Past Lectures and Conferences
Each year, the Office for Mission and Ministry sponsors insightful lectures that explore a breadth of contemporary issues and timeless truths. Many of these talks have been recorded and archived here for quick access. Watch, listen and learn at your ease and on your schedule.
Video Archive
2020 Video Archive
Native American Environmentalism in an Age of Ecological Crisis
Paul Rosier, PhD, Mary M. Birle Chair in American History at Villanova
Birth of a Dancing Star: My Journey from Cradle Catholic to Cyborg Christian
Ilia Delio, OSF, PhD, discusses her memoir, Birth of a Dancing Star: My Journey from Cradle Catholic to Cyborg Christian (2019, Orbis Books), She holds the Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova.
A Black Suffragist's Story from the Jim Crow South
Historian and author Adele Logan Alexander, PhD, discusses her 2019 book, Princess of the Hither Isles (Yale University Press). The book tells the story of Alexander’s grandmother, Adele Hunt Logan, who dedicated herself to advancing political and educational opportunities for the African American community.
The Catholic University and the Culture of Encounter
Bishop Paul Tighe, secretary of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture, presents the talk at Villanova.
Holiness and Prejudice: The Black Catholic Legacy
The Most Rev. Joseph N. Perry, an auxiliary bishop of Chicago, addresses Villanovans as part of Black History Month. The event is co-sponsored by the Africana Studies Program.
St. Thomas' Views on the Economy and Human Happiness
Mary Hirschfeld, PhD, an associate professor of economics and theology at Villanova, presents the 2020 St. Thomas Aquinas Lecture, based on her 2018 book, Aquinas and the Market: Toward a Humane Economy (Harvard University Press).
2019 Video Archive
Who's in Charge? Past, Present, and Future of Church Governance
Villanova presents the 2019 Civitas Dei Medal to John W. O’Malley, SJ, PhD, one of the most important scholars in the field of Church history, for his outstanding achievements in the Catholic and global scholarly communities. A university professor in theology at Georgetown, Father O'Malley has built his expertise over a career that spans more than six decades.
Reform and Resistance: What Pope Francis Asks and Why Not Everyone Likes It
Austen Ivereigh, PhD, a London-based Catholic writer, journalist and commentator on religion and politics, and co-founder of Catholic Voices, discusses his 2019 book, Wounded Shepherd: Pope Francis and the Struggle to Convert the Catholic Church.
More Than a Hashtag: Missing Murdered Indigenous Women and a Call to Action
The visibility of the epidemic rates of missing murdered Indigenous women and girls has increased in recent years, but what are the next steps that move beyond awareness? Cheryl Redhorse Bennett, assistant professor of American Indian Studies at Arizona State University, answers this and other questions.
The Council after Auschwitz Cannot Fail to Speak of the Jews: Congar and Vatican II
Church historian Massimo Faggioli, PhD, explores the influence at Vatican II of the French Dominican priest Yves Congar, a compelling voice in the drafting of the document on non-Christian religions, Nostra Aetate, and, in particular, the section on Judaism.
From Just War to Peacebuilding: Lessons for US Racial Justice
Ethicist Lisa Sowle Cahill, PhD, the J. Donald Monan Professor of Theology at Boston College, presents a talk drawn from her book Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Pacifism, Just War, and Peacebuilding (Fortress Press, 2019).
Who Is Left Out of the Image of God? Comparative Reflections from Hindu and Christian Theology
Michelle Voss Roberts, PhD, principal and professor of theology at Emmanuel College (Toronto), explores this question: Christians understand humans to be created in the image of God, but, historically, that image has often been defined in ways that exclude women, children and many persons with disabilities from full humanity. How might Hindu wisdom help contemporary Christian theologians take account of embodiment, difference and limitation, not only as descriptions of the human condition, but also as part of the imago Dei itself?
The Rise of Antisemitism
Billie Murray, PhD, a Villanova professor of communication, describes how antisemitism is coded in images and language; and Paul Steege, PhD, a Villanova professor of history, speaks about the history and legacy of antisemitism in Germany—and why it's familiar today.
The God of the Bible and the God of Philosophers
In this 2019 St. Thomas Aquinas Lecture, Eleonore Stump, PhD, Robert J. Henle Professor of Philosophy at St. Louis University, argues that, for Aquinas, the God of classical theism is maximally present, responsive and personal to human beings.
2018 Video Archive
Speaking of Truth: Is There Anything in Between Absolute and Relative?
John Caputo, PhD, the former David R. Cook Chair of Philosophy at Villanova, addresses the question of the inescapability of the interpretation of truth. Truth, he says, is neither absolute nor relativistic, but interpretive, and some interpretations are better than others. (The lecture was part of Augustinian Heritage Month.)
#MeToo, #ChurchToo: Sexual Violence and Social Justice
The #MeToo movement, which took off in fall 2017, has changed the conversation on sexual violence. Catholics have not been major contributors so far, but Catholic social thought and feminist theology offer important resources for diagnosing the problem and moving forward. Julie Hanlon Rubio, PhD, Professor of Social Ethics at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, explains how.
Past Conferences
The Office for Mission and Ministry also sponsors conferences to promote education and understanding on a variety of subjects. Browse through past conferences below.
November 7-9, 2019
Vatican II’s Nostra Aetate urges adherents of the world’s major religions to promote understanding, justice, peace, freedom and human welfare. Why did controversy surround this 1965 document? What is its significance today?
Join Villanova’s Institute for Catholic Social Thought and Center for Arab and Islamic Studies to examine this groundbreaking work’s historical and current ecclesial contexts.
Confirmed Speakers
Archimandrite Nikodemos Anagnostopoulos, University of Notre Dame in London
John Borelli, Georgetown University
Kail Ellis, Villanova University
Martin Ganeri, OP, Blackfriars, University of Oxford
Sidney Griffith, The Catholic University of America
Christian Krokus, The University of Scranton
Rev. Dennis McManus, Pope Leo XIII Institute and Georgetown University
David Neuhaus, SJ, Pontifical Biblical Institute, Jerusalem; and Former Patriarchal Vicar for Hebrew-Speaking Catholics in Jerusalem
Anthony O'Mahony, Blackfriars, University of Oxford
George Sabra, Near East School of Theology, Beirut
Rev. Richard Sudworth, Secretary for Interreligious Affairs to the Archbishop of Canterbury
Rocco Viviano, SX, Shinmeizan Centre of Spirituality and Interreligious Dialogue, Kyushu
Mercy, Justice, Love & Care for the Earth
April 12–15, 2018
The goal of the conference is to provide a theological and historical analysis of this pontificate.
Keynote Speakers
Flight or Field Hospital: Pope Francis and the Church’s Engagement with the World
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, CSSR, Newark, NJ
Reconciling Doctrine, Theology, Spirituality, and Pastorality: Vatican II and Pope Francis
John O’Malley, SJ, Georgetown University
Pope Francis and “Laudato Si”
Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University
A hunter who advances too far ahead of his fellow hunters ends up with an arrow in his behind: Following Francis’s Tough Leadership Act
Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, SJ, President, Conference of Jesuit Major Superiors of Africa and Madagascar, Nairobi, Kenya
Pope Francis and His Impact on the Church of Latin America
Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodriguez Maradiaga, SDB, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Pope Francis: The Catholic Church as a Social Movement
Margaret Archer, President, Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences
Pope Francis’ Interpretation of Vatican II
Massimo Faggioli, Villanova University
The Spiritual Roots of “Reform” in Pope Francis
Antonio Spadaro, SJ, Editor, La Civilta Cattolica
Pope Francis: A Theologian of Migration
Michelle Pistone, Villanova University School of Law
A Regional Conference on Faith and Collegiate Sports
On June 7th and 8th of 2017, Vatican officials along with leaders in the world of higher education and college athletics joined together at Villanova University for the first follow-up conference on the Vatican’s “Sport at the Service of Humanity” initiative. The conference was the first to be sanctioned by the Vatican following its inaugural conference on faith and sports in Rome in October 2016.
Sport at the Service of Humanity: A Regional Conference on Faith and Collegiate Sports — hosted by Villanova University’s Office of Mission and Ministry in conjunction with the BIG EAST Conference— was an invitation-only event with participants consisting of athletic leadership, coaches, team chaplains, campus ministers and mission and ministry officers from colleges and universities, including many faith-related institutions. Representatives from 28 colleges and universities took part in the conference.
At the conclusion of the event, conference leadership committed to establishing a working group to build upon the “Sport at the Service of Humanity” initiative at the collegiate level. The working group will focus on efforts that can be made at colleges and universities to fulfill the six Principles—joy, compassion, respect, love, enlightenment and balance—established by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture.
Rev. Patrick Kelly, SJ, Associate Professor of Theology at Seattle University, making his presentation at the First Regional Follow Up Conference of "Sport at the Service of Humanity." The gathering was sponsored by Villanova University, the Big East Conference and the Pontifical Council for Culture.
Under the auspices of the Pontifical Council of Culture and its Vatican Management Team, the first regional follow up conference of the “Sport at the Service of Humanity” initiative was held at Villanova University on June 7-8, 2017. The focus of the gathering was “Faith and Collegiate Sports.”
More than 100 delegates representing 28 faith based colleges and universities in the United States met to discuss how the resources of athletic departments, campus ministries and chaplaincy offices might address more intentionally the faith development and spiritual needs of student-athletes and to more fully place their combined resources “at the service of humanity.”
At the close of the conference, the Vatican Management Team, represented by Monsignor Melchor Sánchez de Toca y Alameda (Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture), Bishop Paul Tighe (Adjunct Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture), Bernard Mullin (CEO, Aspire Group) and Nick Marrone (Principal, Marrone and Associates) encouraged Barbara Wall (Vice President for Mission and Ministry, Villanova University) to form a permanent working group to facilitate continued dialogue among constituencies represented at the conference.
Among the goals of the working group are:
- Promoting awareness of and commitment to the Vatican “Declaration of Principles” among colleges and universities, collegiate athletic conferences and related governing bodies in the United States;
- Building stronger relationships between athletic departments and campus ministry / chaplaincy personnel;
- Assuring that institutional mission are embedded in its athletic programs;
- Creating a positive culture in athletic programs with a focus on inclusion;
- Breaking down silos that may exist for student-athletes, so they can thrive as part of the larger campus community;
- Providing resources to nurture all parts of the student-athlete, including faith and spirituality;
- Supporting student-athletes in becoming their “whole selves,” with greater attention placed on balance in the student-athlete experience;
- Graduating student-athletes who are well prepared to thrive in all aspects of their lives.
Comments by Bishop Paul Tighe, Adjunct Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture
"The Sport at the Service of Humanity conference at Villanova was a very important moment in the development of the global initiative which was launched at the Vatican last fall. The conference in Rome sought to identify a number of guiding principles which would serve to inspire people of faith and people of goodwill to work together to ensure that sport continues to contribute to the good of all. The Villanova conference focused on faith in intercollegiate athletics, and brought these principles to the attention of people who are involved in this important arena. It was great to have the reaction of these people to the principles, which had been enunciated in Rome. And it was particularly helpful to learn about the practical considerations that challenge those who are committed to upholding such values."
"The conference at Villanova drew attention to the importance of the virtues. The discussion around virtues helped to ground our reflections in the universal values which should inspire all those who are concerned for the well-being of sport."
"It's very important to remember that the virtues will only flourish where they are supported by institutions and by the more general culture of sport. It was very edifying to observe the commitment among the participants, and the institutions they represented, to promoting the highest standards of fair play and integrity in the area of sport, even if at times these values do not necessarily lead to instant results and success."