Patricia O’Hara will discuss “The Catholic University in the 21st Century” from 4 to 5 p.m. Thursday, April 18, in the Frey Moot Court Room, located in the School of Law building on St. Thomas’ downtown Minneapolis campus.

Patricia O’Hara.

The program, free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by a coalition of eight St. Thomas centers and institutes. For more information and to register, visit this website or call (651) 962-4842.

O’Hara joined the Notre Dame Law School in 1981. When named vice president for student affairs for the university in 1990 she became the first woman to serve as an officer at Notre Dame. In 1999 she began a 10-year appointment as law dean and now teaches on the law faculty in the areas of corporations, securities regulation and higher education.

“While all institutions of higher learning are confronting economic and demographic challenges, Catholic colleges and universities face added pressures,” explained Elizabeth Schiltz, a professor at St. Thomas’ School of Law and co-director of one of the series’ sponsors, the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law, and Public Policy.

“We have additional challenges, but also opportunities,” she said. “Catholic universities like St. Thomas welcome a diverse student body. Some students are Catholic, some are from other religions and some are not from any religion. We strive to respect all students and to nurture this diversity, and at the same time we strive to protect our religious identity.

“This is a delicate and sometimes tricky balance to achieve. At St. Thomas, we found that many faculty and staff have been discussing as well as dealing with this challenge. It led us to create this series and bring to campus noted leaders in Catholic higher education from around the country.”

The series opened in March 2012 and has featured lectures by Father Robert Spitzer, former president of Gonzaga University; Lee Shulman, former president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching;  John Garvey, president of Catholic University of America; and Father James Burns, interim dean of Boston College’s Woods College of Advancing Studies of Boston College.

In addition to the Murphy Institute, the St. Thomas series is sponsored by the Center for Catholic Studies, John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought, School of Law, Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions, Koch Chair in Business Ethics, Center for Ethical Business Cultures and Veritas Institute.

Light refreshments will be served following the program.

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the process underway to select the next pope has captured the world’s attention. In addition to announcements by the church itself, reporters assigned to cover the story frequently turn to experts … including university and seminary professors … for help.

University of St. Thomas faculty members have a long tradition of helping the media with stories related to business, politics, science, psychology, health, law, sociology, social work, education, history, climate change and more.  The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity and St. Thomas … with its Department of Theology and the oldest and largest program in Catholic studies in the United States … provide reporters with a resource for stories related to theology, ethics and the Catholic Church.

Four university and seminary professors in particular have been helping reporters locally, nationally and even internationally with stories on the papacy:

• Dr. Don Briel, the Koch Chair in Catholic Studies and founding director of the university’s Center for Catholic Studies;
• Dr. Charles Reid Jr., a School of Law professor with a background in both church and civil law;
• Father Andrew Cozzens, assistant professor of sacramental theology at the School of Divinity;
• Dr. Massimo Faggioli, a member of St. Thomas’ Theology Department.
  

  Dr. Don Briel

Briel, who holds a doctorate in theology from the University of Strasbourg, has been at St. Thomas for 32 years.  He is former chair of the Theology Department, former director of the Catholic Studies program and helped launched the Center for Catholic Studies in 1996.

A frequent visitor to Rome and the Vatican, Briel was there during Benedict’s final week as pope. While he has a long history of assisting reporters, locally and nationally, Briel was interviewed less often than usual last week because he was overseas.

He was, however, interviewed for this March 4 story about what popes “do” that appeared in Christian Science Monitor and other publications.  And soon after returning to St. Thomas, he was interviewed by the Catholic Spirit newspaper and the Minnesota News Network, a service that provides news to radio stations around the state.

Dr. Charles Reid Jr.

Reid, a member of the St. Thomas law faculty since 2002, holds a law degree and license in canon law from the Catholic University of America as well as a Ph.D. in the history of medieval law from Cornell University. He writes on topics related to religion, law and politics; a featured blogger for the Huffington Post, his recent “The Last 20^th Century Pope” essay was circulated widely across the Internet.

Locally, Reid was interviewed about Benedict on the Fox 9, KARE 11, KSTP 5 and WCCO 4 television stations. He was interviewed by CNN Online and for half an hour on the nationally syndicated Jim Bohannon radio show. Other interviews were conducted by stations in Tennessee, New York, Connecticut, Los Angeles and even Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (they wanted to talk about chances for a Canadian pope).

Father Andrew Cozzens

Cozzens, on the School of Divinity faculty since 2006, received his doctorate in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He was a student there four years and was in St. Peter’s Square to witness the “white smoke” that announced the selection of Benedict as pope.

Cozzens appeared on the Fox 9 Sunday morning program March 3 to discuss Benedict’s resignation.

Faggioli, who is 42 but could almost pass for half that, is a native of Italy. He joined the St. Thomas Theology Department in 2009 after completing a research fellowship at the Jesuit Institute at Boston College.

Dr. Massimo Faggioli

Faggioli holds a doctorate from the University of Turin and specializes in contemporary Catholicism, religion and politics. He is the author of four books, including Vatican II: The Battle for Meaning and True Reform: Liturgy and Ecclesiology in Sacrosanctum Concilium, both published in 2012.

As a former staff member at the John XXIII Foundation for Religious Studies in Bologna, Faggioli was granted credentials to conduct research in the Vatican’s principal archive from 1998 to 2005 and still visits there regularly.

He writes frequently for journals, magazines and newspapers, including regular articles for the Rome-based newspapers Europa and L’Unita. On March 2, his article assessing “the impact of Pope Benedict’s departure on the mystique of the papacy” was the cover story on the widely read British Catholic journal, The Tablet.

While he has recently conducted interviews about the papacy with Huffington Post, the national Fox News network and Italian public radio, closer to home he was an in-studio guest or was interviewed by KARE 11, WCCO 4, KSTP 5 and Fox 9. At the time of Benedict’s resignation, he woke up early on two consecutive mornings to appear on KARE 11’s “Sunrise” program. “It is fortunate I do not need a lot of sleep,” he said.

When asked if he had any predictions on who will be selected the next pope, he said he tries to avoid that question but added, “there are no front-runners.” He did say, however, that based on how long cardinals have taken in the past to select a pope, the world likely will know who is selected on March 18 or 19.

Inside, the Bernardi lobby is energized with the anticipation of a dozen St. John Vianney seminarians. In five hours, Pope Benedict XVI will appear at his final audience before resigning the papacy.

For me, it’s an early morning. But the seminarians’ excitement for the events of the day is all the caffeination I need to make the brisk two-mile walk to St. Peter’s Basilica. A lone woman, accompanied by a pack of future priests dressed in full cassocks, we descend on the deserted city as we make our pilgrimage to St. Peter’s Square.

Just before 6 a.m., the walls of the Vatican are in sight. We are nearly there, but a critical detour is taken when the seminarians duck into a tiny basement bakery to fuel up on sugary Italian pastries. While their appearance would have you believe they are proper, buttoned-down members of the clergy, at the end of the day (or the very early morning) they remain 20-something college students. And they are hungry.

An extra half dozen pastries are picked up for the UST Catholic Studies students and fellow Bernardians who left campus even earlier – at 2:15 a.m.

Pope Benedict XVI waves at some of the 300,000 attendees of his final papal audience before resigning. (Photo by Mark Brown)

We arrive at the colonnade outside St. Peter’s piazza just as the sun begins to rise over the scaffolding occupied by dozens of news organizations from around the world. We are among the first to get there, but the crowd grows quickly as Catholic pilgrims from seemingly every country arrive to bid farewell to the pontiff. Nearby, a group of American students studying in Austria have just stepped off a 14-hour bus ride.

The sun now overhead, our seminarians form a tight circle and begin the morning prayer as many others join in multiple languages. One of them hands me a prayer card so I can follow along, but as a people-watcher I’m too distracted to keep up. As they say Amen, many begin devouring “round two” of the Italian pastries they had stashed for later in the morning. One even recommends the bakery to the road-weary students from the bus.

Soon, the gates open. The crowd begins to crush toward the security checkpoint. The most aggressive of the pilgrims are a group of nuns, none of whom are taller than four and a half feet and none of whom are younger than 70 years. Seating inside the piazza is general admission and the coveted aisle seats are at stake. Everyone wants to be as close to the roped-off passageway as possible to get the optimum view of the Popemobile as it makes its final laps with Benedict XVI.

A location is staked out. And now, with 300,000 of our closest friends, we wait.

During the two and a half hours between finding our seats and Benedict’s appearance, the piazza is chaotic and joyful. French school children sing American pop music and the French national anthem. Brazilian men stand atop chairs and chant “Be-ne-detto!” Italian teenagers strum guitars and change the words to Beatles songs to lyrics that suited the celebration. In every direction, posters emblazoned with words of thanks are hoisted.

Amidst the almost party-like atmosphere, organ music begins to pour from the speakers and the Holy Father appears. He stands in his armored vehicle, accompanied by his sharply dressed Swiss Guard – the Vatican equivalent of the Secret Service. Legend has it that the uniforms worn by the guard were designed by Michelangelo himself.

Cameras, phones, handkerchiefs and flags go up as well-wishers greet Benedict. He takes his time encircling the piazza and even blesses a handful of children handed to him along the way. The crowd becomes steadfastly pious and respectful – a stark contrast from the boisterous interaction prior to the pontiff’s appearance. Once he reaches his seat at the midpoint between the towering statues of Peter and Paul, the crowd sits as if asked to do so at the beginning of Mass.

Benedict is thankful and lets the crowd know in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English, German and French. His words are scratchy and weak, but heartfelt and meaningful. His humanity is apparent.

As he finishes, he leads the entire audience in the singing of “Our Father” in Latin. Then, quickly – as if to keep from prolonging the goodbye – he departs, leaving his pilgrims to ponder the stunning Roman afternoon. In the matter of a day, he has vacated the Vatican, making way for his faithful brothers to enter the conclave and choose his successor.

It was by pure stroke of luck that a project brought me to Rome this week. But I am forever grateful to have lived history in this Eternal City.

Kate Metzger, Newsroom associate director, along with Web and Media Services videographer Brad Jacobsen and University Relations photographer Mark Brown, traveled to Rome Feb. 25 – March 3 for a special project on behalf of the Center for Catholic Studies.

The atmosphere was fairly charged at the time and reactions had been strong following the recent publication of The Ratzinger Report in which for perhaps the first time many American Catholics began to recognize both the clarity of Ratzinger’s convictions about the need for renewal in the Church and the subtlety of his theological insights which, despite the already defined caricature of ahistorical conservatism, could not easily be reduced to the language of politics.

Years later I spoke with one of those theology majors who was struck by the unexpectedness of Ratzinger’s emphases, especially his prophetic emphasis on the importance for the Church of the future of China.

Pope Benedict XVI shakes hands with director of Catholic Studies Don Briel. (Photo by Mike Ekern ’02)

I have seen Ratzinger occasionally since that first encounter, including a few times since his election as Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. In October 2010,  I had an opportunity to speak with him about our shared interest in the life and thought of John Henry Newman following a general audience. Again, unexpectedly, he reminded me that he was an alumnus of St. Thomas, having received an honorary doctorate from Father Dease in New York.

As I think of his legacy, I am reminded of his calm and prayerful expression of the papacy in a time of extraordinary turbulence, a time for which in some ways he was ill-equipped to respond but in other ways for which his papacy has been uniquely providential. Of course, his papacy will not escape the sad aftermath of the clerical abuse crisis, but the integrity of his own response to that crisis also is memorable.

As expected, he placed a strong emphasis on addressing the amnesia of European culture about its Christian roots, and in remarkably sophisticated presentations in London, Paris, Berlin and Rome he reminded secular governments about the essential role of faith in modern democratic assumptions and insisted that faith could not be reduced to a private principle and excluded from civic life. He forged unexpected relations with atheistic and agnostic public intellectuals like Marcello Pera and Jürgen Habermas, who testified to the dangers to the common good and to the human person in certain instrumental political developments in modern culture. As pope, his emphasis on the role of faith in the modern world led Ratzinger to a number of interreligious and ecumenical gestures despite his refusal to accept a lowest common denominator approach to interreligious dialogue.

In the end, the insight of the scholar pope that the new evangelization must proceed not on the grounds of disputation but in the invitation to love, Deus Caritas Est, shaped a new understanding of the vitality of orthodoxy, not as a safe middle between the extremes of traditionalists and progressives but as a vital alternative to their frozen fascination with political accounts of the Church.

Renouncing the papacy, so unconservative in obvious ways, is another example of the unexpectedness of this man, this pope, whose humility, whose life of prayer, whose deep appreciation of beauty in the Church and in the world, whose deep knowledge of the mystery, the profundity and the limits of the papal office, will finally be expressed in a retreat into contemplation and devotion.

As legacies go, Joseph Ratzinger is not easily ignored.

Don Briel is the director of the Center for Catholic Studies and Koch Chair in Catholic Studies.

How many students and alumni dread that question or similar questions and comments, such as “That’s not a very useful degree, is it?” How many people have been afraid to pursue Catholic Studies because they’ve been unable to answer that question for themselves?

Certainly, Catholic Studies isn’t the only degree to raise eyebrows. Many a philosophy major has had to endure jokes about flipping burgers after graduation. But Catholic Studies is a relatively new field of study. Many people have never heard of it and are hard pressed to define what is meant by a major or a master’s program in Catholic Studies. This makes the questions especially urgent. Why would anyone pursue Catholic Studies?

Fourteen graduates of Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas, undergraduate and graduate alumni from all walks of life, answered questions such as: What attracted you to Catholic Studies? What did you most appreciate about it? How do you use it on the job and in your life?

In many ways, their answers were as varied as their jobs. The alumni profiled in these pages include lawyers, a professor, a teacher, a priest, a seminarian, a pediatric resident, a Ph.D. candidate, a stay-athome mom, a psychotherapist, businessmen and laywomen working for the Church. Some find they are applying their education directly to their careers. Others argue that Catholic Studies shaped them as persons.

But, despite the wide differences in what they have done since graduation, these men and women are also strikingly similar. Many of them came to Catholic Studies to grow as Catholics, intellectually and spiritually. Many spoke of how much they valued the interdisciplinary approach of the program. Those who had the opportunity to study in Rome spoke of it as a life-changing experience. The vast majority of undergraduate alumni were double-majors, strongly encouraged by the Catholic Studies Department. These alumni are hopeful, viewing world events through the lens of Church history. They believe they are called to infuse the world with Catholic thinking. And they said, over and over again that, whether or not it applied directly to their careers, Catholic Studies was a value in itself.

In the words of Erin Dolan ’08, “It prepares you for anything.”

“Catholic Studies Shaped Who I Am”

Tara Anderson ’04, ’07 M.A.
Undergraduate majors: Catholic Studies and philosophy
Associate at Fafinski Mark & Johnson

Tara Anderson’s interest in Catholic Studies began before she graduated from high school. She first came to St. Thomas as part of Minnesota’s Postsecondary Enrollment Options program, which enables high school juniors and seniors to earn college credit. She began talking to one of the professors during this time, and she liked the interdisciplinary approach that he described. Pursuing both Catholic Studies and philosophy as majors allowed her to combine her interests in philosophy and ethics and explore her faith.

By the time she graduated, Anderson thought, “I haven’t done so much that there is nothing left to do in Catholic Studies.” She also wanted to study more with professors such as Dr. Robert Kennedy and explore the intersection of politics and Catholicism, something which the flexibility of the master’s program would allow her to do. She ended up pursuing both an M.A. degree in Catholic Studies and a J.D. through the joint JD-CSMA program.

Reflecting on the program, Anderson most appreciates the professors. “They made the program what it was.” She also liked the interdisciplinary nature of the program and the way she was able to shape it to explore her different interests.

In her current position as an associate with Fafinski Mark & Johnson, Anderson is responsible for corporate transactions and intellectual property, areas of business law, as well as aviation finance. “I manage day-to-day legal business that isn’t litigation related,” said Anderson, who was not interested in litigation. Her UST Law Mentor Externship connected her with the firm. “They needed what I wanted,” she said. Happy with where she has landed, she noted that the firm has a culture that allows her to make decisions that she feels good about making as a Catholic lawyer.

Anderson doesn’t use Catholic Studies on the job the way a chemist might use her knowledge from her chemistry major, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t useful to her. “Catholic Studies shaped who I am as a person,” she said, “which shapes how I interact with clients and approach different situations. It especially influences my focus on ethics.” She added, “For most people who graduate with a major or master’s in Catholic Studies, it’s not career-training, but it’s applicable to a wide range of fields. I wouldn’t ask someone who was pursuing Catholic Studies, ‘So, what are you going to do with that?’”

An Enthusiastic Messenger

Erin Dolan ’08
Undergraduate majors: Catholic Studies and print journalism
Undergraduate minor: Graphic arts
Communication coordinator for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee

For Erin Dolan, deciding to major in Catholic Studies and deciding to enroll at St. Thomas went hand-in-hand. “I was looking for schools that were in a five-hour driving circle of Milwaukee,” she said. She specifically looked for schools where she could learn more about her faith. “My faith was important, but I hadn’t made it my own.” A family member introduced her to St. Thomas. “I was hooked when I knew about the Rome program.”

After some thought, Dolan chose to pursue a second major in print journalism and a minor in graphic arts, because she loved writing and art. She considered Catholic Studies to be a personal interest, and she never planned to work for the Church. After graduation, she landed a job as an editorial associate at a jewelry magazine, where she handled layout and event planning. “It was fun,” she said. Approximately a year into that job, she heard of a job in marketing communications for Catholic schools and St. Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee. “I could never have created a job like that,” she said. “It was meant to be.” She applied on a whim, not expecting much, since she had so little work experience in that area. To her surprise, she was contacted for an interview and eventually took the job.

She has been there for three years now, and her role has shifted from an emphasis on Catholic school marketing to work with the vocations office. Through the Web, newsletters, ads and radio, Dolan explains the priesthood, its relevance and the need for more priests. She also does development work for the seminary, from organizing golf fundraisers to working on the annual appeal.

For Dolan, Catholic Studies ended up tying into her work far more than she had anticipated. “You can’t underestimate the importance of a solid theological background and solid philosophy,” she said, referring to her position. “I need to know how to effectively communicate Catholic teaching to a broad audience. I need to translate doctrine for the person in the pew.” She has also found that her studies have helped her in an independent, creative venture she has taken on outside of her work for the Church: Second Story Creative. “Many of my clients are small businesses owners, and some are Catholic,” she said. “Catholic Studies has helped me professionally. It has made me more marketable.”

Dolan knows that many Catholic Studies majors don’t end up applying their knowledge so directly in the workplace. “Even if I weren’t working for the Church, I’d still filter what I’ve learned into any job. I may not always have this job, but Catholic Studies is still applicable. It gives value to any path. It prepares you for anything.” One of the ways she sees the power of its influence is through how it prepares young Catholics for positions of leadership and influence. “We need to stand for truth. We have much to say. We have been given the opportunity and the responsibility to be enthusiastic messengers. There is so much to do. We live in an exciting time.”

A Career Grounded in Hope

Gino Lambo ’95
Undergraduate majors: Political science and theology
Undergraduate minor: Catholic Studies
Account executive at Celleration

When Gino Lambo came to St. Thomas, Catholic Studies wasn’t a part of his plan, but the faculty drew him in. He found himself taking first one course and then another. “The faculty members are inspiring,” he said. “That’s one of the department’s strong suits. The faculty are excellent, dedicated and engaging. They’re passionate about learning.”

Lambo ended up in medical sales after graduation, and he has found his St. Thomas education very applicable. “I go into nursing homes, which are not the happiest places, but St. Thomas educates people in the tradition of not losing hope. I know that there’s lots of good in the midst of suffering.” Lambo is grateful for the chance to help people such as an elderly woman with a bad lower extremity wound. Through the medical technology Lambo helped to provide, not only did she keep her limb, but she danced at her grandson’s wedding. Hers is one of many meaningful stories of healing that inspire him. He sees Christ in every human being he meets. “If you do what you love and engage individuals with respect, you will have a fulfilled life. It’s important to live life authentically.”

The friendships and habits that Lambo built at St. Thomas are still a part of his life 17 years after graduation. “I was part of a group that attended daily Mass. I strongly recommend that habit,” he said. He developed a strong understanding of the power of the Eucharist during his college years and has seen it in other people’s lives. Recently he was able to help a friend in Germany whose mother was dying of cancer. Lambo visited the woman, who was in a local hospital, and took her to the chapel. While they  were there, she had the opportunity to receive communion. “Her demeanor changed,” he said. Lambo’s own mother was ministered to in a similar manner by his friend and Catholic Studies classmate Father Ryan Lewis, who went to say daily Mass with her during the last weeks of her life. “I cherish the friendships I developed through Catholic Studies.”

Now a member of the Catholic Studies board of advisers, Lambo has been encouraged by the quality of students he is meeting. As he plans for the gala celebration of the 20th anniversary of Catholic Studies at St. Thomas on Oct. 26, 2013, he finds the faculty as appealing as they were when he was a student. “It’s amazing that the faculty has been engaged for 20 years so very passionately. The Center for Catholic Studies is a thriving part of the university. It’s helped many.”

And about that gala? Lambo is looking for volunteers and hopes that readers will mark their calendars!

“I Knew I Was Home”

Irma Montes ’11
Undergraduate major: Catholic Studies
Undergraduate minor: Psychology
Hispanic outreach coordinator at Holy Name Catholic Church

In high school, Irma Montes knew that she wanted to use her college years to be educated about her Catholic faith. “I was looking for Catholic Studies, not theology or religious studies,” she said. A friend recommended two schools, one of which was St. Thomas, and Montes visited campus during her senior year. “It felt right,” she said. “I knew I was home.” She didn’t apply anywhere else.

Montes was excited about the opportunity to study in Rome – so much so, that she spent her entire junior year there. “Rome changed my life. It was a place where I learned how to live out my faith. I stopped being a rule-follower and stepped into a personal relationship with God. It was a romantic time with the Lord. Every day was another surprise.”

After graduation, she decided to join Christ in the City in Denver for a year, where she served on the homeless task force. “I did a lot of street ministry, serving different populations, such as teens or adults, on different days of the week.” She also spent about half of her time doing outreach to the Hispanic community in a poor neighborhood. “When families immigrate to the United States,” she explained, “a lot of them become cultural Catholics. The parents practice their faith in Spanish, and they can’t communicate it to their kids.” Her mission was to re-evangelize, bringing these young people back to the Church.

Montes saw her work with Christ in the City as an important step following graduation, and taking that step immediately was ideal, since she had the time as a young, single recent graduate. “My missionary work was a fulfillment of my degree,” she said. “I learned what it meant to be charitable and to serve the poor. I wasn’t looking for a career. I just wanted to serve in a Catholic way.” She also went back to school at the Augustine Institute in Denver, diving into Scripture classes. “I enjoy intellectual challenge,” she said, adding, “People on the streets want to know who Christ is. I didn’t know Scripture well enough. It’s my duty to become educated enough to share with them.”

Her year of service ended in July, and she was offered a full-time position continuing at the parish where she did Hispanic ministry. “I’m continuing the same ministry in Denver; I’m just not living in community anymore,” part of her experience with Christ in the City. Her main focus will be Hispanic outreach, although she will continue to do some street ministry.

Were Montes to advise young Catholics facing graduation, she would say that it’s okay to take things slowly. “You can take time off for service. We don’t spend enough time building relationships. We live in a me-focused world.” She also noted, “Our plans are not always God’s plans. Have an open heart. He will never be outdone in generosity, will never disappoint. He brought us this far, why would he abandon us?”

“I Didn’t Come to St. Thomas for Its Catholic Identity”

Dr. Greg Murry ’03
Undergraduate majors: Catholic Studies and history
Assistant professor of history at Mount St. Mary’s University

Greg Murry was an agnostic when he came to St. Thomas, and he came for the reputation of the Opus College of Business. “I was going to be a business major,” he said. He had decided that a business education would open doors for employment, and he would pursue history because he liked it. During his first semester, one of his fellow students in a physics class, Luke Meyer, now chancellor of the diocese of Fargo, told Murry that he should take the Newman class with Dr. Don Briel. “That course, late-night conversations with friends and reading Augustine’s Confessions for my theology class changed everything.”

Soon Murry found himself pursuing Catholic Studies instead of business. “It informed my interests as a historian,” he said. Instead of pursuing a career in business, Murry found himself on track to be a history professor. He pursued a master’s degree and a Ph.D. at Penn State University, where he specialized in early modern European history, and religion and the missionary world. “All of the students crossed disciplinary lines,” he said of his graduate education. “That jived with Catholic Studies, and it is what part of what attracted me to Penn State.”

In the fall of 2010, Murry was hired by Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland, where he teaches history electives as well as core history courses. “The department is similar to Catholic Studies in that it has an interdisciplinary civilization sequence. We cover not just history but literature and the arts,” Murry said. Murry’s background in Catholic Studies ties in very well to his work at Mount St. Mary’s. “The university is committed to Catholic identity. We want to attract serious Catholic students. When we revised our history core, I had input in the discussion. I bring Catholic content into my classes as much as I can, such as the way in which Catholic ethics can shape our perspective of history.” He also put together an introductory liberal arts class for freshmen. “About one quarter of the students are not Catholic,” he said. “I have to get them thinking about a Catholic vision of the human person.”

Although Murry was heavily into the intellectual side of Catholic Studies, he appreciates most his service work while he studied in Rome and the opportunities he had for contemplative prayer. “People who are really into the intellectual side have a tendency to neglect these things. It’s important to also have lots of community and contemplative prayer. I did my service work with a group. Rome pulled these sides together. It provided me with the opportunity to undergo a spiritual conversion after the intellectual conversion I had already experienced.”

Perhaps because Murry has seen the value of community, service and prayer, he recommends that young Catholics get involved in their communities and churches wherever they live after graduation. He notes that in college, they are generally surrounded by others who solidly support their faith. “The best thing you can do is to re- create a sense of community in your new life.”

The Significance of the Day-to-Day

James Schultz ’08
Undergraduate majors: Catholic Studies and philosophy
Junior associate at Kirkland & Ellis LLP

James Schultz was attracted to St. Thomas because of the strength of its liberal arts programs, including Catholic Studies. Although he most appreciated the intellectual rigor with which Catholic Studies approaches the study of all the disciplines it touches, he was also drawn to the opportunities for personal formation available through the center. “I wanted both a comprehensive exploration of a Christian vision for the world as well as a personal formation,” he said, so he lived in one of the Catholic men’s houses for two years and was involved in the Leadership Intern program. “The intellectual and the personal were important to me,” he said. “I enjoyed Catholic Studies’ serious exploration of various disciplines,” but he also considered the personal aspect of his growth as essential. “I would rank Catholic Studies as one of the top formative experiences of my life. I grew intellectually and personally through various program offered by the department and the center.”

After graduating from Harvard Law School, Schultz took a position with Kirkland, assisting with the negotiation and documentation of different corporate transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions or securities offerings. He finds that his academic training is a source of confidence on the job. “The big questions that occupy lawyers’ minds – the proper goals of punishment, the merits of economic regulation, the just treatment of the child in the womb – are of course questions that the Christian intellectual tradition can be a great help in answering. On many occasions, I have been able to put forward a more complete explanation of the Christian vision on a subject because I explored seriously within Catholic Studies the intellectual foundations upon which the Christian vision rests.”

While his day-to-day work may not always be directly related to his faith, Schultz brings a sense of vocation and significance to his career. Through the eyes of faith, insignificant pieces of his life become significant. “My work has meaning in part because of my Catholic outlook,” he said. “There is a cynicism present today that says that an individual life is destined to be without impact. One of the many things Catholic Studies leaves with students is a deep understanding of the Christian idea of vocation.” He believes that young people would do well to reflect on vocation and think of how they might leverage the gifts God has given them for good. But the work they do does not have to be great in the eyes of the world. “It’s worthwhile to keep in the forefront of your mind that many seemingly insignificant endeavors have meaning. If you’re doing even simple work well, you’re giving glory to God and making use of the gifts you have received.”

“My Experiences Were Very Helpful”

Rev. Mr. Philip Schumaker ’09
Undergraduate majors: Catholic Studies and history
Transitional Deacon for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee

Philip Schumaker hadn’t even heard of St. Thomas when he began to apply to colleges, but his mother had, and she encouraged him to apply. Schumaker visited campus and met Dr. Don Briel to learn more about Catholic Studies. He liked what he saw, particularly when he was allowed to apply to live in the Catholic men’s house, which was just being started. The idea of living in community with other Catholic men and focusing on personal formation was attractive to him. Impressed by what he learned about Catholic Studies and by the campus as a whole, Schumaker was happy to apply.

“When I first got to St. Thomas, I felt very welcome,” Shumaker said. “A lot of what I appreciated about Catholic Studies was the people. I appreciated their care in forming the whole person, not just academically but the whole person.” He felt that faculty and staff “genuinely cared for people. They wanted to make us better people, who were growing in faith. They wanted to help us succeed.”

While Schumaker considered his personal formation important, he wasn’t certain he wanted to head down the path toward ordination. He had been considering the priesthood for years, and started thinking about it more while at St. Thomas. “The thought wouldn’t go away. My spiritual director, Father Peter Laird, helped me discern. There was never one moment when I knew God was calling; rather, as I prayed with my spiritual director, I grew in conviction.”

Schumaker has frequently referred back to relevant papers and knowledge gained while at St. Thomas as he writes papers in seminary or prepares for Masses. “I reference lots of what I learned,” he said. He also finds his experience of living in the men’s house to be important. “As we tried to form community, I learned what works and what doesn’t. That’s been helpful as deacon of my floor at seminary. I’ve learned how to lead these guys to great holiness and to build us up in brotherhood. I continue to learn, but my experiences were very helpful.”

For Schumaker, the sense of community he experienced at St. Thomas was a source of strength and consolation as he tried to live out his faith, and he recommends that young people continue to seek that sense of community even after graduation. “The most important thing in life is holiness. We all have legitimate concerns, but the first thing is to be holy, to pray and to grow closer to God. It’s not easy to be Catholic.” But if you have a community of like-minded friends, they can help you as you strive toward that most important thing: “to grow closer to God.”

 Bringing Faith Into a World of Life, Death and Uncertainty

Susan Slattery ’08
Undergraduate majors: Catholic Studies and biochemistry
Resident with The University of Chicago Pediatric Residency Training Program

Susan Slattery attended a Catholic high school where she received an excellent education, so she wanted more of the same in college. “I was looking for a school that had strong science and theology programs,” said Slattery, who considered schools from coast to coast. “When I visited St. Thomas, it was a last-minute decision. I met with the theology chair, who showed me textbooks and gave me a copy of Logos. Those two things validated what I was looking for. They were tangible examples of the authentic nature of Catholic academics at St. Thomas.”

Slattery didn’t know about Catholic Studies before her campus visit, but her range of interests in the sciences, theology and philosophy led her to meet with many department chairs, including then-chair of the Catholic Studies Department, Dr. Chris Thompson. The Catholic Studies curriculum looked exciting, “just the topics themselves,” Slattery said. “One of the philosophy classes was on faith and doubt, whether it was reasonable to believe in God, to be a Christian, to be Catholic. A lot of the classes set up foundational thinking at levels challenging students to think critically.”

Now a resident in The University of Chicago Pediatric Residency Training Program, Slattery finds that Catholic Studies affects how she approaches and relates to people. Working in the neonatal intensive care unit, she has had several conversations with parents. “Being involved in conversations about life, death and uncertainty is not unfamiliar to me due to my background in Catholic Studies,” Slattery said. “There’s still a lot of gray, but I try to bring comfort. It’s as simple as maintaining hope when death is involved.” More practically, she is looking at a couple of research projects with the University of Chicago, one of which is faith-based. “The relation of pediatric medicine and faith hasn’t really been studied,” Slattery noted. “There’s a gap there.”

While residency is, of course, incredibly busy, Slattery enjoys it. “It’s amazing to wake up and want to go at an insanely early hour and on very little sleep. I have the opportunity to work with families, looking out for the health and well-being of their kids, and at the end of the day, even if I’m leaving late, I’m still okay, and I’ll be back in the morning, happy to be there.” On top of all that, she is exploring involvement with the programs at the Lumen Christi Institute, which exists to complement higher education of a secular nature with Catholic intellectual dialogue. “Dr. Briel is on its board of advisers,” she said. “I’m looking forward to being involved.”

One reason she is excited about being involved in Lumen Christi is because she has found that it is important for her to stay engaged with the Church in order to consistently apply her faith to life. Her family emphasized what they referred to as “the four ‘H’s’”: happy, holy, healthy and wholesome. Busy as she is, she lives her life by these guidelines, which means not letting her busyness shove aside active involvement in her Catholic faith. “You need to read, have conversations, listen, dialogue, write, consistently participate in the sacraments. It takes practice.”

“There Are as Many Ways to Be Saints as There Are Saints”

Therese Lewis ’10 M.A.
Stay-at-home mom

In 2006 Therese Lewis was a high school religion teacher without children when she applied for admission to the Catholic Studies Master of Arts program for professional reasons and because she simply wanted to increase her knowledge of her Catholic faith. In addition to teaching religion at a Catholic high school, her career path included serving as a campus minister and working as a youth minister and confirmation coordinator. “I loved the feel of the Catholic Studies graduate program,” she said. “During the application process, people remembered me, and I got a wonderful financial aid package. In addition, I could still take classes while working full-time.”

Before she could begin classes, she and her husband adopted Beatrice, now 9 years old. “I deferred for a year, thinking I’d go back to work then.” Her family’s plans quickly changed as they made the decision for her to stay home for a time and adopted a second child, Joyce, now 3. “I came out of all that with different goals,” Lewis said, but her goals are flexible. When she will return to work will depend on her family’s needs. “How will I use my degree? I don’t know the answer, but I use it personally as a mom. I’ve thought about how to help the girls grow up with the sacraments. I don’t know what the future holds, but I feel like Catholic Studies has given me strength to forge a path, whatever it is.” She also serves on her parish council and finds that she draws on her background in Catholic Studies in that context as well.

Among the things Lewis most appreciated about the program was the opportunity to study different Catholics in-depth and learn how they influenced culture. “When I studied Cardinal Newman, I wanted to talk about Newman everywhere,” she said. She also enjoyed studying Flannery O’Connor. “She had an unusual way of speaking the truth. It’s inspiring to have such examples. I’ve learned that I need to be who I am in day-to-day, ordinary life and try to protect the uniqueness of what is. I’ve learned there are as many ways to be a saint as there are saints.”

As a Catholic Studies alumna, Lewis would tell young people to be open to the grace of God to move them in unusual ways. “I didn’t see myself as an at-home mom. You can get so planned, but our lives turn out differently, and that’s good.” She added, “Embrace who you are, who you were made to be. It’s important to embrace your identity as a Catholic. You were created to be someone who brings about goodness in our world.” These two ideas – being the person you were created to be and being open to God – go hand-in-hand, and the Church needs people who embrace both. Lewis noted that living your life in this way can be hard, but important. “Keep at it.”

Seeing Things Through the Church’s Eyes

Nathan Metzinger ’06 M.A.
Executive recruiter at Target

Nathan Metzinger heard about the Catholic Studies Master of Arts program before it was launched through his friend John Rodriguez, then administrator for the program. “I was fascinated,” he said. “It was structured for working people, rigorous, interdisciplinary and flexible, allowing me to focus on business or any other topic within the realm of Catholic thought and culture.” He knew that a Master of Arts Degree in Catholic Studies wouldn’t further his career, but he felt it would make him a better husband and father. It would also transform him “from a Catholic American to an American Catholic” as he learned to see things through the Church’s eyes.

“I’m grateful for an environment where an interdisciplinary approach to the Catholic tradition can be taken,” he said of the program. “You can go deep, but the program is flexible. The fruit is well-educated members of the community, leaders who can interpenetrate society at large, who can bring a Catholic vision to any discipline.”

“There’s not a direct correlation between my master’s degree and being a better corporate executive recruiter,” Metzinger said, but he finds that he views things through a Catholic lens. “I abhor the term ‘human resources,’” he explained. “Humans aren’t resources. Really, work serves man.”

Metzinger expected to enjoy the classes related to theology and philosophy, and he did, but he surprised himself by most enjoying history. “I’d often written history off, but I found that my studies in history enabled me to have a perspective on life beyond the American perspective, especially in the political and social arena.” As he looked at the sweep of international events over the course of 2,000 years, he found that history through a Catholic lens had an explanatory power, allowing him to understand the ramifications of things and to have hope. “The Church has weathered bad times,” he said. Studying history allowed him to fight fear and gain hope through a sense of vision and perspective.

Although most Americans today probably think a lot about the economy, Metzinger, as a recruiter, may be more aware than many of how the economy affects American attitudes. Speaking to young people facing graduation, he quotes John Paul II, “Be not afraid.” “Even now,” Metzinger said, “especially now given the economic environment, there’s a lot of fear. If you’re receptive to the movement of the Holy Spirit, there are amazing opportunities. There is so much negativity in the market, but I’m very optimistic. Remain true, be receptive to opportunities and be ready to seize them. Someone once said, ‘Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.’ Don’t let fear get in the way.”

“It’s Critical Not to Lose the Connection Between Faith and Reason”

Father Mark Moriarty ’11 M.A.
Pastor of the Church of St. Agnes and superintendent of
St. Agnes School

Father Mark Moriarty first encountered professors from the Catholic Studies Department while he was pursuing his Master of Divinity at The Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity. “I audited the Newman course, and I also took a class with Dr. John Boyle. I was very impressed,” he said. Wanting to continue to explore the breadth of Catholic thought and culture under professors such as Boyle and Dr. Don Briel, Moriarty applied to the program after he became a pastor.

“My favorite courses, like Europe and the Church: 1789 to the Present, and the History of Western Education, helped me put more flesh onto world-changing ideas,” he said. “Catholic Thought and Culture II helped me most in my understanding of how we got where we are today and how we can help culture remain vital.”

As a pastor and superintendent of a Catholic school, Moriarty draws frequently from his background in Catholic Studies to minister to others. “Part of what a pastor needs to be is a doctor of souls,” he said. This takes place not only as he provides guidance to individuals in his care but also as he ministers to the entire congregation. “You need to know your audience and what their culture is like,” he noted. “Currently there’s a break between faith and reason, as if faith doesn’t belong in the public sphere. I need to understand what led to this and the proper response. Catholic Studies has helped me understand the background to the divorce between faith and the rest of culture – academia, politics, the workplace and public discourse.”

Within the school, Moriarity tries to visit all classrooms as much as possible, not just the religion classes. “It’s critical not to lose the connection between faith and reason,” he said. “Public education has gone more into specialization and secularization. We’re working against that here.” Moriarty believes that education is not just a matter or remembering facts or discussing ideas; instead, a well-educated person will be able to sift through knowledge and culture from the past and present, sort the good from that which is not good. He strives to lead St. Agnes according to that model.

But, even with an undergraduate degree and two master’s degrees under his belt, Moriarty doesn’t believe he is done, and he doesn’t want those under his influence to view education that way either. “Education is a way of life. It’s not just over and done with when you graduate.” He also wants his parishioners and the students in his school to consider what education is for, and for him it is first and foremost about building your character and shaping the culture around you. “It’s not so much about what career you have,” he said, “but about being the best man or woman you can be as a son or daughter of God.” He continued, “No person is meant to be an island unto himself. You are called to be in continual engagement with society. We can provide the underpinning of faith that culture needs.”

The Joy of Seeing Things Through Different Disciplinary Perspectives

Erik Pedersen ’08 M.A.
Doctoral student in philosophy at the Catholic University of America

When Erik Pedersen was an undergraduate student at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, he studied in Rome through St. Thomas’ Catholic Studies/Angelicum Rome program. He appreciated the vision he saw in the Catholic Studies program. He knew that he wanted to attain a Ph.D. and, eventually, teach at a college or university, and he felt that St. Thomas’ graduate program in Catholic Studies would be a good next step along that path.

Pedersen, who had majored in philosophy and political science and minored in Catholic Studies while at Loras, doesn’t believe in hard and fast lines between disciplines – a large part of his attraction to Catholic Studies at St. Thomas. “The lines between philosophy and theology are not always clean. You need a holistic approach. Through Catholic Studies, I was able to get a broad-based understanding of, for example, St. Thomas Aquinas before jumping into more specialized work.”  Pedersen is studying Aquinas and other medieval philosophers at CUA. “Aquinas is a great philosopher,” he said, “but above all, he’s a theologian. Getting a base in Catholic Studies has given me insights into his philosophy here. And it’s not just him; it’s all medieval philosophers. The medieval commentaries on ancient philosophy are hugely important, and you get at them through theology.”

“I appreciate the way St. Thomas doesn’t let the artificial bounds of academic disciplines intrude on the natural development of a subject,” he said. “I was talking with a philosophy professor, who invited a theology professor to join us for lunch. Our talk was not confined to just one subject. It’s not good to talk about a subject only with philosophers or historians.” Pedersen noted that by partitioning subjects off into strict disciplinary categories, we can become blinded to other views. An interdisciplinary approach opens you up to seeing things in new ways.

Pedersen suggests that young Catholics who are facing graduation should be open to taking risks. He went to CUA even though it was far from family and friends and he had never visited the campus, because he knew he wanted to work with the faculty. Rather than letting fear of the unknown stop him, he dove right in. “Don’t be apprehensive,” he said. “As young Catholics, you aren’t doing this blindly. Christ will be there with you. Have faith and hope that things will work out. Have faith that, even if it doesn’t go as planned, it will work out.”

Helping People Answer “Where Are You Going?”

Joe Pribyl ’03 M.A.
Licensed marriage and family therapist and founder, Quo Vadis Therapy Center

When Joe Pribyl pursued his master’s degree in Catholic Studies, he didn’t know he would found a psychotherapy center that would allow him to work with people who were interested in integrating their spirituality with their therapy. At the time, he was working with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a lay minister. He wanted a more academic background in Catholicism and had seen an ad for the Master of Art’s program in Catholic Studies. Intrigued, he followed up and was among the earliest students to complete the new graduate program.

He continued in parish ministry for a while, but he decided to transition fully into the field of marriage and family therapy to work with people in times of need who were looking for guidance within a professional, therapeutic setting. He returned to St. Thomas, this time for a master’s degree in counseling psychology. As a psychotherapist in 2008, he decided to found Quo Vadis. “There are general Christian counseling centers,” he noted, but it’s still pretty unique to find a counseling center that allows clients to explore issues from a specifically Catholic perspective. Anyone may come and request counseling with Pribyl, but his approach allows those who wish to, to incorporate a religious perspective, including a Catholic perspective, into their sessions. “Whether or not someone wants to bring spirituality into their sessions is up to them,” he said, “but they probably come to me aware of my Catholic background.”

While his Catholic background can be a primary draw for his clients, Pribyl is comfortable working with people of other faiths, especially having studied and traveled abroad, including through parts of the Middle East. Pribyl found the idea of a Catholic culture to be particularly helpful. “Catholic Studies gave me an understanding of Catholicism as a culture and how it influences us even when we’re unaware. I appreciate having the chance to see it in that light as well as its interplay with the larger culture.” He noted that therapy is heavily influenced by post-modern culture, and his background in Catholic Studies allows him to explore where post-modernity and Catholicism agree and disagree.

For Pribyl, Catholic Studies can bring value to any work. “Whatever field you might enter,” he said, “there’s a way to be faithful and observant and to bring Catholic culture with you. You can be a positive influence on people.” He feels that Catholics should have no fear of engaging work that has a secular background. “We need to find ways to enhance the workforce” with our faith, he said. For that reason, Catholics shouldn’t see their career options as limited. “You can engage the world wherever you sit,” he said. “The question is how your Catholic sensibility can be infused into your career.”

Finding New Opportunities Through Catholic Studies

John Rogers ’10 M.A.
Teacher, St. Thomas Academy

John Rogers first heard about Catholic Studies from a teacher while he was in high school. Although he considered it, he ultimately pursued an English major at St. John’s University. After he began working as an English teacher at St. Thomas Academy, he began considering the graduate program in Catholic Studies. He wanted to broaden his horizons and make his classes more holistic, connecting literature to the larger Christian tradition.

Now a graduate of the program, Rogers finds that he uses his education regularly. “I’ve been drawing out themes from the books we’re reading as they relate to Catholic life.” Students confront questions such as: How does Romeo and Juliet relate to Shakespeare’s understanding of love and marriage? In Hamlet, how do we consider what’s moral and when it is right to do harm? Rogers said, “I tie in lots of information about music, art and architecture, so my students understand the setting of a piece of literature. I also help students find the connection between literature and Scripture. I see studying good literature as preparation for reading the Bible. When it comes time for my students to study Scripture, they are ready to do so.”

In addition, Rogers has begun teaching theology courses, including church history. “I pull in a lot of primary sources. We read the Church fathers and early papal documents. We don’t just examine these teaching in a vacuum. We consider them in their time periods and context. We look at social doctrine, examining how it developed and changed. We ask, ‘What duty do I have to people on the other side of the world?’ Teens are naturally fired up over questions like these.”

Rogers has found that people are starting to come to him with questions about doctrine and other matters. “I have had opportunities that wouldn’t have been there,” he said. His students are surprised to find that he loves both English and theology. He encourages them to think about what they will study in college, encouraging them not to focus on just a narrow slice of information. “I push against the modern idea that you have to specialize,” he said. “Catholic Studies helped me see the interplay between things, how  all things connect. This is what I want my students to do. I believe it is part of being a well-educated person, and it’s usually lost in a university setting. I encourage my students to make connections instead of deconstructing things.”

Outside of work, Rogers has become more comfortable writing on issues related to the Church and is now writing for the Minnesota Catholic Conference and giving talks at parishes.

“I most appreciate being able to see the Church in context – how it influences culture and how individuals are influenced by it,” he said. “The world is not all that the news cycle says it is. We’re interested in numbers, in that which is measureable, but there’s more to it than that.”

Read more from Perspectives.

For the last two years, the Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public Policy has supported a monthly public speaker series at the School of Law that reflects Murphy’s vision: Hot Topics/Cool Talk. The format of the series surveys both the Catholic position and a challenging perspective on major policy issues likely to be the focus of debate. Past topics included stem-cell research, immigration, marriage, health care and budget oversight. The opening lecture this year focused on religious liberty: The Most Rev. Charles Morerod, O.P., bishop of Lausane, Geneva and Fribourg, Switzerland, offered a European perspective while his fellow Dominican, Father Reggie Whitt, provided the American viewpoint. Both Dominicans argued that the Vatican II document, Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae was important, but European nations and the United States received it in different ways. The idea of religious freedom was far more provocative in the European nations; while the United States was founded on the philosophy of religious freedom, European nations, with a history of religious tension and violence, believed that true religious freedom would lead to social and political unrest. Father Whitt presented the reception of Dignitatis Humanae as an ignored or abandoned document. In the late 1960s, the United States began to see a creeping secularism in laws regarding morality and ethical behavior. Yet most Catholics accepted these laws, contrary to Church teachings, citing personal conscience under the guise of religious freedom as outlined in the Vatican II document.

Bishop Morerod’s evening lecture, “Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Freedom: The View from Europe,” expanded on his earlier remarks. Morerod remarked that Dignitatis Humanae was a watershed document. “In the European countries, unity in society was equal to unity in religion. If you live in one country, you have that country’s religion. There is this idea of a state church, and very little notion of religious freedom.” The history of Europe includes long periods of religious violence, it is true, yet Morerod insists that Dignitatis Humanae is rooted in the dignity of the human person and that violence is not a natural response to religious freedom. “Look at the  gospels, and look at Jesus Christ. He doesn’t oblige people to believe in his message; he presents it for them to decide.” Intolerance for Christian ideals is on the rise in Europe, including laws that ban religious symbols, dismiss conscientious objection for medical personnel, and forbid the discussion of faith in academic settings. “Christianity is still the enemy of society. Why? Recent notions have marginalized faith to the private sector thus excluding religion from public life and politics. This situation leads to problems” as Christians are members of both social and political life. Catholic Studies alumnus Michael Truso believes that “Bishop Morerod’s remarks were thought-provoking and illuminating to the American mind. He made it clear that many Europeans of many different faiths recognize the increase in harassment toward Christians in Europe. Yet I left the event feeling optimistic, encouraged by his zeal for creative solutions to promote ecumenism and his conviction in the Gospel message.”

Bishop Morerod is well known to Catholic Studies. He served as rector of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), professor of dogmatic theology and Secretary General of the International Theological Commission. He is fondly remembered by students who studied in Rome, as he was a frequent visitor to the Bernardi Residence. Monica Stiles, Bernardi resident during the spring of 2011, recalls, “Bishop Morerod (known better to me as Father and rector of the Angelicum) first captured my heart when I shared with the colorful Swiss Dominican that I longed for a particular candy found only in the United States. Lo and behold, upon his return from a trip to the States he brought back not one, but two bags of said candy. Since then, our friendship has grown, and it has been a great joy to have him as part of the fold of my Bernardi Rome family.”

It is a tradition of the Rome students to host a potluck in the Sitzmann Hall backyard when Morerod comes to visit, and September was no exception. More than 30 students gathered to pray, share dinner and socialize in what has come to be an annual event. Alessandro Marchetti, organizer of the event, sees this as another example of universality within the Catholic Studies community. “It’s such a tremendous opportunity to be able to spend time again with Bishop Morerod, who is for many of us a friend, professor and Father. It is a sign of tremendous universality when students from Catholic Studies in Saint Paul, Minn., can be at a reunion with a Swiss Bishop we met in Rome.”

As the university embarks on a search for a new president, it is also hosting a series of events that engages the theme of Catholic mission and identity. Catholic Studies and a variety of other campus programs sponsored a lecture by Father James Burns on this topic. In his lecture, “Creating a Dynamic Vision of Catholic Mission and Identity,” Burns critiqued higher education in general yet offered hope for reform through Catholic universities. He noted that studies of the perceived value of higher education found that graduates lacked certain character qualities, such as the ability to work well with others. “Interestingly, Catholic colleges and universities stand in a unique place to address this concern,” he said. “Through their religious heritage and spiritual traditions, these institutions are called to cultivate such important qualities through a focus on character development in their students; however, the influence of such a mission will only be fully appreciated if faculty can stand as exemplars of the character they hope to help their students develop.” For Burns, formation of character is an essential task of the Catholic university, one not to be replaced by mere instruction.

To watch video of Bishop Charles Morerod and Father Reggie Whitt or a video of Bishop Morerod’s evening lecture, visit the Murphy Institute’s website at www.stthomas.edu/murphyinstitute and click on Past Events.

Read more from Perspectives.

Directed by Father Michael Keating, the Leadership Intern program seeks to equip and train future Catholic leaders through seminars, hands-on leadership experience, interaction with civic and Church leaders, and intensive formation using a unique methodology that integrates academics, practical experience and philosophy.

Katie Lahti ’10 reflected on the program overall, “I realized that while in the intern program I learned the best definition of leadership put into words – what I still view as the very core of leadership. I learned what it means to be a leader based on what it means to be a human person living in society, embracing the truths in many secular tidbits of good leadership practices but recognizing their foundation in the one truth.”

This leadership philosophy is encapsulated in the Five Building Blocks of Catholic Leadership, developed by Father Keating. They are, in order of importance, faith, character, vocation, gift and skills. Current leadership models usually begin with questions of skill; some include gift and some attempt a limited engagement with character. Our program teaches a different model; namely, that a leader is someone a person is, rather than simply something a person does. This means that faith and character are the foundation upon which gift and skill find their right order.

“Through this program, I realize the gifts that God has given me are more than enough to serve … which means that I don’t have to sacrifice living and working in the real world. I am being called to use and develop my leadership gifts even more,” Dellaria added. In addition to forming a cooperative understanding of leadership across groups and personalities, the interns receive a clear vision and training in a Catholic understanding of leadership that will serve them both in their immediate responsibilities and in the tasks and roles they take up after graduation. “For better or worse, leaders greatly impact our culture. Our world is desperate for good leaders to step up to the plate and lead like Christ. The Catholic Studies Leadership Intern program emphasized the importance of praying daily and frequenting the Sacraments. By doing so, we are constantly reminded to see our daily lives as mission – that every moment in our day provides an opportunity to know Christ more deeply and share Him more freely,” Michael Selenski ’10 wrote.

An essential component of our training is vocational discernment. A number of the interns are pursuing priesthood or religious life or are involved in lay apostolates; others have gone on to further professional study; still others have entered careers in business, education, or social and public service.

The 10-day Spring Institute is the capstone of the program, during which the interns intensively examine the concrete implications of a chosen aspect of leadership in Church and society. The Joseph and Edith Habiger Institute for Catholic Leadership, part of the Center for Catholic Studies and home to the Leadership Intern program, both secures the year’s work among the interns and exposes them to people and situations that prove formative for future leadership. In past years the interns have gone to France to study the principles of building a Christian culture, to Washington, D.C., to understand a Catholic’s duties toward civil society, to Peru to explore the theme of Latino Catholicism, and to Denver, Colo., where they got a behind-the-scenes look at the demands of Catholic charity work. Matthew Snyder ’07 (Catholic Studies and theology) believes that the institute provides a fundamental aspect of leadership. “The program painted a fuller picture of what Catholic leadership demands today by really examining the foundations of what a culture is and where it gets its influence. (In 2007) we traveled to France to study how both new and established Catholic movements were finding a renewed energy in their faith against a pressing secular culture. We lived with these movements as they inspired change on different levels and learned from their adversity. We could then apply these similarities to the different areas in which each of us was responsible back on the homefront.”

To learn more about this program, visit the Catholic Studies Leadership Intern program website, www.stthomas.edu/cathstudies/leadership/interns.

Read more from Perspectives.

The sun is shining brightly as I peer through the windows of Sitzmann Hall, still wiping the sleep from my eyes. As I take slow sips of a much-needed cup of joe, I begin to ponder the mysteries of the week to come. Charity, our year’s theme, is essential to the mission of Christ in the City, the program we will be participating in during this institute. Having spent countless Friday afternoons discussing charity at length, we’ve certainly prepared intellectually. But knowledge alone won’t suffice. We are called to live this charity. Can we truly embrace this calling to love? It would be quite comfortable to just lie low together in Sitzmann. But we have been given a mission to love, and it is up to us to embrace it. Colorado, here we come.

Wednesday, May 23

Each soul was designed to love uniquely. Today, in a behind-the-scenes tour of Catholic Charities, this truth was beautifully illustrated. As we encountered various individuals, from a young director of communications to a seasoned grant writer, we witnessed the fire within each one for Christ. We were taken aback by the practicality of our God. The gifts given to us, regardless of how seemingly irrelevant, were made for the glory and love of the Lord.

Thursday, May 24

We’ve prayed, we’ve strategized and we’ve attempted to prepare for our first experience out on the streets. In the nobility of my thoughts, I am Mother Teresa, gazing into the eyes of the poor and seeing no one but Christ. But in my heart, I see my hesitation and fear of rejection. I must remind myself of the wisdom shared with us by the missionaries. “If it’s awkward, then you’re probably doing it right. We embrace ‘the awkward’ so that these individuals may feel normal for once.” Here I go, with nothing to hold back.

Friday, May 25

Today we encountered the multifaceted beauty of the body of Christ. We listened as Luis Soto, director of Hispanic Ministry, shared with us the current state of this ministry in Denver. We were filled with direction and excitement as he shared for us the greatest strategy for renewal of faith within the United States: to draw the Hispanic people in.

Saturday, May 26

Today was a marathon. The souls we encountered in the streets were revealed to us so nakedly. We sat, listened, learned their stories and told them our own. Our role today was not to fix anyone or anything, but to love them, to be with them and simply remind them of their dignity. And what an edifying, yet heart-breaking experience it was. What brokenness this world holds! Yet what ease we have in just walking the other way. We were challenged not to close our eyes, not to run from the pain, not to pretend that such brokenness does not exist, not to take up the whole of their burden, but to see the face of Christ within each broken human person.

Sunday, May 27

We cannot look away. Today was designated a day for leisure. And as we all returned from relaxing mornings of mountain climbing, we came together for Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. And I was struck. Surrounding this beautiful building were numerous souls sleeping outside, many who had nothing to eat. I knew that I could never forget what I had seen.

Monday, May 28

They are clean. They are fed. But most telling of all, they are called by name. I would consider it impossible to find a resident of the Mullen home who did not feel entirely loved and cared for. The Little Sisters of the Poor serve with swiftness, competence and smiles! What joy the sisters exude as they serve!

Tuesday, May 29-Thursday, May 31

In the words of Blessed Mother Teresa, “We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is a friend of silence.” When we made the discovery that our final destination was a silent retreat house, plans were certainly adapted and a silence was demanded of us that we had not anticipated. We could not have chosen a better gift or a more fitting way to conclude our journey. How perfectly the silence made way for the stirrings of the spirit in our hearts, giving the ears of our soul a chance to hear the whispers of the Lord. I remember feeling so small as I paced the scenic grounds. His love was greater than the majestic mountains framing the glowing horizon. Without him, we were smaller than a grain of sand. But in him, our love could not be contained.

Read more from Perspectives.

Greater things indeed. Nearly 20 years after the 1993 establishment of the Department of Catholic Studies, the Center for Catholic Studies has matured into a thriving and vibrant entity that garners international and national recognition. The first graduating class had two double majors and one minor. Last year’s graduating class consisted of 18 graduate students, 17 undergraduate students with Catholic Studies minors and 59 undergraduate students majoring in Catholic Studies. Fifty of the students graduating with a major in Catholic Studies were double majors and five triple majors. In addition, there are now more than 70 Catholic Studies programs in the country and others emerging throughout the world.

Dr. Don Briel, director for the center, notes, “We did not anticipate the full potential of Catholic Studies and its ability to attract talented young men and women from around the country and around the world for its programs. The later development of the Center for Catholic Studies; Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture; the Catholic Studies/Angelicum Program in Rome; the institutes focusing on leadership, Catholic thought and culture; faculty seminars; collaborations with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the Holy See’s Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, the Pontifical Council for Culture and Cor Unum; as well as collaborations with Catholic universities around the world, have made a vital contribution to the renewal of Catholic life and thought on campus and around the world.”

The Center for Catholic Studies will host a gala celebration Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013, in Woulfe Alumni Hall in the Anderson Student Center to reflect upon and celebrate the accomplishments of the past 20 years. Alumni and supporters of Catholic Studies are encouraged to attend this inaugural event. The purpose of the gala is to renew alumni connections, develop avenues in which to expand the center’s programs, and to advance the broader mission of a revitalized Catholic identity not only on campus but also on a national and international level.

The Center for Catholic Studies reflects a comprehensive and collaborative model of interdisciplinary studies and houses the following programs:

The Department of Catholic Studies offers both a graduate program and an undergraduate major and minor for more than 300 students. In addition, students run projects such as The Signature magazine, a campuswide Mass and discussion evening called the Catholic Edge, film nights and the Latin Club.

The John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought coordinates a wide range of academic programs, international symposia on the relation of Catholic thought and management education, research projects on the implication of Catholic social thought for business and the common good.

The Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public Policy is a joint venture with the School of Law that addresses the complex relations of Catholicism and law in contemporary culture by means of conferences, seminars and a speaker series on public policy issues.

The Joseph and Edith Habiger Institute for Catholic Leadership focuses on leadership development for undergraduate students. It comprises six programs that integrate intellectual and spiritual formation with residential living and professional preparation.

Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture is an interdisciplinary quarterly journal that attracts submissions from international and national authors.

The Catholic Studies/Angelicum Rome program offers students a semester study abroad experience that includes study at the Angelicum, community life at the Bernardi Residence, spiritual formation and service projects.

Read more from Perspectives.

The Ryan Institute started convening these conferences in 1996 at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. The conferences have generated close to 500 papers on the topic, which can be accessed at www.stthomas.edu/cathstudies/cst/conferences. These gatherings have begun to build a community of Christian scholars and practitioners from across disciplines who reflect, discuss and debate the meaning of a Catholic university and its business education.

In his opening remarks of the conference, Brother Ray Fritz, Ferree Professor of Social Justice from the University of Dayton, said “… our purpose of being here together is to focus on raising up a generation of business leaders by energizing and by sustaining our efforts to develop mission-driven education in our Catholic universities.” With this purpose in mind, 160 participants representing 22 countries and 80 institutions and various Christian faith perspectives explored how Catholic universities revitalize their cultures and deepen their missions and identities by sharing ideas on processes, various models and curriculum.

One highlight of the conference was the opening plenary remarks by Cardinal Peter K.A. Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, who officially presented a new Vatican document “Vocation of the Business Leader: A Reflection.” (See related story on Page 33.) After Cardinal Turkson’s address, 71 papers were presented in concurrent and plenary sessions on disciplines, which included management, philosophy, law, corporate governance, finance, accounting, theology, marketing and economics with the goal of generating ideas on how to strengthen and renew Catholic business education. All the plenary sessions can be viewed and all papers from the conference can be downloaded at www.stthomas.edu/dayton.

The Ninth International Conference on Catholic Social Thought and Management Education will be held at De La Salle University in Manila, Philippines, in 2014. Email Mary Kay O’Rourke, mkorourke@stthomas.edu, for more information.

Read more from Perspectives.

The 30-page reflection had its beginning at an international seminar of business leaders and scholars in Rome, titled Caritas in Veritate: The Logic of Gift and the Meaning of Business, held Feb. 24 to 26, 2011, and cosponsored by the University of St. Thomas’ John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought.

In light of the constructive and lively exchanges at the seminar, the PCJP appointed a committee to write a handbook or guide for business men and women and business educators that addresses the important role of vocation for the business leader in today’s global economy and the contribution of the Church’s social principles for the modern corporation.

The University of St. Thomas faculty played a major role in the development of the document with significant contributions from Michael Naughton and Robert Kennedy of the Center for Catholic Studies and Ken Goodpaster of the Opus College of Business.

As important and as rich as the Catholic social tradition is, its principles have not always been effectively communicated to the business community. For many business people, the social principles of the church are perceived as well intentioned but too abstract to have any impact. “Vocation of the Business Leader” was designed to be concise, easily accessible and eminently practical. It begins with an executive summary that provides business leaders with a larger perspective of the global and personal dilemmas business people face today. It then explores the complex factors business people must weigh and balance and offers practical, ethical principles with which to examine these problems in the light of Catholic social teaching. It ends with a unique personal examination that is a discernment checklist for the business leader. It is hoped that the vocation document will be a valuable resource for use in personal reflection, boardroom discussions and classroom study.

Copies of “Vocation of the Business Leader: A Reflection” can be ordered online and read in its entirety at www.stthomas.edu/cathstudies/cst/VocationBusinessLead.

Read more from Perspectives.

Free and open to the public, the forum is sponsored by the university’s Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public Policy. A complimentary lunch will be served to those who register for the lunch program.

The Hot Topics: Cool Talk series, which explores Catholic positions and other perspectives on provocative issues of law and policy, focuses this year on the challenges of religious freedom in the United States and around the world. The Nov. 30 forum is titled “The Romeike Asylum Case: Does Germany’s Ban on Homeschooling Count as Religious Persecution?”

The forum will feature legal experts debating the case of Uwe and Hannelore Romeike and their five children, ages 4 to 14. Starting in the fall of 2006, the parents began keeping their three oldest children out of school, which is illegal in Germany where attendance at an officially recognized school – public, private or religious – is mandatory.

When the Romeike family did not comply, officers showed up at their home in the town of Bissingen and took the children to school in a police van. Facing steep fines and threats that they could lose custody of their children, the parents emigrated to Morristown, Tenn., in 2008, and applied for political asylum the following year.

Luke Goodrich

Early in 2010, U.S. Immigration Judge Lawrence Burman granted asylum to the family, saying that “home-schoolers are a particular social group that the German government is trying to suppress. This family has a well-founded fear of persecution … therefore, they are eligible for asylum.”

David Abraham

The case was appealed by U.S. Immigration and Customs to the federal Board of Immigration Appeals; a decision is pending.

Presenting the case in favor of the family at the St. Thomas forum will be Luke Goodrich, legal counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which has submitted an amicus brief supporting the Romeike’s asylum claim. Presenting the case against asylum will be David Abraham, a professor of immigration and citizenship law at the University of Miami School of Law.

Sarah Brenes, an attorney with Advocates for Human Rights and a former fellow with the St. Thomas School of Law Immigration Clinic, will moderate the discussion.

Information about the Hot Topics: Cool Talk series is available here.

The Minnesota Board of Legal Education has approved the program for a standard CLE credit.

The forum is being held in conjunction with the Journal of Law and Public Policy’s fall symposium, “Homeschooling: Rights and Tensions at Home and Abroad.” Symposium speakers include Dr. Dick Carpenter, director of strategic research for the Institute of Justice; Mary Rice Hasson, a fellow in the Ethics and Public Policy Center; and Michael Donnelly, the director of international affairs and staff attorney for the Home School Legal Defense Association.

Go to the UST Law event page for the complete symposium schedule.

A 1975 St. Thomas graduate and a faculty member since 1991, Joncas will no longer teach courses but instead is free to research and write, compose and lecture. He will continue to be a tenured member of the faculty, live in a university-owned home on Summit Avenue and maintain an office in Sitzmann Hall, home to the Center for Catholic Studies.

“Father Joncas is an accomplished teacher who has received the Distinguished Educator Award from our students,” said Dr. Susan Huber, executive vice president and chief academic officer. “He also is an internationally acclaimed author and composer. Being artist-in-residence frees him to more fully devote his creative talents to scholarship and music that benefit the university, community and church.”

A reception celebrating his appointment will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 12, in the Hearth Room of the Anderson Student Center on the university’s St. Paul campus. A short program will be held at 4 p.m.; all are welcome.

“I am deeply grateful for an opportunity like this,” Joncas said of the appointment. “For an academic, this is like heaven.” He added that he has no plans to retire, saying “this is perfect.”

After graduating with a degree in English from St. Thomas and earning his master’s in liturgical studies at the University of Notre Dame, Joncas returned to Minnesota where he studied at the St. Paul Seminary and was ordained in 1980.

He was a parish priest for several years, served several more as director of education at the Newman Community at the University of Minnesota, and studied in Rome for four years where he earned graduate degrees in his academic specialty: the history and analysis of Christian worship. Woven throughout his years of serious academic study, writing and teaching was his work as a composer.

For most of his years on the St. Thomas faculty, Joncas offered to teach extra classes. He also found time to teach graduate courses and present workshops throughout the world, write four books dealing with liturgy, publish dozens of scholarly articles, and compose … and in some cases record … 25 collections of liturgical music. One of his best-known works is “On Eagles’ Wings.”

He is a regular contributor to “Pray, Tell,” a blog hosted by St. John’s Abbey and Liturgical Press in Collegeville, and recently had a volume of hymn texts accepted for publication by Oregon Catholic Press.

He is working on three books and recently has been traveling to Chicago to record 12 new works of liturgical music that he composed and arranged. He will be singing on some works in the collection, titled “God of All Beginnings.”

Joncas recently collaborated with the Gichitwaa Kateri Catholic community in Minneapolis to create a hymn honoring Kateri Tekawitha, who was canonized as a Catholic saint on Oct. 21. He also is continuing to work on two long-term composition projects: setting all of the responsorial psalms and the hymn-of-the-day texts for the three-year Sunday and Solemnity lectionary cycles of the Roman Rite Mass.

Born in Casella D’Asola, Italy, outside of Venice, Bernardi studied in a seminary in the 1930s, and served as an officer in the Italian Army during World War II and served in North Africa. While stationed in the Tuscan village of Volterra, he met Cecilia, who would become his wife.

He completed an engineering degree and worked for AGIP, an Italian oil company, overseeing its drilling operations in Iran. He became the Italian Consul to Iran and eventually immigrated to Minnesota in 1962.

Bernardi purchased 300 acres of land northwest of what now is Interstate 494 and Highway 100 and helped to develop Edina’s industrial park. A business partnership with Curtis Carlson of Carlson Companies led to the construction of the Radisson South hotel, now the DoubleTree by Hilton.

He eventually established Aurora Investments, a development company, and Sentinel Management Co., a residential property management business. His companies developed industrial, residential, retail and medical buildings throughout the Twin Cities area.

“Tony was a natural developer,” said William Reiling, a St. Thomas alumnus and Board of Trustees member who knew Bernardi for 40 years. “It was in his DNA. He knew how to make a deal, how to negotiate. He had good instincts and judgment.”

Reiling said Bernardi also came to love and appreciate St. John Vianney Seminary, on the St. Thomas campus. He served on the seminary’s board and made gifts there and to the Center for Catholic Studies, the Opus College of Business and the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity.

“He saw St. Thomas as a good institution that helped his son and grandchildren,” Reiling said, “and then we had the Italian connection. He would say, ‘I am a man without a country! I go to Italy and they look at me as an American, and in America they look at me as an Italian.’ It was true! He was in between.”

“Interestingly, he fell in love with this country,” Father Kevin McDonough, another St. Thomas trustee, said in his homily at Bernardi’s funeral on Oct. 9. “He told me that, when he first came to the U.S.A., he thought the people here to be naïve: ‘They did not just pay their taxes, but were proud to do so.’ But he came to see this as a place where a person would be rewarded for honest work and effort. He never stopped loving Italy, but he was proud to live in America and, yes, to be an American.”

Bernardi’s love for his native country and his fondness for St. Thomas coalesced in the late 1990s, when the university had the opportunity to buy a 20,000-square-foot residential estate on the banks of the Tiber River in Rome. A gift from Bernardi allowed St. Thomas to move ahead with the purchase and convert the estate into the Bernardi Campus, which opened in 2000.

(Reiling also became a benefactor of the Bernardi Campus, paying for renovations of a chapel that was named for Dante and Louise Seghieri, the parents of Reiling’s wife, Joan.)

One of Bernardi’s long-held convictions, McDonough said in his homily, was “Sono stato fortunato,” because he knew he was lucky to have been born into the right family, married to the right woman and living in the right place.

“He recognized that his success was not just the result of his own genius or hard work – although it was certainly that – but also the result of things well beyond his control,” McDonough said. “Fortunato also meant, ‘I have been blessed.’ He believed he had been given success for a purpose well beyond himself: for the sake of his grandchildren and extended family, for the good of prisoners, for the support of young men who, as he had done, were considering a life of service as priests.”

The Minnesota Real Estate Hall of Fame, established two years ago by the Shenehon Center for Real Estate in the Opus College of Business, inducted Bernardi as an initial member (as well as Reiling and Gerald Rauenhorst, a former St. Thomas trustee).

Survivors include two sons, Luigi (a 1985 St. Thomas alumnus) and Sandro; a daughter, Paola; 10 grandchildren, including Francesca, a St. Thomas student; and five great-grandchildren. His wife died last year.

The “diritta via” has been opened for him,” McDonough concluded in his homily. “May he know peace and rest, a happy reunion with his parents and friends and especially with Cecilia, and the reward of a life of generosity and intelligence and faith.”

Father James Burns
(Photo courtesy of Boston College)

Free and open to the public, the lecture is sponsored by several St. Thomas departments and centers: Center for Catholic Studies, John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought, Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law, and Public Policy, School of Law, Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions, Koch Chair in Business Ethics, Center for Ethical Business Cultures, and Veritas.

Prior to joining Boston College in 2010, Burns served as co-chair and associate professor of St. Thomas’ Graduate School of Professional Psychology. He earlier had taught counseling psychology and religion at Boston University, and psychology at Harvard Medical School.

Burns has worked with Boston College’s faculty to incorporate the school’s Jesuit, Catholic mission and identity into coursework and research.

His lecture is one in a series on Catholic mission and identity that are being held at St. Thomas as it conducts a search for its next president. Father Dennis Dease is retiring next June after leading St. Thomas for 22 years.

Burns believes that formation of character is an essential task of the Catholic university, not to be pushed aside for, or replaced by, academic instruction.

He said that in studies on the perceived value of higher education, “a critical and common finding is that recent graduates lack a certain dimension of personal character, especially qualities that allow people to work well with others and contribute to the good on multiple levels.

“Interestingly, Catholic colleges and universities stand in a unique place to address this concern. Through their religious heritage and spiritual traditions, these institutions are called to cultivate such important qualities through a focus on character development in their students.”

Following the screening, Jim Miller and Alberta Iron Cloud Miller of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation will lead a discussion of the Dakota history and spirituality introduced in the film.

Riders on a 330-mile trip from South Dakota to Minnesota.

The program is sponsored by the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning and the Department of Justice and Peace Studies at St. Thomas in collaboration with the Healing Minnesota Stories initiative promoted by the St. Paul Interfaith Network. It is free and open to the public.

In 2005, Jim Miller had a dream about riding on horseback across the great plains of South Dakota. Prior to waking, he found himself at a riverbank in Minnesota and saw 38 of his Dakota ancestors hanged. Miller said that, at the time, he knew nothing of the largest mass execution in U.S. history, which was ordered by Abraham Lincoln on Dec. 26, 1862.

“When you have dreams, you know when they come from the creator,” Miller said. “As any recovered alcoholic, I made believe that I didn’t get it. I tried to put it out of my mind, yet it’s one of those dreams that bothers you night and day.”

Four years later, after embracing the message of the dream, Miller and a group of riders retraced the 330-mile route of his dream on horseback from Lower Brule, S. D., to Mankato, Minn., to arrive at the site of the hanging on the anniversary of the execution.

“Dakota 38,” which documents their journey, is a story of hope and healing as they confront the painful history it represents and the plight of their communities today.

Free and open to the public, the forum is co-sponsored by the St. Thomas Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center and the Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public Policy.

The Hot Topics: Cool Talk series, which explores Catholic positions and other perspectives on provocative issues of law and policy, focuses this year on the challenges of religious freedom in the United States and around the world.

Abdulwahid Qalinle

Speaking at this fall’s second forum, titled “The Dangers of Anti-Sharia Laws: Muslim and Catholic Perspectives,” will be Abdulwahid Qalinle, a native of Somalia and adjunct associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota Law School, and Robert Vischer, professor and associate dean for academic affairs at St. Thomas’ School of Law.

Qalinle holds a master’s degree in Islamic, or Shariah, law, and law degrees from both the International Islamic University in Pakistan and the University of Minnesota Law School, where he directs the Islamic Law and Human Rights Program. Vischer graduated from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He is the author of two books and many journal articles that explore the intersection of law, religion and public policy.

Robert Vischer

The title for the Oct. 23 forum comes from Vischer’s article, “The Dangers of Anti-Sharia Laws,” published in First Things, the journal of The Institute on Religion and Public Life.

In the article, Vischer explains that Shariah means “the way to the watering place.” It refers to the correct way of practicing religion and rules that govern the lives of Muslims, including conduct between spouses, behavior at funerals and even etiquette.

“Though popular with secularists and religious conservatives, anti-Sharia legislation does not defend against theocracy but calls into question our society’s fundamental commitments to meaningful religious liberty and meaningful access to the courts,” Vischer wrote. “These commitments have been relied on by generations of Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, and Jews, and to try to remove them for Muslims both is unjust to Muslims and sets a dangerous precedent for other religious groups.”

Later in the article, Vischer writes: “Anti-Sharia legislation proposes an unconstitutional double standard. Canon law and biblical principles are not dirty words in the American court system, and Sharia should not be either.”

In an August 2011 Star Tribune article on “The Muslim Experience in Minnesota,” Qalinle said that bills submitted in some state legislatures to prohibit the use of Sharia “are quite pointless because there is no such thing as Shariah creeping into the legal system. … I think it is being motivated by a sheer confusion and misunderstanding of Muslims and Islam and Shariah.”

Qalinle, who immigrated to the United States 12 years ago, said the U.S. Constitution “is the law that I chose to live under, and so are all the Muslims who are here.”

Information about the Hot Topics: Cool Talk series is available at this website.

The Minnesota Board of Legal Education has approved the Oct. 23 program for one “elimination of bias” continuing-legal-education credit.

Habiger lived on St. Thomas’ St. Paul campus from 1980 until several weeks ago and had served as a pastoral associate in the St. Thomas Campus Ministry Office since 1995. He celebrated the 60^th anniversary of his ordination last year.

Monsignor James Habiger

A Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 15, in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas, with visitation in the chapel at 9 a.m. There also will be a visitation from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14, at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in North St. Paul, with prayers at 4 p.m. Funeral guests can park in Lot A off Selby Avenue and Finn Avenue North.

To honor his parents, Habiger established the Joseph and Edith Habiger Institute for Catholic Leadership in the Center for Catholic Studies at St. Thomas several years ago to provide students with leadership formation opportunities. Another program, the Habiger Lecture Series, has brought lecturers, scholars-in-residence and artists-in-residence to St. Thomas every semester since 2000.

Known for his gregarious nature and hearty laugh, Habiger was a native of Harvey, N.D., and grew up in Owatonna, Minn. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore and a master’s degree in education from Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and was ordained May 19, 1951.

He returned to Minnesota and served parishes in Austin, Winona and Rochester. He was high school principal at St. Augustine’s in Austin and at Winona Cotter before serving as superintendent of education for the Diocese of Winona from 1960 to 1976, when he became pastor of St. Francis of Assisi in Rochester.

In 1980, Habiger was named executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference and held the position for 15 years, representing bishops on social, legal and political issues and lobbying the legislature on their behalf. He also served as chaplain of the Minnesota House and Senate.

The late Archbishop John Roach of St. Paul and Minneapolis once said that Habiger’s “amazing person-to-person moxie” enabled him to become “a gracious persuader – thoughtful, bright and deeply committed to the Catholic social justice tradition.”

In response to criticism in 1986 from several legislators who wanted him to stop working against a bill to cut welfare benefits by 30 percent, Habiger defended his right to oppose efforts that would hurt vulnerable people. Within a week, the legislators apologized and the bill was defeated.

The Catholic Church has no interest in running the state, “but it is interested in how the state is run,” Habiger said at the time. “We’re not interested in legislating morality, but we’re interested in the morality of legislation. When we’re talking about morality, we’re talking about good and bad.”

Upon his retirement from the conference in 1995, Habiger received the John A. Ryan Award from St. Thomas for outstanding contributions toward social justice. He then served in Campus Ministry and assisted with liturgies on campus and in area parishes, most notably St. Peter’s in North St. Paul.

Habiger also was moderator of the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women for 20 years before stepping down in 2008.

Survivors include a sister, Jean Mathews; a sister-in-law, Lorraine Habiger; an uncle, Jerome Habiger; many nieces, nephews and cousins; and a family friend, Ruth Gaylord.

Memorials are preferred to two religious orders – the Sisters of St. Francis in Rochester and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in St. Paul.

The Cool Talk series is sponsored by the university’s Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public Policy.

The series, which explores Catholic positions and other perspectives on provocative issues of law and policy, will focus this year on the challenges of religious freedom around the world and address topics such as anti-Sharia laws in the United States, religious freedom and progressive politics, and public education, vouchers and charter schools.

“There is much to be discussed about religious freedom at this point in our history – beyond the current U.S. flash points emerging from the controversy surrounding the health-care mandate,” said Dr. Don Briel, director of the Center for Catholic Studies at St. Thomas.

Bishop Charles Morerod

“It’s important to examine the many threats to religious liberty around the world so we can better understand what freedoms are at stake both here and abroad. It is timely, too, as we approach the 50th anniversary of one of the most significant documents of the Second Vatican Council – Dignitatus Humanae – the Declaration on Religious Freedom. The preparatory discussions for the document, promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1965, began in 1962,” he said.

Speaking at the first lecture in this year’s series will be the Most Rev. Charles Morerod, 50, who since November has been bishop of the diocese of Fribourg, Lausanne and Geneva, Switzerland. He will speak on “Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Freedom: The View from Europe.”

Prior to his appointment as a bishop in Switzerland, Morerod spent 15 years in Rome, most recently as rector of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, also called the Angelicum. He also has served as secretary general of the International Theological Commission and as a consultant to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In June he was named to the Congregation for Catholic Education.

A member of the Dominican order and a native of Switzerland, Morerod was ordained a priest in 1988. He holds a doctorate in philosophy from the Catholic University of Toulouse and a doctorate in theology from the University of Fribourg. An editor of the journal “Nova et Vetera,” he has written on the doctrinal and philosophical aspects of ecumenism.

While serving at the Angelicum, Morerod was academic director of the Rome program for University of St. Thomas’ Catholic studies students.

For information about future programs in the series, including an Oct. 23 program on the dangers of anti-Sharia laws, visit the Terrence J. Murphy Institute website.

Application has been made for an “elimination of bias” continuing-legal-education credit.

Related “Hot Topics: Cool Talk” program: Sept. 25 lunch and forum

Bishop Charles Morerod, along with Father Reginald Whitt, O.P., a professor of law at St. Thomas, will discuss “Vatican II on Religious Freedom: European and American Perspectives” at a 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. luncheon program on Tuesday, Sept. 25, in Room 235 of the School of Law on St. Thomas’ Minneapolis campus.

The lunch and program are free and open to the public but registration is required. To register and for more information, visit the Terrence J. Murphy Institute website.

In this election season, voters are polarized by a host of emotionally charged issues that include same-sex marriage, threats to religious liberty, immigration, health-care reform, taxation, government spending and life issues such as contraception, abortion, embryo rights and stem cell research.

At the University of St. Thomas, far from beltway press conferences and evening news sound bites, the Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public Policy has introduced Hot Topics: Cool Talk, a unique series that fearlessly explores Catholic positions and some challenging perspectives on current political issues in a context divorced from the heat of political campaigns.

The Murphy Institute inaugurated the series in October with a program on Minnesota’s proposed marriage amendment. Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, and Dale Carpenter, a prominent professor of civil rights and civil liberties law at the University of Minnesota, each took 10 minutes to present their views – for and against – Minnesota’s proposed Marriage Amendment.

Each speaker was given two minutes to respond to the other’s remarks before taking questions from the room filled with law students, undergraduates, professors, lawyers and members of the general public. The topic was important, relevant and complex. The speakers were intelligent, articulate and civil. A series was born.

The Hot Topics: Cool Talk series, with the exception of the final debate, takes place monthly at the School of Law on St. Thomas’ Minneapolis campus. The programs are held over the noon hour and include lunch. They are tightly run and the short timeframe keeps the talks sharply focused.

The programs have been extremely popular, drawing audiences of up to 220 from the university and local community. “I heard about these talks from a colleague at Target. I found it fascinating how the dialogue tied relevant public issues together with the law practice. It was a nice change of pace,” said Andrea Mack, a senior manager of real estate at Target Corp., after attending the program on health-care reform.

The program on Minnesota’s Marriage Amendment has been broadcast twice on Minnesota Public Radio’s “Midday” radio program. “The event (also) lived up to its billing as civilized, informative and respectful discourse on a hot topic,” said Sasha Aslanian, a reporter from Minnesota Public Radio who attended the same-sex-marriage forum.

The Murphy Institute’s program organizers use the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops’ “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” as a guide in choosing the topics, then invite nationally known speakers who bring real expertise from a wide range of academic and professional disciplines to the dialogue.

One speaker is charged to faithfully explain the Catholic principles; the other speaker offers another view – a different faith perspective or a different judgment – about the practical consequences of the Church’s position.

The series is dynamic. When the United States Department of Health and Human Services issued the mandate for contraception coverage in January, the Murphy Institute responded with a Hot Topics: Cool Talk “extra” to provide a forum for dialogue on this very timely issue and to offer considerations in determining whether government-mandated contraception coverage was a violation of religious freedom.

The Murphy Institute, a collaboration of St. Thomas’ Center for Catholic Studies and School of Law, was created to pursue the integration of law and the Catholic intellectual tradition. It accomplishes this in part by providing nonpartisan public policy analysis rooted in the Catholic tradition and engaging and serving the community through public events like the Hot Topics: Cool Talk series.

“The Murphy Institute is especially excited at the interest this series has generated in the larger Twin Cities community,” said Elizabeth Schiltz, law professor and co-director of the institute. “It demonstrates the appetite for rigorous but respectful engagement on difficult political issues.“

2011-12 Hot Topics: Cool Talk

Oct. 13 – Same-Sex Marriage Amendment

• Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy
• Professor Dale Carpenter, University of Minnesota Law School

Nov. 16 – Embryo Rights and Stem Cell Research

• Professor Carter Snead, Notre Dame Law School
• Professor Lynn Wardle, Brigham Young University Law School

Dec. 9 – Balancing the Budget

• Professor Greg Sisk, University of St. Thomas School of Law
• Katharine Tinucci, press secretary in the office of Governor Mark Dayton and University of St. Thomas School of Law alumna

Jan. 27 – Health-Care Reform

• John Carr, executive director of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
• Professor Robert Kennedy, Center for Catholic Studies, University of St. Thomas

March 2 – Immigration Policy

• Professor Andrew Yuengert, Pepperdine University
• Professor Virgil Wiebe, University of St. Thomas School of Law

April 2 – Religious Liberty and the Contraception Coverage Mandate

• Professor Tom Berg, University of St. Thomas School of Law
• Professor Susan Stabile, University of St. Thomas School of Law
• Father Dan Griffith, University of St. Thomas School of Law

April 20 – Punishment Theory

• Professor Marc DeGirolami, St. John’s University School of Law
• The Honorable Richard Sullivan, Federal Judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

May 3 – Responsible Citizenship

• Professor Steve Heaney, Philosophy, University of St. Thomas
• Professor Bernie Brady, Theology, University of St. Thomas

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The fellowship opportunity enhances the Catholic mission of the Opus College of Business by fostering the unity of knowledge and the integration of the curriculum. The fellowship provides a two-course release for the year, allowing the Ryan Fellow the time to work on the important relationships and practices of Catholic social thought and business and to contribute to the living tradition of the Church. Besides research, the fellows consult with and advise the Ryan Institute on integrating Catholic social thought and business research and education. Buckeye described her time as a Ryan Fellow as life-changing. For the first time, she says, she was able to connect an academic field she loves – management – with a set of traditions she loves even more. “I’ve discovered that the teachings and traditions of the Catholic Church are wide enough, deep enough, profound enough to enrich conversations about the economy, about people at work, about managerial principles, about business ethics, leadership and the value of education.” Through activities as a Ryan Fellow, Buckeye adds, she has encountered people from around the world who share the Ryan Institute’s passion for recognizing work as a God-given gift and the workplace as a place where God is very much present. She sees excellence in management differently now. “It’s not just about ensuring the efficient use of resources and making correct judgments; it’s about creating cultures where people can flourish.”

Shapiro’s research will examine how a local business organization’s evolving human resource policies both shape and are shaped by the organization’s managerial and accounting practices, resource constraints, external pressures and spiritual and other normative commitments in its founding documents. The study also will document how company personnel understand, interpret and evaluate their company’s employee retention, development and layoff policies in light of their company’s spiritual and normative commitments and, where applicable, in light of their company’s internal accounting practices. This is not merely an academic pursuit for Shapiro: “In addition, I anticipate that my research will provide some interesting new material for an undergraduate business senior capstone course in Theology and Catholic Studies, which I co-teach with Dr. Naughton.” Shapiro looks forward to his work as a fellow and his involvement with the people and programs of the Ryan Institute and Center for Catholic Studies.

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The community service aspect has been filled for the past three years by a collaboration between Catholic Studies and St. Stephen’s parish in Minneapolis. St. Stephen’s is a predominately Latino parish 20 minutes west of the university. Father Joseph Williams, pastor of St. Stephen’s, is grateful for the collaboration. “We are enormously blessed to have the Latino Leadership students serving at St. Stephen’s. Our parish has experienced tremendous growth in the last several years. The Latino community, in particular, has flourished. The number of Latino students in our faith formation program has grown from 50 to 250. ‘The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few.’ Never have these words of Jesus rung more true in my priestly ministry than in our mission with the Latinos in south Minneapolis. The harvest has indeed been abundant, but we soon discovered as a church that we lacked the internal resources to match the growth. In particular, we had difficulty finding educators for our confirmation-age youth. It takes more than good will to connect with young people and to inspire them in the ways of faith. There is something of a ‘charism’ needed for this kind of work that parents often lack.”

Alexandra Castano and Brandon Miranda, both seasoned second-year catechists, thoroughly enjoy the challenges of teaching confirmation. “The high school students are interested in their faith but not necessarily through rote memorization of terms and ideas. They want the relationship but not always the knowledge that accompanies a healthy relationship. Our task is to enter into a role-model relationship with them based on our mutual faith and get them to want to know the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of the faith. It is a challenge, to be sure,” writes Castano. Miranda agrees, “The students seem to evaluate us as people rather than their teachers. I have gotten so many questions about who I am personally, and I find that is where they listen the most. They see that we are happy, fun, energetic people who also live out our faith. It is in that personal connection with the students that they grow to understand that being Catholic in our generation doesn’t mean that we are deprived of fun, but rather it gives an opportunity to seek the truest happiness that exists!”

According to Jen Smeby, coordinator of adult formation and marriage preparation, St. Stephen’s population is mainly comprised of immigrant families with children. “Our children are bicultural. The majority were born in the United States and currently attend schools in the area.” The need for positive role models was instrumental in the collaboration. Smeby elaborates, “Our decision to team with the UST Latino students was based on the need of the Latino youths of our parish to have solid role models and people their own age who can identify with their struggles. The UST students demonstrate that pursuing a higher education degree is possible for the Latino youth. We are very grateful for the UST students’ participation. The hope is that one day some of our youth will join the UST ranks and come back to teach their fellow parishioners.” Father Williams adds, “When Catholic Studies proposed a partnership with the Church of St. Stephen, we saw it as the hand of God. The presence of the Latino Leadership students during these last two years has transformed our confirmation program. For many of our confirmation students, it is the first time they have seen a Latino young adult actively and intelligently live their Catholic faith. If it felt three years ago like we were filling gaps, it feels today like we are making disciples.”

For senior Angel Riera and freshman Nicolas Gutierrez, the program provides an opportunity for these students to see others with Latino heritage pursuing higher education. Riera notes, “As Latino Leaders, we set an example for how to live out our faith while pursuing a higher education. The students are always eager to learn about our personal lives to feel a sense of ‘connectedness.’ The difficulties they encounter in school and society are foreshadowed in catechism. In class, we share stories and discuss matters of faith, the importance of God in our lives, education and anything personal they seek to address. Our goal is to promote student achievement and preparation for a better society by fostering educational excellence and ensuring the kids are spiritually educated in their faith. The students identify with me as a part of their Hispanic community and someone with whom they can share their experiences. By the end of each class, the students are excited to one day enroll in a college and help make a difference in their community.”

As a native Texan, Gutierrez doesn’t allow the difference in cultural/familial experiences to get in the way of urging his students to contemplate college. “I feel we have a lot to offer since we all come from different parts of the country and different walks of life. We try to add our personal experiences with college life to each lesson in hopes that it will potentially enhance their confirmation experience and conversion.” To read a firsthand account of the Latino Leadership program see Alexandra Castano’s Catholic Studies blog: http://blogs.stthomas.edu/cathstudies.

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Joncas gave the award lecture on Feb. 12 at WTU. His topic was “Heavenly Harmonies in Human Habitats: Composing for the Church.” Joncas noted that “when theologians discuss church music, they almost always focus on texts being sung, but rarely explore how music itself may make a theological contribution.” He used his lecture to demonstrate how music may manifest wisdom (sophia) in compositions intended for the Church’s worship.

While in Washington, D.C., he also gave a lecturedemonstration, “New Musical Settings of the New English Translation of the Order of Mass,” as a benefit for the Lay Centre at Visitation convent.

Dr. Michael Naughton also was recognized this semester.Marquette University invited him to deliver the Père Marquette Lecture in Theology, which Marquette describes as a “series of annual public lectures by distinguished theologians of international reputation.” The lectures are published in volumes by Marquette University Press. The annual lecture has been delivered in the past by scholars such as Dr. Jon Levenson, Harvard University; Dr. Christopher Charles Rowland, Oxford University; and Jürgen Moltmann.

Naughton delivered his lecture, “The Logic of Gift: Rethinking Business as a Community of Persons,” on March 4. The lecture focused on the purpose of business in light of Pope Benedict’s “logic of gift,” which serves as a theological basis to understand business as a “community of persons.” He offered a case study on firings and layoffs and how the logic of gift can be operationalized in a modern business context. He also argued that the Catholic university has an instrumental role to play in rethinking the business enterprise.

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Spitzer met with graduate and undergraduate students, including seminarians, and responded to diverse yet profound questions from them. Rolnick notes, “Father Spitzer’s pastoral gifts were likewise shared on campus as he discussed his other recent book, Ten Universal Principles of Life.” Dr. David Deavel, long-time friend of Spitzer and associate editor of Logos, remarked, “It’s not just Father Spitzer’s expertise in so many different intellectual areas that makes him so masterful in galvanizing discussion among different scholars, it’s the joyful exuberance and boundless curiosity with which he asks and answers questions.”

He was by no means less eloquent and passionate with the students over lunch. Catholic Studies graduate student Jacob Rhein reflected that the cross-disciplinary aspect is “critical to the purpose of Catholic Studies and to an authentic university education, which cannot accept a tacit divide between the so-called ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ sciences. Reality is a unified whole, and Father Spitzer’s conversation tries to find and understand that unity.”

Spitzer’s two recent publications, New Proofs for the Existence of God and Ten Universal Principles of Life, were the themes for the two-day interdisciplinary gatherings. His work reflected the new developments in physics and mathematics that imply that the universe must have had a super intellect bring it into existence. He addressed the big-bang theory – the current consensus among physicists of how the universe began about 13.7 billion years ago – and its alternative, which entails a beginning and the act of creation by a timeless and unrestrictedly intelligible being [God]. Spitzer highlighted the complementarity between the new physics and philosophy and theology. He writes, “Stephen Hawking has asked, somewhat poetically, ‘What is it that breathes fire into the equations [of mathematical physics] and makes a universe for them to describe?’ This question deserves a genuine answer. As a matter of logic, mathematical descriptions may have ontological implications, but they do not function as efficient causes, either metaphysically or materially: They are causally inert. When inflationary cosmology describes string vacua as tunneling into existence from absolute nothingness or from another vacuum state, or even when relativistic quantum field theory describes matter as popping out of the quantum vacuum, neither mathematical construction provides an explanation, let alone an efficient cause, for these events.”

He remarked on several philosophical proofs in this area: metaphysical arguments for God’s existence, Lonergan’s proofs for the existence of God, proofs of a creator of past time and methodological considerations and the impossibility of disproving God. He remarked on the ontological status of the Good, True and Beautiful and ended with theological remarks on man’s yearning for perfections revealed in truth, love, justice, beauty and home. He writes, “By now it will become apparent that the five human desires for the perfect and unconditioned match the five manifestations of absolute simplicity. We may now see our fulfillment of our deepest desires in greater perspective.”

Other lectures from the spring semester

Father Drew Morgan“Philip Neri and John Henry Newman: The Life of an Oratarian Saint”Feb. 13Morgan, provost of the Pittsburgh Oratory, explored the evangelization of culture. When Newman became a Catholic, the Oratory of St. Philip became the context for his vision of the evangelization of culture.

Christopher Shannon“Irish Catholics on the American Screen: or, the Necessity of Re-ethnicizing Hollywood”Feb. 13An author and historian, Shannon looked at varying Irish presences in Hollywood productions from the late 1920s to the early 1950s. He contended that the values in these films were oppositional to those of mainstream American culture. The basic tension in the films was between the impulse to move up the social ladder in the land of opportunity and an almost tribal loyalty to community and family.

Jason Adkins“Unique for a Reason: Why Marriage Matters”Feb. 15Adkins, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, presented the reasons why the Church defends civil marriage. Included in his defense were reasons regarding the needs of children, the dignity of women, the idea of a “right” to marriage and the social role that marriage plays.

Professor Paolo Carozza“Human Rights, Human Dignity and the Methodology of Human Experience in Law” Human Dignity LectureApril 12Carozza is director of the Notre Dame Law School’s J.S.D. program in international human rights law and director of its new program on law and human development. He argued that the pluralistic and contested understandings of human dignity in the contemporary world make it problematic to employ dignity as a reliable principle for determining the scope and merit of particular claims of human rights. Recognizing human dignity as a foundational principle of human rights does have significant implications for the methods through which lawyers seek to realize the project of securing universal human rights in law.

Dr. Lee Schulman“The Challenge and Opportunities for Liberal Arts and Morally Responsible Leadership in a Catholic University”May 1Shulman has spent his professional life advocating for the importance of teaching at all levels, from kindergarten through graduate school. He advocated for morally responsible leadership in Catholic universities.

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Australian native Dylan Knoll came to the University of St. Thomas School of Law following a secular education in which he majored in political science and German. “At the law school, I have really appreciated that there is a discussion about faith and morals in class – topics that have been basically banished from the classroom at other schools. In Catholic Studies I have enjoyed a refreshing approach to the study of the Church, history and our world today that I have not experienced anywhere else. In my experience, CSMA classes involve honest, reasoned and thoughtful discussions about current problems and their historic roots. The reasoning and analytical skills law school provides and the foundational principles and documents of law prepared me well for Catholic Studies. The whole-person formation that Catholic Studies provides informs my understanding of the law and legal practice.”

Knoll decided to go to law school about a year after he completed his undergraduate degree. “At that time,” he says, “I felt that law would be a practical way for me to serve others and might be a stepping stone to a career in international relations. I chose St. Thomas’ law school because of its Catholic identity, in contrast to my large, secular alma mater. I loved it from the first day. Part of what drew me to a Catholic school was the chance for personal formation and a deepening of my faith. This was what ultimately drew me to the Catholic Studies degree. In spring 2011, my second year at law school, I applied to the Catholic Studies program. I had never taken any philosophy or theology classes, and the interdisciplinary approach of the Catholic Studies Department really attracted me. I hoped it also would give me the Catholic formation that I felt I lacked from my secular schooling days. The program has more than lived up to my expectations.”

Converting from his Buddhist faith to evangelical Christianity and then to Catholicism while obtaining an international studies degree at Baylor University, first-year law student Rachana Chhin not only believes in the intersection of faith and law, but specifically chose this program because of it. “When I was looking at law schools to attend, I was certain that I wanted to be at a Catholic law school. This was because I did not seek to simply be a lawyer, but a Catholic lawyer. St. Thomas’ name kept on popping up again and again as a place that would integrate both faith and reason to this end. As I looked more into the program, UST was also unique in allowing students to jointly pursue both a J.D. and an M.A. degree in Catholic Studies; thus, what distinguished St. Thomas’ program was that the university offered not only solid legal formation but one that was grounded in the rich heritage of the Catholic intellectual tradition.”

“I can already sense how my Catholic Studies will integrate with my law degree,” says Chhin. “The professors at the law school are not afraid to integrate Catholic social teaching into their class discussions. This is not, of course, an uncritical analysis but one that exposes many students to the underlying doctrines and principles that allow future lawyers to approach pressing issues of our day through the lens of the Church’s teaching. One of my favorite classes so far is Foundations of Justice, which strives to help law students gain an understanding of justice that is nourished by an analysis of various philosophical, religious and cultural traditions.”

Kathryn Mollen agrees that the joint program offers a unique yet complementary perspective for Catholics who want to enter the field of law. “The programs are both aiming to do the same thing through a different lens: they equip students to seek out and dialogue about the truth. For instance, my understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition that I received through the CSMA program has helped me to dialogue with other students in the JD program as we all seek the truth of a particular situation together. The most practical example that I can think of is the abortion debate. CSMA has helped to prepare me to think and speak prudently about issues through a Catholic lens and to dialogue with students in the JD program as we seek the truth about policy reform or funding issues concerning abortion. In this way, the programs complement and build off of each other.”

Mollen worked for some time after receiving her undergraduate degree, but she found that her work was not pushing her intellectually. “I began to look at law schools and chose St. Thomas specifically for the joint degree program. I loved the CSMA program, because it allowed me to immerse myself in learning about my faith. Both programs have been a fantastic decision for me, as both have challenged and shaped the way I think about the world around me.”

Law professor Elizabeth Schiltz believes that the joint program “offers a truly unique opportunity for the student who wants to rigorously explore her faith commitments while developing her professional identity as a lawyer. As a member of the faculty of the law school, I can attest to the fact that it supports integrating students’ faith and the study of the law. As a recent (2010) graduate of the CSMA program myself, I experienced firsthand the quality of both the courses and the teaching in Catholic Studies. I continue to be thankful for the many – sometimes surprising – ways in which a deeper, interdisciplinary understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition enriches my approach to the law.”

Students in the program earn two graduate degrees (in law and Catholic Studies, respectively, a total of 97 credits), in less time than it would take to earn the two degrees separately. Full-time students can expect to complete the joint program in three and one-half to four years of study. Students must apply for each program separately and meet all admissions requirements in both law and Catholic Studies. Students typically enroll in the School of Law before applying for the Master of Arts degree in Catholic Studies. For more information, contact Dr. John Boyle or Professor Elizabeth Schiltz, or visit the JD/CSMA website: www.stthomas.edu/law/academics/CatholicStudies.

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