholic University. Her work is focused on the contributions of phenomenology and post-structuralism, especially the work of Levinas, Derrida, and Marion, to the field of Christian theology and philosophy of religion, particularly on the topic of r/Revelation.
Response by J. Michelle Molina, The John and Rosemary Croghan Chair, Associate Professor in Catholic Studies at Northwestern University.
"The Challenge of God," delivered by Adriaan Peperzak at The Challenge of God: Continental Philosophy and the Catholic Intellectual Heritage Conference
Adriaan T. Peperzak is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Loyola University Chicago, where he held the Arthur J. Schmitt Chair from 1991-2015. His research in the history of philosophy has focused on Hegel (six books and numerous articles) and Levinas (two books and three others edited). He also published on Plato, Aristotle, Bonaventura, Descartes, Heidegger, and Ricoeur, and on thematic questions in ethics, social and political philosophy, metaphilosophy, and philosophy of religion.
Response by David Tracy, the Andrew Thomas Greeley and Grace McNichols Greeley Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Catholic Studies and Professor of Theology and the Philosophy of Religions at the University of Chicago.
“What Comes After God? Some Anatheist Reflections,” delivered by Richard Kearney at The Challenge of God: Continental Philosophy and the Catholic Intellectual Heritage Conference
Richard Kearney holds the Charles B. Seelig Chair in Philosophy at Boston College and has served as a Visiting Professor at University College Dublin, the University of Paris-Sorbonne, and the Australian Catholic University. He is the author of over 20 books on European philosophy and literature (including two novels and a volume of poetry) and has edited or coedited 15 others, many on the intersection of hermeneutics and the problem of God.
Response by Hille Haker, Richard A. McCormick, S.J., Chair of Moral Theology at Loyola University Chicago.
“God and the Ambivalence of Being,” delivered by Luc Marion at The Challenge of God: Continental Philosophy and the Catholic Intellectual Heritage Conference
Jean-Luc Marion is the Andrew Thomas Greeley and Grace McNichols Greeley Professor of Catholic Studies and Professor of the Philosophy of Religions and Theology at the University of Chicago; Dominique Dubarle Chair of Philosophy at l’Institut Catholique de Paris; Professor Emeritus at the University of Paris-Sorbonne; and a member of the Académie française. His work is well-known in the history of philosophy and in philosophy of religion, in which he has initiated and written extensively on the phenomenology of givenness.
Response by Hugh Miller, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University Chicago.
"Radical Catholicism and God: A Theological Exploration of Dante and Joyce," delivered by Thomas J.J. Altizer at The Challenge of God: Continental Philosophy and the Catholic Intellectual Heritage Conference
Thomas J.J. Altizer is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at State University of New York at Stony Brook. During his long and distinguished career, Altizer has published numerous books working out the implications of a theology of the “Death of God,” recently including Living the Death of God, The Apocalyptic Trinity, and The Call to Radical Theology.
Response by Adam Kotsko, Assistant Professor of Humanities at Shimer College.
“Tradition and Event: Radicalizing the Catholic Principle," delivered by John D. Caputo at The Challenge of God: Continental Philosophy and the Catholic Intellectual Heritage Conference
John D. Caputo is the Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Humanities Emeritus at Syracuse University and the David R. Cook Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Villanova University. Caputo specializes in continental philosophy of religion, working on approaches to religion and theology in the light of contemporary phenomenology, hermeneutics and deconstruction, and also the presence in continental philosophy of radical religious and theological motifs. He is known especially for his notions of radical hermeneutics and the weakness of God.
Response by John McCarthy, Associate Professor in the Department of Theology at Loyola University Chicago.
The Hank Center's 2016 Cardinal Newman Lecture was delivered by the poet and memoirist Mary Karr. Karr is the Jesse Truesdell Peck Professor of English Literature at Syracuse University and a prolific writer within the generes of memoir and poetry. Her memoirs include The Liars' Club (1995), Cherry (2000), and Lit (2009), and her books of poetry include Viper Rum (2001) and Sinners Welcome (2006). Karr was the recipient of the PEN/Martha Albrand Award in 1995 (for The Liars' Club) and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005.
The Cardinal Newman Lecture Series is named after the great 19th century English prelate who wrote very 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 Catholic 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, the Hank Center has invited Karr to speak about her own conversion to the Catholic faith in light of her own ongoing scholarship.
To learn more about Mary Karr and her literary (and musical!) works, please visit her website.
In the fall of 2015, Fordham University Press published a collection of essays titled Democracy, Culture, Catholicism: Voices from Four Continents. This volume was the result of a three year, international research project sponsored by the Hank Center that brought together scholars from Jesuit, and Jesuit related, institutions of higher education around the world. Meetings in four parts of the globe – Peru, Indonesia, Lithuania, and the U.S. – these diverse scholars explored and interrogated the relationship(s) between democracy, culture, and Catholicism in each of their respective locations. On the one hand, this volume offers a unique, scholarly contribution to the academy; on the other hand, this volume stands as a testament to the collaborative and transformative possibilities contained within the transnational community of Jesuit institutes of higher education.
In this video, volume co-editor John Crowley-Buck (Loyola University Chicago) engages Dr. Danute Gailiene (Vilnius University) in a conversation about the impact of this project and publication on her as a scholar of psychology, a specialist in trauma studies, and a citizen of Lithuania.
In the fall of 2015, Fordham University Press published a collection of essays titled Democracy, Culture, Catholicism: Voices from Four Continents. This volume was the result of a three year, international research project sponsored by the Hank Center that brought together scholars from Jesuit, and Jesuit related, institutions of higher education around the world. Meetings in four parts of the globe – Peru, Indonesia, Lithuania, and the U.S. – these diverse scholars explored and interrogated the relationship(s) between democracy, culture, and Catholicism in each of their respective locations. On the one hand, this volume offers a unique, scholarly contribution to the academy; on the other hand, this volume stands as a testament to the collaborative and transformative possibilities contained within the transnational community of Jesuit institutes of higher education.
In this video, volume co-editor John Crowley-Buck (Loyola University Chicago) engages Dr. Baskara Wardaya, S.J. (Universitas Sanata Dharma, Yogyakarta, Indonesia) in a conversation about the impact of this project and publication on him as a scholar, as a Jesuit, and as a citizen of Indonesia.
"Still There and Always There: The Drama of Faith in the Life of Denise Levertov," by Kevin Burke, SJ, Jesuit School of Theology, Santa Clara University
"Denise Levertov: The Uses of Outrage," by Mary Gordon, Barnard College, Columbia University
"The Poem as Sacrament," by Albert Gelpi, Stanford University
Part 1: Welcome
The Laudato Si' Symposium was a day-long series of events responding to, reflecting upon, and enacting the recent encyclical from Pope Francis on the environment - Laudato Si. In this video, we hear a welcome from Mark Bosco, S.J.,PhD, Director of the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage, and John Pelissero, PhD, Interim President Loyola University Chicago.
Part 2: Academic Responses from Loyola Faculty
The Laudato Si' Symposium was a day-long series of events responding to, reflecting upon, and enacting the recent encyclical from Pope Francis on the environment - Laudato Si. In this video, we hear academic responses by Loyola faculty with a welcome from Susan Ross, PhD, Chair and Professor, Department of Theology.
Part 3: Town Hall II
The Laudato Si' Symposium was a day-long series of events responding to, reflecting upon, and enacting the recent encyclical from Pope Francis on the environment - Laudato Si. In this video, we view an intercampus and interdisciplinary town hall conversation introduced by Michael P. Murphy, Ph.D., Director of Catholic Studies.
On March 25th, Loyola University Chicago conferred upon His Eminence Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi an honorary doctoral degree. Cardinal Ravasi is the President of the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology. An expert in biblical languages, he served as Prefect of the Biblioteca-Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan and taught Old Testament Exegesis at the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy.
Cardinal Ravasi is widely recognized as one of the leading intellectuals of the Roman Curia and has published over 150 volumes, mainly on biblical topics. As part of his conferral celebration, Ravasi offered a lecture entitled "American Culture, Catholic Higher Education, and their Contributions to the Global Church."
The degree conferral and lecture by Cardinal Ravasi, coincided with the installation of Dr. Miguel H. Díaz as Loyola University Chicago's John Courtney Murray, SJ University Chair in Public Service.
Crossings and Dwellings Plenary Address: Dr. Carol Coburn
“Crossing Boundaries and Cultural Encounters: Women Religious as Builders and Shapers of Catholic Culture and American Life”
Crossings and Dwellings Plenary Presentation: Dr. John T. McGreevy
"Globalization: Rewriting 19th-century American Jesuits"
Crossings and Dwellings Plenary Presentation: Rima Lunin Schultz
"Jane Addams’s Dilemma: American Catholic Education in the Progressive Era, 1890-1925"
Crossings and Dwellings Plenary Presentation: Dr. Kathleen Sprows Cummings
Crossings and Dwellings Student Roundtable
Jessica Hagen (Loyola University Chicago)
Michael Polowski (Loyola University Chicago)
Hope Shannon (Loyola University Chicago)
Evan Thompson (Loyola University Chicago)
Respondent: Dr. Monica Mercado (Bryn Mawr College)
"In my Cardinal Newman Lecture I'll be reflecting on the changing face of Catholic literature from the twentieth century to the present - and how that body of writing has shaped my life and vocation, including my work as editor of the literary journal Image. My conversion to the Catholic Church while a graduate student at Oxford University was profoundly influenced by writers such as Flannery O'Connor, Georges Bernanos, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, and Walker Percy -- all Catholic novelists. These writers shared O'Connor's belief that "for the hard of hearing you have to shout" -- in other words, that the Christian writer in a secular age needs to use bold, dramatic gestures to help people sense what religious faith is like. But the succeeding generations of Catholic writers - those writing late in the previous century and up to the present moment, I discovered, were more inclined to "whispers" than to "shouts." I'll speak about the contention made by some critics who have argued that this is simply evidence of a lack of strong Catholic identity and conviction, and I'll attempt to show that this is an unhelpful simplification. This topic has surfaced recently as I've found myself publishing responses to essays by Paul Elie and Dana Gioia, two leading contemporary Catholic writers - both of whom favor a "narrative of decline" when evaluating the state of Catholic letters. The more I've been involved in editing Image, the less inclined I am to embrace a narrative of decline. I believe that there is, in fact, a host of gifted Catholic writers at work today, so I will conclude my talk by asking why thinkers like Elie and Gioia sense decline. In part, my belief is that the problem lies with the relentless politicization of discourse in Catholic periodicals and intellectual forums, and I'll close by suggesting some ways to help kick-start the critical discussion - so that writers and critics can create a healthier literary ecosystem."
-Gregory Wolfe
For the full text of Fr. Ryan's lecture, please click on the link below:
Patrick Ryan, SJ - On Pilgrimage
As the first installment of the three year conference commemorating the bicentennial of the Restoration of the Society of Jesus in 1814, Padberg provided an introduction to both the Suppression (1773-1814) and the Restoration (1814) of the Jesuits which is necessary for interpreting their activity throughout the 19th century.
Rev. Padberg, S.J. is a renowned authority on the history of the Society of Jesus in the late-modern period; but his now-classic work on the shifting fortunes of Jesuit educational institutions in 19th-century Francefrom reestablishment in 1815 to final suppression in 1880 provides a case study in the European narrative as a backdrop for the American experience.
Watch video from this colloquium.
Dr. Joseph Komonchak, S.T.L., Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Theology and Religious Studies, The Catholic University of America
“Two Witnesses of the Council: The Diaries of Yves Congar and Henri de Lubac”
Dr. Susan Ross
Professor & Chair, Department of Theology, Loyola University Chicago
“Joys and Hopes, Griefs and Anxieties: Catholic Women Since Vatican II”
Rev. Jared Wicks, S.J.
Scholar-in-residence, Josephinum Seminary
“Bea's Unity Secretariat: Engine of Renewal at Vatican II”
Dr. Pauline Viviano
Associate Professor, Department of Theology, Loyola University Chicago
“Is There Nothing New Under the Sun?: Biblical Interpretation in Post-Vatican II Church”
Dr. Joseph Komonchak, S.T.L., Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Theology and Religious Studies, The Catholic University of America
“Two Witnesses of the Council: The Diaries of Yves Congar and Henri de Lubac”
Dr. Susan Ross
Professor & Chair, Department of Theology, Loyola University Chicago
“Joys and Hopes, Griefs and Anxieties: Catholic Women Since Vatican II”
Rev. Jared Wicks, S.J.
Scholar-in-residence, Josephinum Seminary
“Bea's Unity Secretariat: Engine of Renewal at Vatican II”
Dr. Pauline Viviano
Associate Professor, Department of Theology, Loyola University Chicago
“Is There Nothing New Under the Sun?: Biblical Interpretation in Post-Vatican II Church”
Dr. Joseph Komonchak, S.T.L., Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Theology and Religious Studies, The Catholic University of America
“Two Witnesses of the Council: The Diaries of Yves Congar and Henri de Lubac”
Dr. Susan Ross
Professor & Chair, Department of Theology, Loyola University Chicago
“Joys and Hopes, Griefs and Anxieties: Catholic Women Since Vatican II”
Rev. Jared Wicks, S.J.
Scholar-in-residence, Josephinum Seminary
“Bea's Unity Secretariat: Engine of Renewal at Vatican II”
Dr. Pauline Viviano
Associate Professor, Department of Theology, Loyola University Chicago
“Is There Nothing New Under the Sun?: Biblical Interpretation in Post-Vatican II Church”
Robert John Araujo, S.J. became the inaugural holder of the John Courtney Murray, S.J. University Professorship at Loyola University Chicago in 2009. He was a professor of Law at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA and Ordinary Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. He has also served as a legal advisor and attaché to the Holy See representing the Church before foreign sovereigns and international organizations. He writes and publishes in the fields of international law, law and religion, and legal philosophy.
In his lecture Fr. Araujo discussed what role natural law moral theory played in emerging human rights discourse, placing a particular focus on the work of 16th century Spanish theologian and political theorist Francisco de Vitoria. Fr. Araujo also explored the implications of natural law’s history for contemporary human rights theory.
In the fall of 2015, Fordham University Press published a collection of essays titled Democracy, Culture, Catholicism: Voices from Four Continents. This volume was the result of a three year, international research project sponsored by the Hank Center that brought together scholars from Jesuit, and Jesuit related, institutions of higher education around the world. Meetings in four parts of the globe – Peru, Indonesia, Lithuania, and the U.S. – these diverse scholars explored and interrogated the relationship(s) between democracy, culture, and Catholicism in each of their respective locations. On the one hand, this volume offers a unique, scholarly contribution to the academy; on the other hand, this volume stands as a testament to the collaborative and transformative possibilities contained within the transnational community of Jesuit institutes of higher education.
In this video, volume co-editor John Crowley-Buck (Loyola University Chicago) engages Dr. Danute Gailiene (Vilnius University) in a conversation about the impact of this project and publication on her as a scholar of psychology, a specialist in trauma studies, and a citizen of Lithuania.