We are pleased to announce the sixth annual seminar on "Business and Catholic Social Thought: A Primer." During the seminar, graduate students and faculty members in business schools will cover foundational principles in Catholic social thought and apply them to their own field of research and teaching. This seminar aims at widening epistemological preconceptions and showing practical implications of Catholic social thought for business in a way that affirms the goodness of business directed toward the common good. Participants will delve into social encyclicals, secondary sources, and relevant business texts that show the path for principled entrepreneurship in order to gain knowledge, exchange experiences, receive help with their syllabi and consider how best to integrate Catholic social thought into business education.

The seminar is co-sponsored by the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law, and Business, the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame; the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship at the Catholic University of America; the Lumen Christi Institute; and the Markets, Culture and Ethics Research Centre at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome.

 Location: 

The seminar will take place at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. between Tuesday, June 16 and Friday, June 19.

A limited number of travel grants are available. To apply for financial assistance, please complete and submit the attached request for funds to murphyinstit@stthomas.edu by April 27, 2026. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V4MJBpo0q1-wlKPpTj2bHTomJ4We-qti/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=101169961720087663247&rtpof=true&sd=true

All participants will be provided with accommodations and meals.

 Application Information: 

This seminar will be open to graduate students and faculty of any specialization in business schools. Applicants will be required to submit a completed online application, including:  

• An updated CV/resume.
• A brief statement of research interest related to Catholic social thought no longer than 750 words.
• One academic writing sample.
• All application materials can be submitted via the online application. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Fifteen students will be admitted to this seminar. 
• Application materials are due February 2, 2026.

David Cloutier, University of Notre Dame

Msgr. Martin Schlag, University of St. Thomas

Nicholas Schmitz, The Catholic University of America

Andreas Widmer, The Catholic University of America

We are pleased to announce the inaugural summer seminar on Law in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, “Judgment in Rome: Art & Papal Teaching from John Paul II to Leo XIV.” During the seminar, participants will engage in seminar discussions on papal teachings (writings, speeches, etc.) from Pope St. John Paul II to Pope Leo XIV on the topics of law, justice, judgment, and related matters. Attendees will also encounter artistic works located throughout Rome that address the theme of judgment. Participants will be provided with a curated reader of papal teachings on seminar topics. One goal of the seminar is to equip participants to better incorporate Catholic teaching on judgment and jurisprudence into their teaching, scholarship, and service to the academic community and to the legal profession. 

 The seminar is co-organized by: The Center for The Constitution and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition at The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy at Villanova University, the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, the Lumen Christi Institute, and Notre Dame Law School.

Location: The seminar will take place in Rome (Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Augustinianum) between Sunday, June 21 and Thursday, June 25.

• All participants will be provided with accommodations and most meals as well as travel stipends of $750
• Application Information: This seminar will be open to faculty from any specialization in law schools as well as faculty in related disciplines.  Applicants will be required to submit a completed online application, including: A brief statement of interest no longer than 750 words. While the statement may touch upon teaching and research interests, it should specifically address why you are interested in this seminar. The statement should also include how you envision the course impacting your future teaching, scholarship, or service to the academic community and to the legal profession. 
• Application materials are due February 2, 2026

Scott Roniger, Loyola Marymount University

Fr. Petar Popović, Pontificial University of the Holy Cross 

Ralph van Bühren, Pontificial University of the Holy Cross

Description:

One of the most influential 20th century Catholic thinkers, René Girard transformed our understanding of culture, religion, and human behavior. His “mimetic theory” builds on the demystifying power of the Old and New Testaments to illuminate the religious history of mankind. Through an intensive reading of his more accessible works, in conjunction with the fiction of the greatest writers, this five-day seminar will explore Girard’s key insights into imitation, conflict, and scapegoating, connecting them to central themes of Christian theology.

 Location and Format:

This seminar will be held at the Lumen Christi Institute in Chicago.

Participants will arrive on Thursday July 2, and depart on Wednesday, July 8.  

There will be two 2.5-hour sessions on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. On Saturday and Sunday, the morning session will be followed by a post-lunch excursion. 

Each session will a seminar-style discussion of the text and the issues at hand. Students will be expected to prepare the readings carefully, submit study questions in advance, and participate actively in each session.

Admitted students will be granted a stipend of $350 to offset travel costs in addition to having their lodging and meals covered for the duration of the seminar.

 Application Information:

• This seminar is open to all undergraduate students (including 2026 graduates) interested in understanding the thought of one of the great modern Christian apologists. 
• Applicants will be required to submit an online application form including: A list of completed coursework. At least one and as many as two letter(s) of recommendation from a professor at the school in which the student is currently enrolled. A statement of interest no longer than 750 words, which includes an explanation of how this seminar might bear on the student’s current intellectual interests. All application materials can be submitted via the online application.

 Fifteen applicants will be admitted to this seminar. Applicants must be 18 by the time of the seminar.

Application Deadline is February 2, 2026. 

The Mystery of Christ from Chalcedon to Maximus

Lewis Ayres, Angelicum University/Durham University

Paul Blowers, Milligan University

Fr. Andrew Summerson, Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies

Co-presented with the Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at the University of St. Michael’s College

The seminar will offer a contextual study of doctrine of the person of Jesus, beginning with the council of Chalcedon and culminating in Maximus the Confessor. This period is determinative for Christian thought on Christ for subsequent centuries and maps a complex interrelation between philosophy, politics, scriptural exegesis, and the accrued weight of prior Christian tradition. Students will be exposed to a wide range of texts and equipped to teach them effectively in the classroom.

LOCATION AND FORMAT

The seminar will be held at Sheptytsky House at the University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto.

Most Meals (some on their own) and lodging will be provided to participants.

· Participants will receive a stipend of up to $350 to offset travel expenses.

· Participants will arrive on Sunday, June 14 and depart on Saturday, June 20.

· Participants will be provided with the relevant books.

· Fifteen applicants will be admitted to the seminar.

Working knowledge of relevant ancient languages will be helpful, but not essential. Preference will be given to Ph.D. students in theology, philosophy, classics, and other relevant fields of study, though advanced M.A. students will be considered.

There will be two sessions each day in the morning and in the afternoon. Each session will include lectures and seminar-style discussions. Students will be expected to prepare the readings carefully and participate in the discussions of the material.

The application deadline is February 2, 2025.

Contact us with any questions at seminars@lumenchristi.org.

Now in its ninth year, this seminar is designed as an introduction and immersion into Catholic social thought for graduate students and junior faculty in economics, finance, or related fields. Participants will cover foundational principles in Catholic social thought, starting with the human person, dignity, freedom, subsidiarity, solidarity, and the common good, and moving toward applications of these principles to conceptual understandings and ethical considerations involving economic topics such as utility theory, firm and business ethics, wages, markets, globalization, poverty, and development. Participants will delve into social encyclicals, secondary sources, and relevant economics texts.

This seminar is sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute; the Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization; the De Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture; the Kellogg Institute for International Studies; and the the Institute for the Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, College of Arts and Letters, University of Notre Dame.

Format: There will be two sessions each day, featuring a different instructor. Each instructor will open with a lecture, and then we will turn to a seminar-style discussion of the texts and issues at hand. In the final sessions, we will discuss how the material can be applied to each student’s particular area of interest.

Location: The seminar will take place at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend.

Participants will arrive on August 2 and will depart on August 5.

• There are no registration or tuition costs to the seminar.
• All participants will be provided with accommodations and meals.
• Partial travel reimbursement funds are available as awarded to offset travel costs.

Application Information: This seminar will be open to PhD students and faculty in economics, finance and related fields.

• Applicants will be required to submit a completed online application form, including:
• An updated CV.
• A brief statement interest no longer than 750 words.
• All application materials can be submitted via the online application.

Fifteen students will be admitted to this seminar.

The application deadline is February 2, 2026

Please direct any further questions to seminars@lumenchristi.org

The Thought of John Henry Newman 

National Institute of Newman Studies, Pittsburgh

Fr. Stephen Fields, SJ, Georgetown University 

Staff of the National Institute for Newman Studies

Now in its twelfth year, this intensive seminar will examine the achievements of Saint John Henry Newman as a theologian, philosopher, educator, preacher, and writer. Remarkably, in each of these areas Newman produced works that have come to be recognized as classics: An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, The Grammar of Assent, The Idea of a University and the Apologia Pro Vita Sua. This seminar will approach Newman’s thought through a critical engagement with these texts.      

LOCATION AND FORMAT

• The seminar will be held at the National Institute of Newman Studies in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Meals and lodging will be provided.
• Participants will receive a stipend of up to $350 to offset travel expenses.
• Participants will arrive on Saturday, July 19 and depart on Saturday, July 25.
• Participants will be required to read the assigned texts in preparation for the seminar.
• Fifteen applicants will be admitted to the seminar.

 QUALIFICATIONS AND APPLICATION 

The seminar is open to Ph.D. students in theology, philosophy, classics, and other relevant fields of study.

• A completed online application form.
• An updated CV.
• At least one and no more than two letter(s) of recommendation.
• A statement of research interest no longer than 750 words, which includes an explanation of how this seminar might bear on the student’s current or future research plans.
• One academic writing sample (30 pages maximum).
• All application materials can be submitted via the online application. Incomplete applications will not be considered

THE APPLICATION DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 2, 2026. 

Contact us with any questions at seminars@lumenchristi.org.

University of Chicago, The Lumen Christi Institute, Gavin House  

August 2-August 8, 2026 

In this seminar, students will read, analyze, and discern continuities and discontinuities in Catholic social thought from the late 19th century to the present. Lectures, seminar reports, and discussion will focus on original sources (encyclicals and other magisterial documents), beginning with Rerum novarum (1892) and concluding with Caritas in veritate (2009) and Evangelii Gaudium (2013). This intensive course is multi-disciplinary, since this tradition of social thought overlaps several disciplines in the contemporary university including political science, political philosophy, law, economics, theology, and history.

LOCATION AND FORMAT

• The seminar will be held in Chicago, Illinois.
• Meals and lodging will be provided.

QUALIFICATIONS AND APPLICATION

This seminar is our 2026 annual postdoctoral/early career scholar seminar.

The seminar is an opportunity to meet 12 to 15 promising scholars working in different academic fields, all with interests tied to Catholicism. There are no seminar fees and reading materials are provided. LCI will cover accommodations and most meals.  Additionally, participants will reimburse travel expenses up to $500. 

This seminar is by invitation only to Postdocs and early career faculty in theology, philosophy, law, social sciences, and relevant fields of study.

Contact us with any questions at seminars@lumenchristi.org.

 Glimpses of Wonder: Epiphanies of Beauty in the Midst of Technological Change

Eugene Wigner, a winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1963, was not only a celebrated scientist but also defended the “unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics” in aesthetic terms. The beauty of the natural realm and the capacity of mathematical reason not only to measure the world but to see beyond its own finitude and look for a whole in the midst of parts is both mysterious and ubiquitous. In times of technological change, those parts move at an accelerated pace. True human flourishing is not necessarily about slowing down or accelerating the advance of progress as finding a new measure that allows one to see epiphanies of beauty and learn from them about oneself, the world, and the creator of the beauty of the world. 

The point of this seminar will be to compare ancient visions of the wonder and beauty of creation, above all in the Augustinian and Franciscan intellectual tradition, with the challenges of technological revolutions, medieval and modern. The idea of the mechanical arts predates Newtonian mechanism and is already a theme in 13th century Paris, as can be found in distinct realms of technological advancement ranging from the motion of mechanical clocks to the engineering of the Gothic cathedral. The point is not to vindicate ancients, moderns, or contemporaries but to create a fruitful dialogue between ancient grammars of wonder and the intellectual, moral, spiritual, and everyday challenges that arise in the midst of rapid and accelerating technological change. 

Instructor: Dr. Damien Marie Savino, FSC, 

author of Learning the Language of Creation: Catholic Social Teaching and Integral Ecology, forthcoming in the spring of 2026 with Liturgical Press. 

Other presenters from Duke:

Peter Casarella, 

author of The Song of Creation: Saint Bonaventure’s Franciscan Pilgrimage into God, forthcoming, Word on Fire Academic.

Matthew Whelan, author of Christianity and Agroecology, Cambridge UP, 2025. 

Norman Wirzba, author of Love’s Braided Dance, Yale UP, 2024.

Reinhard Huetter, Duke Divinity School and International Theological Commission

Kevin Hart, author of Lands of Likeness: For a Poetics of Contemplation. Chicago, 2023. 

Public Event:

Lecture and Panel Discussion at W.B. Duke Inn with Dr. Santiago Schnell, Professor of Mathematics; Editor-in-Chief, Mathematical Biosciences; and Provost, Dartmouth College on the challenge in the contemporary university of conveying the “unity of knowledge.”

Co-Sponsors:

In Lumine Network

Fons Vitae

LOCATION AND FORMAT 

• The seminar will take place at Duke University in Durham, NC. Admitted students will be required to arrange their own travel to and from the seminar.
• Admitted students will be granted a stipend of $350 to offset travel costs in addition to having their lodging and meals covered for the duration of the seminar.
• Participants will arrive in Durham, NC on Sunday, June 14 and depart on Saturday, June 20. The seminar will take place from Monday to Friday, with a lecture and discussion session each morning and afternoon.
• Participants will be required to read the assigned materials in preparation for the seminar.
• In order to receive the $350 stipend, students must participate fully in all seminar activities and complete a survey at the end of the seminar.

 APPLICATION INFORMATION 

• Open to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in STEM fields, medicine, the history of science, philosophy, theology, and relevant fields.
• Applicants must submit an online application, including details on their course of study, a statement of interest, and a letter of recommendation (optional).
• Make application inquiries to Dr. Peter Tierney at ptierney@lumenchristi.org
• 15 applicants will be admitted to the seminar.

This project is made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors.

Sister Damien Marie Savino, FSE is a Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist. 

She also is the Melchor Visiting Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at the University of Notre DameBefore starting at Aquinas College in 2016, she was Associate Professor and Chair of the Environmental Science and Studies Department at the University of St. Thomas, Houston. Sister Damien Marie received her Ph.D. in Civil (Environmental) Engineering from The Catholic University of America, and holds a BS in Biogeography from McGill University, an MS in Soil and Plant Science from the University of Connecticut, and an MA in Theology from The Catholic University of America.  Her research interests include theology and science, ecology and theology, ecological restoration and resilience theory.         

Peter J. Casarella is Professor of Theology at Duke Divinity School. He received his PhD in Religious Studies at Yale University. Casarella previously served as professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Notre Dame and as director of the Latin American North American Church Concerns (LANACC) project in the Kellogg Institute for International Studies. Casarella has served as president of The American Cusanus Society, The Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians in the U.S. (ACHTUS), and the Academy of Catholic Theologians (ACT). He is currently serving a second five-year term on the International Roman Catholic-Baptist World Alliance Ecumenical Dialogue and served also on the Roman Catholic-World Communion of Reformed Churches Dialogue. He has authored or edited several books, including: Cuerpo de Cristo: The Hispanic Presence in the U.S. Catholic Church (1998), A World for All? Global Civil Society in Political Theory and Trinitarian Theology (2011), and most recently, Word as Bread: Language and Theology in Nicholas of Cusa (2017)