TONIGHT: Joseph Scheidler lecture

We hope you will be able to join the Notre Dame Vita Institute this evening at 7:30 p.m. in Geddes Hall Auditorium for a lecture, “Sorry We Missed You,” by Joseph Scheidler, National Executive Director and founder of the Pro-Life Action League, who will speak about his over three active decades in the pro-life movement.

Please mark your calendars for next week’s lecture on Tuesday, June 19^th at 7:30 p.m. in the Hesburgh Library Auditorium when Mary O’Callaghan, PhD and InForming Life co-founder and board member, will present a lecture entitled “Prenatal Diagnosis: Embracing and Supporting a Culture of Life.” 

Lumen Christi Conference in Chicago May 31

The Lumen Christi Institute, The Katholische Sozialwissenschaftliche Zentralstelle, and The John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought   present

Toward a Moral Economy Policies and Values for the 21st Century Keynote Address: Reinhard Cardinal Marx, Archbishop of Munich Presentations: Roger Myerson, University of Chicago Kevin M. Murphy, University of Chicago and Russell Hittinger, University of Tulsa  Thursday, May 31, 4:00pm Max Palevsky Cinema Ida Noyes Hall 1212 East 59th Street University of Chicago Registration Required. Event Free and Open to the Public. Register here: http://www.lumenchristi.org/moral_economy/ This event opens the Fourth Lumen Christi Institute Conference on Economics and Catholic Social Thought  and inaugurates the Institute’s Collaboration with the German-American Colloquium of the Katholische Sozialwissenschaftliche Zentralstelle.

As the United States and the global economy continue to reel from the effects of the 2008 financial crisis, we face several questions:  What went wrong? How to prevent another such crisis? Can there be moral responsibility in a globalized economy? What would a moral economy look like?  On May 31, Reinhard Cardinal Marx, the Archbishop of Munich and a leading figure in contemporary Catholic social thought, will explore these questions in a major address, “Toward a Moral Economy.” Two leading University of Chicago economists—Roger Myerson, winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize, and Kevin Murphy, winner of the John Bates Clark Medal and the MacArthur Fellowship—will offer their perspectives. They will be joined by Russell Hittinger, member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and co-chair of the Lumen Christi Institute’s Program in Catholic Social Thought. For More Information, http://www.lumenchristi.org/moral_economy/ Questions: info@lumenchristi.org or 773-955-5887 Persons with disabilities requiring assistance, please call 773-955-5887. The Lumen Christi Institute for Catholic Thought was founded in 1997 by Catholic scholars at the University of Chicago. Its intellectual programs complement the work of the Catholic campus ministry and engage the culture of the University of Chicago with resources drawn from the Christian intellectual tradition. The Institute’s programs include lectures, symposia, master classes, and non-credit courses. The Institute also sponsors summer seminars for graduate students, a national Program for Catholic Social Thought, and Cultural Forum events for the educated lay public.

Integritas Seminar IX and Program Mass and Dinner

The Integritas program has concluded for this academic year. We had a final seminar on Vocation, led by Fr. Bill Miscamble, C.S.C., in which the students discussed the difference between finding the way you are called to live and setting out on a career path. We talked about finding meaning and joy in the work of every day, and the challenges of trying to keep the notion of vocation in mind when so much of college seems focused on career preparation.

To wrap up the year, Fr. Miscamble also celebrated Mass for the group and we had one final dinner together. The students look forward to summers of jobs and internships, and many of them are going abroad to study next year. We hope they will take these ideas forward with them into their new adventures.

Integritas Retreat to Gethsemani

At the end of the Easter octave, the Integritas program took a retreat to Gethsemani, KY to pray with the monks of the Trappist monastery where Thomas Merton lived. For an indication of how they found the experience of praying the Liturgy of the Hours with the Trappists, when we returned to campus on Sunday evening, the students headed straight to the Basilica for a vespers service!

Best of the Angelus Award Winning Short Films

Please join us on Saturday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. in Browning Cinema of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center for a screening of the best of the Angelus Award winning short films, 2006-2011. The Angelus shorts have annually been screened at Notre Dame during their world tour of film festivals. The series promotes young filmmakers to create values based films, to change the culture in Hollywood. Join us this year as we look back on our favorites. This is a free but ticketed event. Please call (574) 631-2800 to reserve your tickets for the evening. The screening will last approximately 90 minutes, with a reception to follow. All films are appropriate for all age levels; bring your whole family!

CommUniversity Day

Shortly before Easter, the Integritas group participated in CommUniversity Day, a South Bend-wide day of service bringing together students from Notre Dame, St. Mary's College, and Indiana University of South Bend with community members to collaborate on projects for local nonprofit agencies and the city's parks and public spaces. The Integritas students spent two hours at Our Lady of the Road, a drop-in center operated by the Catholic Worker Community, doing some spring cleaning. They deep-cleaned the bathrooms, cleaned out the garden closet, sorted donations, mixed the compost, and prepared the garden beds for spring planting. It was amazing to see how much they were able to accomplish in a short time, and their help was very much appreciated. This weekend, Integritas travels to Gethsemani, Kentucky for a three day retreat at the Trappist monastery where Thomas Merton was a monk.

Integritas Seminar VIII

The Integritas program gathered for its penultimate seminar last night, on "Paths to Holiness." In anticipation of our upcoming retreat to the Trappist monastery of Gethsemani, we read selections from Thomas Merton's Seven Story Mountain and New Seeds of Contemplation. We also read some of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, and excerpts from G.K. Chesterton's lives of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assisi. Prof. David Fagerberg of the Theology Department led the discussion, which focused on asceticism. He made a distinction between monastic asceticism, which is taken on as a specific vocation through vows, and liturgical asceticism, to which all Christians are called by virtue of their baptism. The lives of a contemplative monk and a young mother might look very different, but both equally require the practice of asceticism. 'Asceticism' comes from the Greek word askesis, which is a bodily activity of discipline and training that also affects the mind. Prof. Fagerberg explained that there are many paths to holiness, but all of them involve asceticism, training our souls to love God above all else, by disciplining our disordered passions and appetites. He emphasized that nothing in the created world is inherently bad, but through our fallen human nature we routinely abuse good things, misusing them and putting them to bad purposes. It takes discipline and self-control to use the goods of creation appropriately.

One student made a connection between liturgical asceticism and the principles of Catholic Social Teaching that we discussed in earlier seminars. By controlling our desires and refraining from excessive consumption, there will be enough resources available for all in need. Also, just as all are called to practice asceticism by virtue of their baptism, all are called to personally live according to the principles of Catholic Social Teaching.

We look forward to our retreat to Gethsemani April 13-15.

Rally for Religious Freedom

This Friday, March 23, there will be a nationwide rally for religious freedom.  At various locations across the country, people will gather at noon to protest the HHS mandate and stand against the violations of the First Amendment.

There will be a rally here in South Bend at

Jon R. Hunt Plaza

211 N. Michigan Street

"Thousands of Americans of all faiths will be participating in these peaceful rallies, organized by the Pro-Life Action League and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society to oppose the new mandate from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that requires all employers provide free contraceptives, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs through their health plans, even in violation of their consciences."

For more information about the rally, and for a list of other locations, visit http://standupforreligiousfreedom.com/locations/

The right to worship v. religious freedom

Our diocesan Office of Catechesis is hosting a lecture entitled "The Right to Worship and Religious Freedom: What's the Difference for the Church?" by Fred Everett, Assistant to the Bishop and Director of the Office of Family Life, on Thursday, March 22 at 7 p.m., at Blessed John Paul II Center, 1328 West Dragoon Trail, Mishawaka. It is a free event, but registration is required. Email jmartin@diocesefwsb.org to register.

TODAY: Virtue and Emotion in Aquinas

Today at 4 p.m. in DeBartolo 118, Rev. Nicholas Lombardo, OP will deliver a lecture entitled "Virtue and Emotion in St. Thomas Aquinas." Fr. Nicholas is a 2010 winner of the Templeton Award. He teaches at Catholic University of America. Please join us.