2023-2024 Past Events

Jesuit Scholarship in a Secular Age Conference

We were pleased to host this exciting conference of Jesuit academics from August 31st to September 2nd. This is just the first of several conferences aimed at Jesuit academics. Click here to learn more information about this first conference.

Nexus Publication Luncheon

Postponed - Date Coming Soon
Nexus: Conversations on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition is a digital-age journal that amplifies and publishes scholarly dialogue taking place in the Hank Center. Our second issue, titled Robots and Rituals: Reflections on Faith in the Era of Science and AI, was recently featured in America Magazine. We are hosting a publication luncheon to honor those who have contributed to the success of Nexus.
12:00-1:30 PM CDT. Room 425, Cuneo Hall, LSC.
Closed Meeting, by Invitation Only

Catholic Mobilizing Network Conference

October 5-7
Minneapolis, MN
This year’s National Catholic Conference on Restorative Justice took place on the theme, Journeying Toward Restoration. Ever aware of past and ongoing violations of dignity and relationships, Journeying Toward Restoration signifies renewed promise for restorative justice as an instrument for human flourishing both within and beyond the institutional Church. The Hank Center was proud to co-sponsor this conference along with other CMN initiatives.
For more information about this conference and the registration link please see the conference website linked in the title of this post.

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Against Free Market Economics: Lecture and Luncheon with Dr. Tony Annett

Video Available
October 12, 2023
Free markets are good at producing wealth but fall quite short in engendering justice or well-being. On the other hand, Catholic social teaching– and the economic theories attached to the Catholic intellectual tradition–offer a more balanced view of market economies and who markets are meant to serve. Resisting free market ideology, Catholic social teaching emphasizes how the common good must take precedence in economic life. Anthony Annett, author of “Cathonomics: How Catholic Tradition Can Create a More Just Economy” explored the insights of this tradition in light of current debates.
11:30 AM - 1:00 PM CDT, Beane Hall, Lewis Towers, WTC.

An evening with Marco Impagliazzo. “Religions: Leading the Way towards a Peaceful World”

October 19, 2023
The Hank Center and the Jesuit Community were delighted to welcome Marco Impagliazzo, President of the Community of Sant’Egidio, for an evening of insight and conversation. Founded just after Vatican II, Sant’Egidio is a Christian community that pays close attention to the periphery and peripheral people– gathering men and women of all ages and conditions, uniting all by a fraternal tie through the listening of the Gospel, and a practicing voluntary commitment with (and for) the poor so as to engender peace. Sant’Egidio has become a network of communities in more than 70 countries of the world. Pope Francis asked Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, a longtime member of the Community of Sant’Egidio, to lead his mission for peace in Ukraine. Dr. Impagliazzo, a professor of History at University of Roma Tre, has been instrumental in this work, and has served the church in the living out of the Gospel in three different pontificates.

Poets of Presence Conference

In-Person Conference and Workshop
October 27-28
Loyola University Chicago
Beane Hall, Lewis Towers, Water Tower Campus
Keynote Speaker, Christian Wiman
All aspects of the conference are solely in-person and registration information will be coming soon.
This event is co-sponsored by Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry and The Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham University.

Novitate Conference on René Girard – New Models of Thought and Desire

November 2-4
Washington, D.C.
The Hank Center was proud to co-sponsor the inaugural 2023 Novitate Conference in Washington, D.C. This gathering draws inspiration from the ideas of the French social theorist René Girard. Convening on the centennial year of his birth, the conference hosted a full day of presentations, panels, and dialogue, concluding with a dinner banquet to honor his legacy. The question of conformity—which Girard’s mimetic theory explores—lies at the heart of many of the important personal and societal questions in our world today involving institutions, politics, education, civics, media, and much more.
For more information about the conference, please see the conference website linked in the title of this post.

Paddy Gilger, S.J.

The 2023 Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. Lecture: “The Subject of Public Religion” by Teilhard Fellow, Fr. Paddy Gilger, S.J. was held at McCormick Lounge, Coffey Hall on Loyola's Lake Shore Campus on November 9, 2023 at 7pm. This event was free and open to the public.

William Byrd Celebration: November 3-19 2023

Loyola University marks the 400th anniversary of William Byrd’s death through a series of lectures and performances. Regarded as one of the most important English composers of the Renaissance, Byrd was also a devout Catholic during a period that condemned Catholicism and its followers. With programs presented by guest artists and Loyola music students, this series outlines his fascinating life and musical output. This series is led by Professor Kirsten Hedegaard and Department of Fine and Performing Arts with support from the Hank Center. A full schedule of events is now available. These events are free and open to the public.

Kathy Osberger Book Lecture: I Surrender: A Memoir of Chile's Dictatorship, 1975

February 5, 2024 at 4:00 pm
McCormick Lounge, Coffey Hall, LSC
Loyola welcomed Kathleen Osberger for a talk on her recently published memoir, I Surrender: A Memoir of Chile's Dictatorship, 1975. In September 1973, a CIA-assisted coup overthrew the democratically-elected president of Chile, ushering in the Pinochet dictatorship. In 1975, Kathleen Osberger, a recent graduate and lay volunteer from Notre Dame, left for Santiago to teach in a Catholic grade school. Upon arrival, she was told a secret: the religious women she would live with sheltered dissidents in the cross-hairs of Pinochet’s secret police. Soon, Osberger is handed a blindfold, a warrant, and must go on the run. This lecture is sponsored by Catholic Studies and the Hank Center. Students, arrive early to arrive early to receive a complementary copy of the book!
Event Video Coming Soon.

Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network: Panel Discussion with Cardinal Cupich

February 21, 2024
Time 4:30 pm
Location: The Athenaeum
The Hank Center is proud to support Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network, a much needed initiative created by the Honorable Thomas More Donnelly– Cook County Judge, Loyola Law Faculty, and Board Member at the Hank Center. Judge Donnelly will engage a panel of experts–including Cardinal Cupich and Jeannie Bishop–on this central movement and mandate of Restorative Justice. We joined our friends at Lumen Christi (who convened this conversation) and our friends at the Historic Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture at St. Alphonsus Ligouri (who hosted it). This event was by invitation only. If interested, please contact the Hank Center for more information.

The Way Forward 2024: Laudato Si’: Protecting Our Common Home, Building Our Common Church

February 22-23, 2024
The University of San Diego
The title for this third annual ecclesial gathering was Laudato Si’: Protecting Our Common Home, Building Our Common Church, and was held at the University of San Diego on February 21 - 23, 2024. This year’s event, which brought together a select group of Cardinals, other Bishops, scholars, and journalists, focused on the encyclical, Laudato Si’, the recent exhortation Laudete Deum, and the reception of their themes in the Catholic Church in the U.S.

2024 Newman Lecturer, Jason Blakely, presents "Atheist!: A Story of Conversion"

February 27, 2024
7:00pm
The Saint John Henry Newman Lecture Series is named after the great 19th century English prelate who wrote very movingly about his intellectual journey toward Roman Catholicism in his spiritual autobiography, Apologia pro vita sua (1864). Newman's work helped later generations of Catholics and Catholic converts map out ways to understand the datum of religious faith in light of the contemporary issues facing modern life. Honoring this engagement with the Catholic tradition, CCIH invites scholars each spring to recount their own discovery (or rediscovery) of the Catholic intellectual heritage in light of their ongoing scholarship. This year’s Newman Lecturer was Professor Jason Blakely from Pepperdine University. Dr. Blakely is a Political Philosopher and a leading scholar of contemporary "communitarian" and post-liberal thought, especially the work of philosophers Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor. Dr. Blakely’s lecture is entitled "Atheist!: A Story of Conversion."Event Video Available Now!

Mary Lou Williams Lecture and Gala Performance featuring Deanna Witkowski

Lecture, March 21, 2024: 4:00 - 5:30 PM CDT. 4th Floor, Information Commons, LSC.
Live Performance, March 22, 2024: 7:00 - 8:30 PM CDT. Skowronski Music Hall, Mundelein Hall, LSC.
Loyola celebrated the music of the late jazz great, Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981), in late March, 2024. As an adult convert to Catholicism (with many ties to Jesuits), Williams’s sanctity is getting better known— especially in her corporal works of mercy for fellow musicians and loving care for all who crossed her path. Williams expressed her faith in her music– innovatively composing and situating jazz in liturgical settings and demonstrating the sacral range of jazz music in new registers. A virtuoso pianist, in her early career, Williams was part of the 1940s Kansas City jazz scene– inspiring and mentoring such artists as Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Charlie Parker. The Hank Center welcomed Williams scholar and jazz pianist, Deanna Witkowski, author of Williams’ biography, Mary Lou Williams: Music for the Soul for several events and classroom visits at LUC. Witkowski is the foremost interpreter of Williams– both musically (as a virtuosa pianist) and as a scholar.
Both events were free, open to the public and all were welcome.

Continental Philosophy Symposium

April 4-6, 2024
Regents Hall, Lewis Towers, WTC
The so-called “theological turn” of the mid-20th Century describes the several ways that Continental philosophy is frequently taken up in Catholic academic settings– both as a courting of religious belief and, as frequently, a way past belief. At the same time, debates within Continental Philosophy about secularization, atheism and the deconstruction of Christianity directly mark the decline of ontotheology in the West, which demands an opening to non-European voices. The rise of these secular forms becomes a critique of the West from within, a self-reflexive gesture made in the wake of the death of Europe’s God, while also providing liberation for those on the margins of its ‘civilizing’, violent ethos. This conference hosted an array of leading global voices–scholars who interrogated these questions and a host of others.
This event was a closed meeting by invitation only.

2024 Annual Cardinal Bernardin Lecture featuring Papal Nuncio, Cardinal Christophe Pierre

April 11, 2024 at 7pm
McCormick Lounge, Coffey Hall, LSC
This lecture, named after Joseph Bernardin, Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago from 1982 to 1996, for his influential work toward Church reform after the Second Vatican Council through his Catholic Common Ground Initiative. Bernardin further sought to address social issues, especially in developing his “Seamless Garment Ethic of Life" He also worked toward ecumenism and interfaith dialogue throughout his life. This year’s Bernardin Lecturer was Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States. His lecture was entitled, "Pope Francis: Discernment and the Dialectic of Mercy."
This event is free and open to the public. Event Video Coming Soon.