Lumen Christi Institute

09/09/2026

September 23rd kicks off this year's West Suburban Catholic Culture Series on how to do the things that all human lives demand (or can include) as a Catholic.

On the 23rd, we'll learn about prayer from Lumen Christi's very own Daniel Wasserman-Soler. It should be a great event and we hope to see you there or at another lecture in the series.

https://lumenchristi.org/event/wsccs-sep-2026/

09/08/2026

Today is Mary's birthday, and to celebrate we're sharing this lecture on Mary and Islam from 2021:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l3fPzaDzvQ&t=1s

Happy birthday, Mom!

A lecture by Rita George-Tvrtković (Benedictine University) with re...

09/04/2026

Today, we remember Fr. Paul Mankowski, S.J., the Lumen Christi Institute’s longtime scholar-in-residence and University of Chicago alumnus, who passed away six years ago.

To learn more and to celebrate Fr. Paul’s life of courageous loyalty to the Church and her tradition of integrated intellectual and spiritual life, you can watch A Life in Service of the Truth, linked in the article below.

Today, we remember Fr. Paul Mankowski, SJ, Lumen Christi's longtime scholar-in-residence and UChicago alumnus, who passed away six years ago.

09/03/2026

The feast of Gregory the Great and the same day? Too hard to resist.

Check out in lecture by renown scholar Bernard McGinn on St. Gregory's insights into reading scripture>

A webinar lecture by Professor Bernard McGinn (University of Chicag...

08/27/2026

Year in review: This seminar was an immersive experience for graduate-level health sciences learners—especially medical and nursing students—who wanted time and space to reflect on the deeper meaning of medicine, faith, and vocation amid the realities of modern healthcare.

Participants explored foundational texts from the Judeo-Christian tradition and its philosophical partners. Readings ranged from ancient Greek and Hebrew sources through figures such as Galen, Hildegard of Bingen, and Maimonides. Learners were also introduced to modern philosophical and theological accounts of personhood, attending carefully to how the promise and pressure of contemporary medicine—especially where efficiency, technology, and institutional demands collide with deeply held values—can be navigated with integrity and hope.

John Templeton Foundation

https://lumenchristi.org/event/from-ancient-wisdom-to-person-centered-care-historical-philosophical-and-theological-foundations-of-healthcare/

08/25/2026

Year in Review: The Lumen Christi Institute hosted its second week-long seminar for recent PhDs interested in the Catholic intellectual tradition. In this seminar, participants read, analyzed, and discerned continuities and discontinuities in Catholic social thought from the late 19th century to the present. Lectures, seminar reports, and discussion focused on original sources (encyclicals and other magisterial documents), beginning with Rerum novarum (1892) and concluding with Caritas in veritate (2009) and Evangelii Gaudium (2013). The intensive course is multi-disciplinary, since this tradition of social thought overlaps several disciplines in the contemporary university including political science, political philosophy, law, economics, theology, and history. The seminar was an opportunity for participants to meet other promising young scholars working in different academic fields, all with interests tied to Catholicism.

https://lumenchristi.org/event/catholic-social-thought-a-critical-investigation/

08/24/2026

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

Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture Kellogg Institute for International Studies - University of Notre Dame

https://lumenchristi.org/event/economics-and-catholic-social-thought-a-primer-2/

08/20/2026

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

Students were also introduced to the work and digital humanities’s tools of the National Institute for Newman Studies

https://lumenchristi.org/event/the-thought-of-john-henry-newman/

08/19/2026

Year in review: One of the most influential 20th century Catholic thinkers, René Girard transformed our understanding of culture, religion, and human behavior. His “mimetic theory” builds on the demystifying power of the Old and New Testaments to illuminate the religious history of mankind. Through an intensive reading of Girard's book, Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World, in conjunction with readings of Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky and "The Enduring Chill" by Flannery O'Connor, this five-day seminar for undergraduate students explored Girard’s key insights into imitation, conflict, and scapegoating, connecting them to central themes of Christian theology.

https://lumenchristi.org/event/the-thought-of-rene-girard-2/

08/18/2026

August is national make-a-will month!

As part of Lumen Christi's partnership with My Catholic Will, you can create a free, legal will in under 30 minutes.

Get started today: https://mycatholicwill.com/lumenchristi