16th Annual John F. Scarpa Conference on Law, Politics and Culture, 05/02
“Citizenship and Discipleship in Disintegration: Legal, Theological and Spiritual Perspectives on Catholic Life Today”
Monday, May 2
8:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Virtual Event
David Brooks, columnist for The New York Times, recently published an opinion piece titled America Is Falling Apart at the Seams. Simultaneously, the Catholic Church in recent years has manifested a public division greater than anyone can remember. Amid such rending, American Catholics are tempted to ask: Are the United States still united? Is the Church still one? Is God still God?
This year’s annual John F. Scarpa Conference on Law, Politics and Culture will bring together scholars and experts in civil law, canon law, Catholic theology and spirituality, literature and other disciplines to help us answer these pressing questions. The discussion will help us imagine or re-imagine how we can exercise hope in constructive ways, especially in the practice and making of law, that are true to Catholic belief and to the promised blessings of the American constitutional order, while navigating the sea of contemporary disintegration.
This symposium is approved by the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board for 5 Substantive and 1.5 Ethics Distance CLE credits. Please note registration prior to the event is required. Attendees will receive an email from Eventbrite with the Zoom link on the day of the event.
Agenda
Subject to change
Introductory Session
8:30 a.m.: “What Happens When All Human Conflict is Ultimately Theological”
Patrick McKinley Brennan, Professor of Law & John F. Scarpa Chair in Catholic Legal Studies, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
Session 1 – Governance, Law and the Church in America Today
9:00 a.m.: “America Today – Exceptional or Merely Excessive?”
Daniel Lungren, Senior Counsel, King and Spaulding and former U.S. Congressman & California State Attorney General
9:45 a.m.: “Good Government from Reflection and Choice: The Corporate Form, Police Powers and the Common Good”
Sister Brigid Mary Meeks RSM ’22, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
10:30 a.m.: Break
10:45 a.m.: “The Duty of Bishops to Uphold Church Teaching and Canonical Discipline”
Rev. Gerald E. Murray, JCD, Pastor, Church of the Holy Family & Canon Lawyer
11:30 a.m.: “Religious Freedom is the Freedom to Love: Conscience Rights and Human Dignity in Health Care”
Louis Brown, Executive Director, Christ Medicus Foundation
12:15 p.m.: Break
Session 2 – Law, Goodness and Leadership
1:00 p.m.: “Faith in Action: Leadership in Legal Academia”
Mark C. Alexander, The Arthur J. Kania Dean & Professor of Law, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
1:45 p.m.: “Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice: On the Fundamental Goodness of Law”
Anthony Esolen, Writer-in-Residence & Professor, Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts
2:30 p.m.: “‘Aim Small, Miss Small’: Lessons for Life and Liberty”
John Peiffer, President & General Counsel, Napa Legal and Partner, Brown and Streza, LLP
3:15 p.m.: Roundtable discussion
4:00 p.m.: Conclusion