OUR EVENTS
FREE & OPEN TO ALL
Co-presented with the Bollandist Society and the Clough School of Theology and Ministry, Boston College
SAINTS DO NOT REST IN PEACE
THE AFTERLIFE OF RELICS
Thursday, November 5, 6 PM EST
Sever 113, Harvard University & Livestreamed
Patrick Geary
Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
From earliest times, Christians have felt a strong need to maintain contact with the remains of especially holy persons who had died in the faith - from the first-century Christians who venerated martyrs to the pilgrims who flock to the relics of saints today. This lecture explores a dramatic history of competition and dispute in which both ordinary lay persons and esteemed religious organizations expressed this need to hold on to the sanctified dead.
Co-sponsored by the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies at Harvard, The Lumen Christi Institute at the University of Chicago, COLLIS Institute for Catholic Culture at Cornell, The Nova Forum for Catholic Thought at USC, and the Harvard-MIT Society of Catholic Scientists
We acknowledge the generous collaboration of the Société des Bollandistes, the world’s premier research center for the study of saints, whose invaluable work can be supported at the link on the event page.
FREE & OPEN TO ALL
Co-presented with Institute of Carmelite Studies
JOHN OF THE CROSS
POETRY BORN OF MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE
Friday, November 13, 6 PM EST
Location TBA & Livestreamed
Fr. Juan Antonio Marcos
Universidad Pontificia Comillas
Response by Luis Girón Negrón
Harvard University
St. John of the Cross (1542-1591) is renowned both for his intense, profound mysticism and for the beauty of his poetry. A major figure in Spanish and indeed world literature, his poems give voice to the ineffable and speaks urgently to all those drawn to the spiritual life.
Co-sponsored by the Harvard Christian Alumni Society, the St. Benedict Institute at Hope College, and the Harvard-MIT Society of Catholic Scientists
Made possible through the generous collaboration of the Institute for Carmelite Studies , promoting a richer understanding and study of the Carmelite heritage through scholarship and publications.
FREE & OPEN TO ALL
Co-presented with Institute of Carmelite Studies
HOW TO READ ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS TODAY
A PRACTICAL WORKSHOP
Saturday, November 14, 9:45 AM - Noon, followed by lunch
DiGiovanni Hall, St. Paul's Parish, Harvard Square
Fr. Juan Antonio Marcos
St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), regarded as one of Spain’s greatest poets, explores the heights of mystical union with extraordinary nuance, precision, and artistry. Come and discover new ways of entering into the profound and beautiful poetry of the great Mystical Doctor.
Co-sponsored by the Harvard-MIT Society of Catholic Scientists and the Ratzinger Memorial Society
Made possible through the generous collaboration of the Institute for Carmelite Studies , promoting a richer understanding and study of the Carmelite heritage through scholarship and publications.
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Co-presented by Harvard Hillel
THE AMERICANIZATION OF ANTIZIONISM
Thursday, October 22
Harvard University & Livestreamed
Shaul Kelner
Vanderbilt University
While Jews experience antisemitism as its targets, Catholics in solidarity are called to recognize and oppose it vigorously: "mindful of [her] common inheritance with the Jews... [the Church] deplores ...persecutions and demonstrations of antisemitism directed at Jews at whatever time and by whomsoever." Vatican II, Nostra Aetate 4 (1965). Today, does the widespread discourse of "antizionism" mask antisemitism under another name? The sociologist Shaul Kelner explores the ideological roots and social structure of America's "antizionist" movement to uncover the answer.
Co-sponsored by ADL New England, Combined Jewish Philanthropies: Center for Combating Antisemitism, HLSA Jewish Alumni Network, and the HBS Jewish Alumni Association
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OLD ANSWERS TO NEW QUESTIONS
TIME-TESTED LESSONS ABOUT THE SELF
Friday, September 25, 2:00 - 4:15 PM
Followed by a reception
Harvard Catholic Center, 20 Arrow Street, Cambridge, MA
Angela Franks
Catholic University of America
Professor Franks dives into some foundational pre-modern accounts of the self. Seminar participants will discuss how these may address our contemporary predicament, both intellectual and existential, in the search for a stable and knowable self.
This program is supported by the Lynch Foundation, and a grant from the Lumen Christi Institute with funding from the John Templeton Foundation (Grant #63614).
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Co-presented by the Abigail Adams Institute
WHO WILL I BE TODAY?
THE EMPTY SELF
Thursday, September 24, 6 PM EDT
CGIS S010, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA & Livestreamed
Angela Franks
Catholic University of America
Why do people feel so insubstantial today, despite having more identity choices than ever? This lecture explores how we came to this predicament, and whether Christianity may have something useful to say about it. Reception to follow.
Co-sponsored by the Harvard Christian Alumni Society, St. Benedict Institute at Hope College, the St. Anselm Institute at the University of Virginia, and the Society of Catholic Scientists
This program is supported by the Lynch Foundation, and a grant from the Lumen Christi Institute with funding from the John Templeton Foundation (Grant #63614).
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NEITHER MEAT MACHINES NOR VISIBLE ANGELS
THE HUMAN PERSON IN LIGHT OF NEUROSCIENCE AND THEOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Friday, July 17
DiGiovanni Hall, St. Paul's/Harvard Catholic Center & Livestreamed
Fr. Ezra Sullivan, OP
Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome
Amazing recent - and ongoing- discoveries in neuroscience open up a broader understanding of who we are as human beings. But to reach any adequate view of the human person, neuroscience necessarily enters into dialogue with other disciplines, especially philosophy and theology. Fr. Sullivan invites us into that dialogue, drawing on the rich tradition of Thomistic thought.
Co-sponsored by the Society of Catholic Scientists; the Thomistic Institute at Harvard University; the Abigail Adams Institute; the Harvard Christian Alumni Society; the St. Benedict Institute at Hope College; the St. Kateri Institute at Williams College; the Institute of Theology, Imagination, and the Arts in the University of St Andrews (UK); the Lumen Christi Institute; the Catholic Community at Stanford; and the Guild of St. Luke (Boston)
Supported by the McDonald Agape Foundation and the Angelicum Thomistic Institute