The Threats of Secularism

Catholics in America and other parts of the world, live in secular states that claim to be pluralistic and to respect religious beliefs. But there is no little confusion — and a growing threat to believers — in our society because some people, including many political  authorities, have come to think that our public square should be shaped by secularism — a non-religious system of beliefs — not by the properly secular, which is neutral between religious and non religious views. Robert Royal will offer a diagnosis of the secularist ideology  as well as some recommendations for how Catholics and other believers can assume their proper place in our society again.

About Robert Royal

Robert Royal is the founder and president of the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. and editor-in-chief of “The Catholic Thing” (www.thecatholicthing.org), an online publication that appears daily and is translated into five foreign languages. His books include: 1492 And All That: Political Manipulations of History (1992), Reinventing the American People: Unity and Diversity Today (1995), The Virgin and the Dynamo: The Use and Abuse of Religion in the Environment Debate (1999, Eerdmans),Dante Alighieri in the Spiritual Legacy Series (1999, Crossroad), and The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century: A Comprehensive Global History (2000, Crossroad), The Pope’s Army (2006, Crossroad), and The God That Did Not Fail (2006, Encounter).Dr. Royal holds a B.A. and M.A. from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Catholic University of America. He has taught at Brown University, Rhode Island College, and The Catholic University of America. He received fellowships to study in Italy from the Renaissance Society of American (1977) and as a Fulbright scholar (1978). From 1980 to 1982, he served as editor-in-chief of Prospect magazine in Princeton, New Jersey. Among the other books he has published are: Jacques Maritain and the Jews (University of Notre Dame Press), Building a Free Society (with George Weigel), Crisis and Opportunity: U.S. Policy in Central America and the Caribbean (with Mark Falcoff), and, with Virgil Nemoianu, The Hospitable Canon and Play, Literature, Religion: Essays in Cultural Intertextuality.His articles have appeared in numerous scholarly journals and other publications, including First Things, Communio, the Wilson Quarterly, the Catholic Historical Review, Academic Questions, Image: A Journal of Religion and the Arts, The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Washington Times, National Review, and The American Spectator. He writes and speaks frequently on questions of ethics, culture, religion, and politics, has appeared on various television and radio stations around the United States, and has lectured in twelve foreign countries. Dr. Royal has also translated books and articles from French, Spanish, and Italian; most recently J.-P. Torrell’s Initiation à saint Thomas d’Aquin (Catholic University of America Press, 1996) Roberto Papini’s The Christian Democrat International (Rowman & Littlefield, 1997), and Yves Simon’s The Ethiopian Campaign and French Political Thought (University of Notre Dame Press 2009).For more information about the Aquinas College Lecture Series, please visit http://www.aquinascollege.edu/faith-and-culture/lecture-series/

“What Did Philosophy Get from the Bible, and Why Should It Matter to Me?”

What does it mean to be a “person” and where does this concept come from? Most of us today would be surprised to learn that it comes from the Bible, and that philosophers did not discover it on their own. Hear why and how this idea came to take shape, and what might become of it, and of us, if we forget where we first learned it.

Richard Bulzacchelli, S.T.D.

Dr. Bulzacchelli began working at Aquinas College in 2004 and helped develop Aquinas College’s Bachelor of Arts major in Theology. His most recent book “Elohim Created”: A New Look at the First Creation Narrative was published earlier this year. He is a Senior Fellow of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology and has also authored Judged by the Law of Freedom: A History of the Faith-Works Controversy, and a Resolution in the Thought of St. Thomas Aquinas (University Press of America, 2006). He received an M.A. in Christian Philosophy from Marquette University, an M.A. in Religious Studies from Providence College, a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Dominican House of Studies, and the S.T.D. in theology from the International Marian Research Institute of the University of Dayton.

For more information about the Aquinas College Lecture Series, please visit http://www.aquinascollege.edu/faith-and-culture/lecture-series/

“How the Modern World Lies about Human Dignity”

Historical Christianity defines human dignity according to the Biblical teaching that man is made in God’s image, but since the Enlightenment this view has been consistently challenged by various secular philosophies. Dr. Ben Smith explains why the secular alternatives to Christianity fail, and what this means for men and women in the modern world.

About Dr. Smith

Benjamin L. Smith, Ph.D. graduated Cum Laude from Belmont University with a B.A. in History and Philosophy and served two years as the President of Phi Sigma Tau. During this time he entered the Catholic Church (1995). He earned an M.A. in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Center for Thomistic Studies. Dr. Smith has presented and published professionally, including a forthcoming article, “Imago Dei: Nature, Grace, and Glory According to Saint Thomas Aquinas.”

For more information about the Aquinas College Lecture Series, please visit http://www.aquinascollege.edu/faith-and-culture/lecture-series/

Fr. Mullady explores the various difficulties of relating to faith in Christ today, and what challenges the true answer offers to us in today’s world. This lecture, part of the Aquinas College Fall Lecture Series, was recorded on the evening of Thursday, October 17, 2013.

About Father Mullady

Father Mullady, O.P.Father Brian Thomas Becket Mullady, O.P. entered the Dominican Order in 1966. He has been a parish priest as well as a teacher in high schools, colleges, and seminaries. He is the author of three books and numerous articles. He received his Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Angelicum University in Rome, Italy, where he also taught for six years. He is an academician of the Catholic Academy of Science and has hosted seven series on the EWTN television network.

Joseph Pearce, prolific author, biographer, and currently Writer-in-Residence and Professor of Humanities at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, New Hampshire, looks at the life and times of one of the 20th century’s most profound and honest authors and Catholic apologists, G.K. Chesterton.

Vincent Ryan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History at Aquinas College, reviews the history of the Crusades and the Devotion to Mary that pervaded them. Dr. Ryan studied under renowned Crusades historian Dr. Thomas F. Madden at St. Louis University where he was also co-founder of the Crusades Studies Forum.

The grace of the Year of Faith is meant not only to help Catholics in their personal following of the Lord, but also to impact their families, parishes, communities, and societies, strengthening them in faith to become the salt, light, and leaven of all of society. In the midst of secularist attempts to reduce faith to private behavior, both the Pope and the U.S. Bishops have been calling Catholics to a truly consequential faith that works through love (Gal 5:6). In this talk, Father Landry will examine how the Year of Faith is meant to impact the public witness of both Catholic individuals and Catholic institutions.

Father Roger LandryFr. Roger Landry writes and speaks widely on the thought of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI and on difficult and controversial issues of Catholicism to priests, religious, students and at conferences and parishes. He is the national chaplain for Catholic Voices, an organization founded in early 2012 to train and send forth bright Catholic lay spokesmen to defend and promote Catholic teaching and practice in the public square. His writings, homilies, and lectures are available on catholicpreaching.com.

Father Albert Trudel, O.P. brings a real and reasoned perspective to a most fanciful and endearing literary giant.

Fr. Albert is Associate Professor of English and Director of the Center for Faith and Culture at Aquinas College. He received a B.A. in English from the University of Saskatchewan, an M.A. in English from the University of Toronto, an M.Div. from the University of St. Michael's College, a D.Phil. from the University of Oxford, and an L.M.S. from the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.

In recent years, biologists have sequenced the genomes of numerous individuals scattered throughout the planet. They have also been able to obtain genome information from extinct hominin species including the Neanderthals and Denisovans. Altogether this data suggests that the human species evolved from a small population of individuals living in east Africa about 100,000 years ago. In this lecture, using the inseparable and harmonious benefits of faith and reason, Father Nicanor Austracio, O.P. will not only explore the scientific basis for these claims but also begin to reconcile them with the truths of the faith revealed in Sacred Scripture.
Father Nicanor Austracio, O.P., Ph.D., S.T.L.Father Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austracio, O.P. is an Associate Professor of Biology at Providence College. He holds a B.S. in Engineering (bioengineering) from the University of Pennsylvania, a Ph.D. in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Sacred Theology and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology, both from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. Father has also served as Fellow of the International Human Frontier Science Program for the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University College London. The subjects for his research and published work range from the life cycle of yeast, to bioethics, to moral theology. His most recent work is a book entitled Biomedicine and Beatitude: An Introduction to Catholic Bioethics, published in December 2011 by the Catholic University of America Press.

Sister Mary Diana Dreger, O.P., has been providing health care for medically underserved patients at the Saint Thomas Family Health Center South Clinic since 2007. After entering the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation in 1989, Sister Mary Diana completed her medical training and residency in internal medicine at Vanderbilt University in 2004. Sister is a member of the Aquinas College Board of Directors and the Catholic Medical Association in Nashville.
In this lecture, Sister considers audience-submitted questions and presents an engaging medical perspective to current moral issues affecting women and families.