Summer Conferences

Dr. Adam Schwartz, whose great academic work, The Third Spring, was recently republished, discussed the theologies of history in G. K. Chesterton and the poet David Jones.

“They believed that Christianity united philosophy and mythology for the first time,” Schwartz said. “Whereas in the ancient world, myth and religion were considered one thing and philosophy quite another . . . Christianity rhymed these two roads to the truth due to its historicity.”

Christendom College held a one-day conference on Catholic bioethics featuring renowned speakers including Francis Cardinal Arinze, Bishop Robert Morlino, Dr. Janet Smith, and Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk. The conference, held on July 9, 2012, drew close to 300 attendees who enjoyed presentations on the full range of life issues–from reproductive health to embryonic stem cell research.

Francis Cardinal Arinze is Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. He has served on the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Committee of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. He is a long time defender of the family and outspoken opponent of contraception, abortion, and euthanasia, as well as a frequent guest on Christendom’s campus.

Christendom College held a one-day conference on Catholic bioethics featuring renowned speakers including Francis Cardinal Arinze, Bishop Robert Morlino, Dr. Janet Smith, and Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk. The conference, held on July 9, 2012, drew close to 300 attendees who enjoyed presentations on the full range of life issues–from reproductive health to embryonic stem cell research.

Dr. Janet Smith holds the Father Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Ethics at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. She is the author of “Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later,” and editor of “Why Humanae Vitae Was Right: A Reader.” She is a Consultor to the Pontifical Council on the Family and has appeared on the Geraldo show, Fox Morning News, CNN, and EWTN.

Christendom College held a one-day conference on Catholic bioethics featuring renowned speakers including Francis Cardinal Arinze, Bishop Robert Morlino, Dr. Janet Smith, and Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk.  The conference, held on July 9, drew close to 300 attendees who enjoyed presentations on the full range of life issues – from reproductive health to embryonic stem cell research.

Following Smith’s talk, all gathered in Christ the King Chapel for a Votive Mass for the Family, celebrated by Cardinal Arinze.

Christendom College held a one-day conference on Catholic bioethics featuring renowned speakers including Francis Cardinal Arinze, Bishop Robert Morlino, Dr. Janet Smith, and Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk. The conference, held on July 9, 2012, drew close to 300 attendees who enjoyed presentations on the full range of life issues–from reproductive health to embryonic stem cell research.

Bishop Robert Morlino is the Bishop of Madison, WI. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Fordham University, an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame, an M.Div. Degree from the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, MA, and an S.T.D. in Moral Theology from the Gregorian University in Rome, with specialization in fundamental moral theology and bioethics. Bishop Morlino has served as chairman of two committees within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)–the Bishops’ Committee on the Diaconate, and the Ad Hoc Committee on Health Care Issues and the Church. Since 2005, Bishop Morlino has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), which conducts research, consultation, publishing and education to promote human dignity in health care and the life sciences.

Christendom College held a one-day conference on Catholic bioethics featuring renowned speakers including Francis Cardinal Arinze, Bishop Robert Morlino, Dr. Janet Smith, and Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk. The conference, held on July 9, 2012, drew close to 300 attendees who enjoyed presentations on the full range of life issues–from reproductive health to embryonic stem cell research. Bringing the conference to a close, Dr. Lorna Cvetkovich of the Tepeyac Family Center practice discussed the challenges today facing Catholics who practice medicine.

“In our society 80% of women have been on birth control pills. If you are over 35 and have one child there is a 50-60% chance that you’ve been sterilized, and the rate of IVF pregnancies just goes up and up every single year,” Cvetkovich said. “We have a lot to contend with.”

Dr. O'Donnell moderates a question-and-answer session at the Catholic Teaching on Bioethics Summer Conference. Christendom College held a one-day conference on Catholic bioethics featuring renowned speakers including Francis Cardinal Arinze, Bishop Robert Morlino, Dr. Janet Smith, and Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk.  The conference, held on July 9, drew close to 300 attendees who enjoyed presentations on the full range of life issues – from reproductive health to embryonic stem cell research.

“The phenomenon of cafeteria Catholics is real, widely accepted, and practiced,” Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde told over 200 attendees at Christendom College’s 2-day conference entitled St. Paul: His Spiritual and Scriptural Contributions to the Church and held June 26-27. “We hear all the time, ‘I personally believe that abortion is wrong, but why should the Church tell me that my vote should be in accord with my faith?’ or ‘Sure, for me marriage is the union of one man and one woman, but we should not impose this belief on others—we should not discriminate—live and let live.’ We hear all of this so often in our society, yet St. Paul clearly tells us that living as cafeteria Catholics is not in accord with being a member of Christ’s body, nor does it deepen our spiritual growth.”

The conference welcomed attendees from as far as Seattle, Wash., to hear not only Bishop Loverde, but also sought-after speakers Tim Staples, Mark Shea, and Timothy O’Donnell, as well as theology professors Eric Jenislawski and Sebastian Carnazzo.

Holding advanced degrees in both history and theology, O’Donnell explained that Paul had an ardent desire, as Apostle to the Gentiles, to visit Rome. In the Acts of the Apostles, God in fact guides Paul away from the east and to Rome. “St. Paul’s trip to Macedonia was like a spiritual D-Day,” O’Donnell said. “This begins the whole movement of the preaching of the Gospel in a westward direction.”

O’Donnell said that we can learn much from St. Paul by examining not only the great risks he took in traveling to spread the Gospel as witnessed in Acts, but also the deep love of Christ that he displayed in his epistles.

Popular apologist and author of Nuts & Bolts: A Practical Guide for Explaining and Defending the Catholic Faith, Tim Staples delivered an address on St. Paul and justification. Staples highlighted the importance of context when reading Scripture, saying that a lack of context can produce bad theology.

“Folks, context! Tradition brings to us a context out of which the Scriptures arise and have their meaning, so that we can understand the words of Scripture. And of course, the Magisterium. We have Sacred Scripture as a gift from God through his Church and we have the Tradition and the Magisterium that interprets both,” he said.

Staples observed that in the writings of St. Paul, he makes it very clear that not only is salvation a process, but justification is as well. “In Romans 5:1, justification is seen in the past tense, but do we have St. Paul talking about justification as future and contingent? Absolutely. And in multiple places.”

He explained how, by looking at the context, you can see that when St. Paul speaks about justification in the past tense he is referring to baptism and not to a person’s ultimate justification.

“There is no such thing as ‘no matter what you do sister, you’re going straight to heaven.’ My friends, our theology should order us toward holiness and not be a source that the devil can play with and lead us in the other direction. Catholics, you got a wonderful theology and a fullness of the faith. It is a tremendous gift. Please, please, as one who did not have it and now enjoys it, please give it away,” he closed.