Since 1982, the Lectures in Catholic Experience have brought leading scholars, activists, religious leaders and other professionals to St. Jerome’s to offer opportunities for us to engage with the critical issues of our time, particularly as they intersect with faith and the life of the Church. Previous speakers and subjects have included the Director of Springtide Research Institute, Sociologist Dr. Tricia Bruce, “Her Place in the Church: Gender, Power, and Authority in Contemporary Catholicism,” Archbishop Donald Bolen, Archbishop of Regina, Saskatchewan: “The Wounds of the Past, Truth-telling, and a Future of Hope: The Doctrine of Discovery and the Path of Reconciliation,” Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt, Villanova University: “Doing THE WORK: Anti-Racism and the Catholic Church,” Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ: Dead Man Walking: The Journey Continues...,” and Fr. James Martin, SJ, “Reaching out to our LGBTQ Friends, Building a Bridge.”
Each lecture is hosted in the Notre Dame Chapel on the St. Jerome’s campus and is free and open to the community to attend. Lectures can be attended in-person, streamed live online or viewed in perpetuity on our YouTube channel.
St. Jerome’s is only able to feature the most relevant, high-profile speakers with the support of our donors. Please consider a gift to St. Jerome’s University in support of the Lectures in Catholic Experience.
Dr. Christian Smith | Religious Decline and Cultural Re-Enchantment: The Ongoing Transformation of the American Religious Field
Religious Decline and Cultural Re-Enchantment: The Ongoing Transformation of the American Religious Field
Christian Smith, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology Emeritus, University of Notre Dame
The Journey Presses On: Pope Francis’s Apology to Residential School Survivors in Canada
Diverse and discerning reflections on Pope Francis’s 2022 apology to Indian residential school survivors.
Indigenous Spiritualities in Canada: Opening and Closing Relations
John Borrows (in a video presentation), along with Paul Bramadat and David Seljak (both in person) will discuss their new co-edited book, Opening and Closing Relations: Indigenous Spirituality in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2027).
Dr. Adrian Ciani | Contesting Zion: the Vatican, American Catholics, and the partition of Palestine
Examining the relationship between the Vatican and the international Zionist movement from the Balfour Declaration of 1917 through the first decade of Israeli statehood, set against the background of centuries of Catholic hostility toward Judaism and papal claims upon the Holy Land.
Dr. Sami Helewa | Abraham, Father of Nations, a case study of a “stranger in search of belonging”
Abraham, Father of Nations, a case study of a “stranger in search of belonging.”
Dr Sami Helewa, Jesuit in Residence, St Jerome's University
Fr. Paolo Benanti | The Ethical Challenges of Artificial Intelligence
Fr. Paolo Benanti will speak on the topic "The Ethical Challenges of Artificial Intelligence"