The Thomistic Institute

Fr. Gabriel Torretta argues that beauty has become a "forbidden word" for our age due to the effects of German Idealism and Modernism; as a remedy, he proposes a recovery grounded in the Christian metaphysical tradition (Eriugena, Aquinas, Augustine), in which beauty is the attractive power by which God draws all things to himself and which requires an asceticism of the gaze.This lecture was given on April 28th, 2026, at University of Washington.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Gabriel Torretta, O.P., is assistant professor of Theology at Providence College. He is a church historian whose work focuses on the history of Christian ideas of beauty and art, with a particular focus on the eighth and ninth centuries. He recently completed his PhD at the University of Chicago Divinity School, with a dissertation entitled “‘Beautiful as the Moon’: Discourses of Beauty in the Carolingian Era.” His current projects explore the cultural and theological legacy of ninth-century thinkers like Theodulf of Orléans, Hrabanus Maurus, and John Scottus Eriugena.Keywords: Adorno, Aquinas, Asceticism Of The Gaze, Augustine, Bouguereau, Divine Beauty, Eriugena, Lucian Freud, Roger Scruton, Worship Of Beauty

Fr. Alan O'Sullivan provides an introduction to Pope Benedict XVI's thought on the "via pulchritudinis" — the way of beauty — arguing that authentic beauty wounds the heart and draws it toward the transcendent Logos, is inseparable from truth, goodness, and prayer, and is indispensable for the Church's liturgy and evangelization against a false, self-absorbing beauty.This lecture was given on July 18th, 2026, at Glencomeragh House.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Fr. Alan O’Sullivan, O.P. (Trinity College) is currently the chaplain of Trinity College, Dublin. He is a member of the Irish province of the Order of Preachers who studied at Blackfriars, Oxford.Keywords: Beauty, Benedict XVI, Dostoevsky, Logos, Magnificat, Paul Claudel, Prayer, Saints, Via Pulchritudinis, Wound Of Beauty

Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy argues that the Exodus prohibition on graven images was a purification of Israel's imagination from false imaginings of the invisible God, and that the Incarnation opens a new, positive use of sacred images — the face of Christ and the icons of his saints — by which the imagination is fed and purified for contemplation, a truth vindicated by Saint John Damascene and the Second Council of Nicaea against the iconoclasts.This lecture was given on July 19th, 2026, at Glencomeragh House.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, OP is a Coordinator for Campus Outreach at the Thomistic Institute in Washington, DC. He has served as a parochial vicar at St. Pius V Church in Providence, RI, as well as an adjunct professor and assistant chaplain at Providence College. He originates from Columbus, OH, studied architecture in Virginia and Switzerland, and practiced in the DC area before entering the Order of Preachers in 2013. He was ordained a priest in 2020 at the Dominican House of Studies during the quarantine. In his work with the Thomistic Institute, he has given talks on the virtue of penance, loving God with the mind, and the intersection of theology and architecture. He often travels the country visiting Thomistic Institute Campus Chapters, leading seminars that help students grasp Thomistic concepts. Additionally, he coordinates the TI's intellectual retreat programming, which affords students time to pray and integrate into their lives Thomistic theology and philosophy.Keywords: Aquinas, Dulia, Iconoclasm, Incarnation, John Damascene, Latria, Purification Of The Imagination, Sacred Images, Second Council Of Nicaea, Veneration Of Images

Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy argues that church architecture is "incarnational" when it corresponds to a true cosmological vision of reality ordered through and toward the Logos and embodies the principles revealed to Moses on Sinai, and "iconoclastic" when, in its modernist self-referentiality, it rejects that order and fails to communicate the body and head of Christ made present in the liturgy.This lecture was given on July 19th, 2026, at Glencomeragh House.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, OP is a Coordinator for Campus Outreach at the Thomistic Institute in Washington, DC. He has served as a parochial vicar at St. Pius V Church in Providence, RI, as well as an adjunct professor and assistant chaplain at Providence College. He originates from Columbus, OH, studied architecture in Virginia and Switzerland, and practiced in the DC area before entering the Order of Preachers in 2013. He was ordained a priest in 2020 at the Dominican House of Studies during the quarantine. In his work with the Thomistic Institute, he has given talks on the virtue of penance, loving God with the mind, and the intersection of theology and architecture. He often travels the country visiting Thomistic Institute Campus Chapters, leading seminars that help students grasp Thomistic concepts. Additionally, he coordinates the TI's intellectual retreat programming, which affords students time to pray and integrate into their lives Thomistic theology and philosophy.Keywords: Aquinas, Cosmological View, Hermeneutic Of Fracture, Iconoclasm, Incarnational Architecture, Le Corbusier, Logos, Maximus The Confessor, Pantheon, Sacred Architecture

Fr. David Goodill explains that, for Aquinas, conscience is not a power of the soul but an act of the intellect rooted in the natural habit of synderesis and formed by the virtues, above all prudence, so that it reflects the deepest interiority of the person.This lecture was given on July 24th, 2026, at Stonyhurst College.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Fr. David is Dean of Degrees, Lector, Fellow, and Provincial Bursar. He studied Philosophy in Cambridge and Manchester before entering the Dominican Order. He has a doctorate in Moral Theology from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and maintains interests in both Moral Philosophy and Moral Theology. He was Prior of Oxford, and has served Blackfriars Hall and Studium as Hall Bursar, Vice-Regent, Senior Tutor and Acting Regent. He is a visiting lecturer in moral theology at St Joseph’s University, Macau.Publications: ‘Original Sense: Augustine and Wittgenstein on Religion and Origins’ in Augustine and Wittgenstein (2018); ‘Elizabeth Anscombe on Just War’ in The Moral Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe (2016); Nature as Guide: Wittgenstein and the Renewal of Moral Theology (CUA Press, 2022).Keywords: Aquinas, Conscience, Free Choice, Intellect, Justice, Prudence, Summa Theologiae, Synderesis, Virtue, Will

Fr. David Goodill expounds Aquinas's treatment of conscience in Summa theologiae I-II, q.19, arguing that conscience is the inner act of the will and that, even when erring, it binds the agent, such that right formation of conscience through virtue, law, and grace is essential.This lecture was given on July 24th, 2026, at Stonyhurst College.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Fr. David is Dean of Degrees, Lector, Fellow, and Provincial Bursar. He studied Philosophy in Cambridge and Manchester before entering the Dominican Order. He has a doctorate in Moral Theology from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and maintains interests in both Moral Philosophy and Moral Theology. He was Prior of Oxford, and has served Blackfriars Hall and Studium as Hall Bursar, Vice-Regent, Senior Tutor and Acting Regent. He is a visiting lecturer in moral theology at St Joseph’s University, Macau.Publications: ‘Original Sense: Augustine and Wittgenstein on Religion and Origins’ in Augustine and Wittgenstein (2018); ‘Elizabeth Anscombe on Just War’ in The Moral Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe (2016); Nature as Guide: Wittgenstein and the Renewal of Moral Theology (CUA Press, 2022).Keywords: Aquinas, Conscience, Erring Conscience, Grace, Intention, Moral Species, Object Of The Act, Prudence, Summa Theologiae, Virtue

Prof. Lewis Ayres presents Newman's account of conscience as, not a private inner voice, but the echo of God's voice within the human being, that although refracted by sin and therefore requiring long formation in humility and obedience, is an entry into true fraternity.This lecture was given on July 24th, 2026, at Stonyhurst College.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Lewis was born in the UK, and studied Classics at St Andrews in Scotland, and Theology at Oxford. He has taught in the UK, in Ireland and in the US. He is currently Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology at Durham University in the UK, and McDonald Agape Chair in Early Christian Theology at the Angelicum University in Rome. He is interested in two main areas of Catholic thought: early Christian thought (on Christ, on the Trinity and on Biblical Interpretation), and modern Catholic thought (especially the idea of development in doctrine, the idea of Tradition, The second Vatican Council, Biblical Interpretation). He and his wife (Medi Ann Volpe) co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology.Keywords: Conscience, False Conscience, Gladstone, Humility, Letter To The Duke Of Norfolk, Newman, Papal Infallibility, Ratzinger, True Conscience, Voice Of God

Prof. Lewis Ayres draws on Newman's Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent and Essay on the Development of Doctrine to argue that conscience must be educated through a long process of moral and doctrinal formation, and that the young Ratzinger draws the same connections between consceince and the community and worship of the Church.This lecture was given on July 25th, 2026, at Stonyhurst College.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Lewis was born in the UK, and studied Classics at St Andrews in Scotland, and Theology at Oxford. He has taught in the UK, in Ireland and in the US. He is currently Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology at Durham University in the UK, and McDonald Agape Chair in Early Christian Theology at the Angelicum University in Rome. He is interested in two main areas of Catholic thought: early Christian thought (on Christ, on the Trinity and on Biblical Interpretation), and modern Catholic thought (especially the idea of development in doctrine, the idea of Tradition, The second Vatican Council, Biblical Interpretation). He and his wife (Medi Ann Volpe) co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology.Keywords: Callista, Conscience, Development Of Doctrine, Dogmatic Principle, Eucharist, Formation Of Conscience, Grammar Of Assent, Lectio Divina, Newman, Ratzinger

Prof. Medi Volpe argues that conscience is formed through the imagination, which is nurtured and filled by stories, so that discerning right action is less a matter of weighing propositions than of recognizing one's part in a larger story.This lecture was given on July 25th, 2026, at Stonyhurst College.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Medi Ann Volpe is a Catholic moral theologian and mother of four children, including a daughter with Down Syndrome. She is the Director of Research at Wesley House, Cambridge and teaches theology and ethics at Durham University (UK) . Her first book, Rethinking Christian Identity (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), brings contemporary theological themes into conversation with voices from the classical Christian tradition. More recently, her work has explored the intersection of ecclesiology and spiritual formation, with a special interest in discipleship and Christian identity of children as well as people with intellectual disabilities. She has published in journals and handbooks, including the International Journal of Systematic Theology, Modern Theology, and the Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology (which she co-edited with Lewis Ayres). She also serves on the board of the Journal of Disability and Religion. For the last several years, Volpe has been writing and speaking about the kind of Church we must be if we are truly to honour the weaker members. Her current book project (Living as the Body of Christ) considers ecclesiology from the perspective of disability.Keywords: Aquinas, Conscience, Frodo Baggins, Imagination, Lord Of The Rings, MacIntyre, Magnificat, Newman, Storytelling Animal, The Great Tale

Prof. Medi Volpe argues that conscience is not an abstract faculty but an everyday moral sense that must be awakened and nurtured, and that grace works through ordinary channels — stories, scripture, friends, and even our failures — to form us, little by little, into people who listen and obey.This lecture was given on July 26th, 2026, at Stonyhurst College.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Medi Ann Volpe is a Catholic moral theologian and mother of four children, including a daughter with Down Syndrome. She is the Director of Research at Wesley House, Cambridge and teaches theology and ethics at Durham University (UK) . Her first book, Rethinking Christian Identity (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), brings contemporary theological themes into conversation with voices from the classical Christian tradition. More recently, her work has explored the intersection of ecclesiology and spiritual formation, with a special interest in discipleship and Christian identity of children as well as people with intellectual disabilities. She has published in journals and handbooks, including the International Journal of Systematic Theology, Modern Theology, and the Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology (which she co-edited with Lewis Ayres). She also serves on the board of the Journal of Disability and Religion. For the last several years, Volpe has been writing and speaking about the kind of Church we must be if we are truly to honour the weaker members. Her current book project (Living as the Body of Christ) considers ecclesiology from the perspective of disability.Keywords: Aquinas, Conscience, Grace, Lord Of The Rings, Maximilian Kolbe, Moral Awakening, Newman, Pippin, Saruman, Tolkien

Fr. Chris Gault, O.P. lays out Aquinas's epistemology of moderate realism, in which all knowledge begins with the senses and the agent intellect abstracts universal forms from phantasms, and defends it against skepticism, ancient and modern, including the claim that artificial intelligence cannot truly know.This lecture was given on July 18th, 2026, at Glencomeragh House.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Fr. Chris Vincent Gault, OP, was born and raised in Belfast in the north of Ireland, where he studied medicine at Queen's University Belfast. Qualifying as a doctor in 2013, he began to train as an emergency physician, before leaving medicine after 3 years to enter the Irish Province of the Order of Preachers. Ordained as a Dominican priest in July 2024, and after having completed his studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome, he was assigned to the convent of St. Mary of the Isles in Cork, where he now resides and ministers, particularly to the youth and young adults of that city.Keywords: Agent Intellect, Aquinas, Blindsight, Chinese Room Argument, Epistemology, Moderate Realism, Phantasm, Sensory Experience, Universals, Visual Agnosia

Fr. Ambrose Little, O.P. argues that the natural human desire to know, though it draws the mind toward the contemplation of God, can only reach its fulfillment when purified and redirected by grace and the theological virtues, so that every discipline of study becomes a path of sanctity.This lecture was given on June 26th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Fr. Ambrose Little is the director of the Thomistic Institute.  He is originally from Connecticut and entered the Dominican Order in 2007 and was ordained a priest in 2013. Before entering the Dominican Order, he graduated from The Catholic University of America with a BA in philosophy. After ordination, he completed a Licentiate in Philosophy at The Catholic University of America and then taught for two years at Providence College. After completing his Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Virginia in the summer of 2021, he started teaching at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception. He specializes in the philosophies of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, with an emphasis on their study of nature and the soul. He also studies topics at the intersection between philosophy and science.Keywords: Aquinas, Aristotle, Contemplation Of God, Desire To Know, Grace, Infused Virtues, Miraculous Catch, Sanctity, Socrates, Theological Virtues

Prof. Erik Dempsey explains St. Thomas Aquinas’s account of justification as God’s free gift of grace, which heals sin, moves human freedom, and forms believers in faith working through charity.This lecture was given on March 21st, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Professor Erik Dempsey an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Departments of Government, Classics, and Religious Studies, and is the Assistant Director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas. He has taught at the University of Texas at Austin for over ten years, during which time he has offered classes in the history of political philosophy, on the Bible and its interpreters, on American political thought, on classical philosophy and literature, and others. His favorite classes to teach are Jerusalem and Athens, a class comparing the political, moral, and theological ideas of the Hebrew Bible to Aristotle's, and the Question of Relativism, a class on what he considers the central quandary of our time. He writes primarily about Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, and he is currently studying John Locke's commentaries on St. Paul's epistles. Last but not least, he is an Eagle Scout.Keywords: Baptism, Charity, Faith and Works, Grace, Holy Spirit, Incarnation, Justification, Merit, Original Sin, St. Thomas Aquinas

Sr. Maria Frassati Jakupcak shows how Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure exposes the limits of abstract knowledge and reveals why some truths can only be known through love, experience, and particular relationship.This lecture was given on April 11th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Sr. Maria Frassati Jakupcak is a member of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist and an Assistant Professor of English at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. Her dissertation was on player-dramatists present in William Shakespeare's plays, though she has published on Tolkien and Belloc as well. In addition to her academic work, her devotional writing regularly appears in Magnificat.Keywords: Abstract Knowledge, Aquinas, Connaturality, Love, Measure For Measure, Particulars, Shakespeare, Theater, Truth, Universals

Fr. Jordan Zajac takes Shakespeare’s most morally charged characters and Aquinas’s deepest insights on love, hatred, and prudence to show why holiness sometimes means not just loving the good, but fiercely refusing what corrupts it.This lecture was given on April 10th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Fr. Jordan is from New Bedford, MA and graduated from Providence College in 2004, majoring in English and minoring in Political Science. He went on for an MA at the University of Virginia and a PhD at The University of Massachusetts-Amherst. It was during doctoral studies that he discovered a calling to religious life and the priesthood. Upon completion of his PhD in 2013, he entered the Order of Preachers. After studying Philosophy and Theology at the Dominican House of Studies (Washington, DC), he served as associate chaplain at PC (2019-2020) and was ordained a priest here on campus in May, 2020. He has taught in the English Department since August, 2020.Keywords: Aquinas, Charity, Cordelia, Hate, Holy Hatred, King Lear, Prince Hal, Prudence, Shakespeare, Virtue

Fr. Jordan Zajac uses Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Aquinas’s account of prudence to show how a person can know the good, reject it in imagination, and still fall into action through an inner collapse of judgment and will.This lecture was given on April 10th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Fr. Jordan is from New Bedford, MA and graduated from Providence College in 2004, majoring in English and minoring in Political Science. He went on for an MA at the University of Virginia and a PhD at The University of Massachusetts-Amherst. It was during doctoral studies that he discovered a calling to religious life and the priesthood. Upon completion of his PhD in 2013, he entered the Order of Preachers. After studying Philosophy and Theology at the Dominican House of Studies (Washington, DC), he served as associate chaplain at PC (2019-2020) and was ordained a priest here on campus in May, 2020. He has taught in the English Department since August, 2020.Keywords: Aquinas, Choice, Command, Imprudence, Macbeth, Passion, Prudence, Shakespeare, Tragedy, Will

Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., presents St. Leo the Great’s theology of mercy, showing how love for the poor and weak flows from Christ’s Incarnation, affirms the dignity of every human person, and calls Christians to become merciful as God is merciful.This lecture was given on May 3rd, 2026, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., (Ph.D. Notre Dame) is professor of patristics and ancient languages at the Pontifical Faculty of the Dominican House of Studies where he serves as the director of the doctoral program. He authored Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus (Oxford University Press, 2013) and The Power of Patristic Preaching: The Word in Our Flesh (Catholic University of America, 2023). He co-authored A Living Sacrifice: Guidance for Men Discerning Religious Life (Vianney Vocations, 2019). Editor-in-chief of the academic journal The Thomist, Hofer is editor or co-editor of several volumes including The Oxford Handbook of Deification, The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's Sermons, and Thomas Aquinas and the Greek Fathers. He enjoys speaking with students about their theological and spiritual questions.Keywords: Almsgiving, Beatitudes, Christian Mercy, Dignity Of The Human Person, Incarnation, Love Of The Poor, Matthew 25, Mercy, St. Leo The Great, Weakness

Fr. Thomas Aquinas Pickett, O.P., explains how Christ’s eternal priesthood fulfills the human desire for beatitude by reconciling humanity to God through his self-offering and drawing believers into the life of heaven.This lecture was given on March 28th, 2026, at St. Albert's Priory.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Fr. Thomas Aquinas Pickett, O.P. is an Assistant Professor of Theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. His research interests include St. Thomas Aquinas, the priesthood and religious life, and virtue ethics. He delights in leading students through the insights of St. Thomas Aquinas so that they may develop their confidence in and love of sacred doctrine. Keywords: Beatitude, Christ The High Priest, Grace, Jesus Christ, Melchizedek, Priesthood Of Christ, Sacrifice, Sanctifying Grace, St. Thomas Aquinas, Supernatural Happiness

Prof. Catherine Peters unpacks Thomas Aquinas’s philosophy of language and reveals how the words we use do more than describe reality: they shape what we understand, how we judge, and how we act.This lecture was given on April 1st, 2026, at University of California, Los Angeles.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Catherine Peters is an associate professor of medieval philosophy at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. Her work centers on issues of philosophical anthropology, metaphysics, and natural theology. She is passionate about translating medieval thought into modern terms and applying its insights to perennial questions such as “Who am I?” “What should I do?” and “Is there a God?” A frequent presenter in both the United States and Europe, her scholarship has been published in numerous volumes and journals, including The Thomist, New Blackfriars, National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, The Journal of Islamic Philosophy, European Journal for the Study of Thomas Aquinas, Lex Naturalis, and Jesuit Higher Education. When not in the classroom, she can often be found in local coffee shops, at the dog park, or in a HIIT class.Keywords: Analogy, Communication, Concepts, Language, Intellect, Reality, Signification, Thomas Aquinas, Truth, Words

Dr. Wes Siscoe tackles a big question in science and philosophy, arguing that the very fact that nature follows stable, intelligible laws points beyond brute fact and toward God as the deeper explanation.This lecture was given on April 14th, 2026, at University of Wisconsin-Madison.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Wes Siscoe is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at The Ohio State University. He is also a Thomistic Institute alum, having founded the TI chapter at the University of Arizona. With a passion for making philosophy accessible to college students and the general public, Wes founded the Philosophy Teaching Library at the University of Notre Dame and participated in the Philosophy as a Way of Life Project. When he isn’t doing philosophy, he’s hanging out with his family and two miniature dachshunds.Keywords: Aristotle, Classical Theism, Fine Tuning, God, Laws Of Nature, Naturalism, Scientific Explanation, Thomas Aquinas, Theology, Truth

Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy brings Aquinas into the urgent modern conversation about vocation, showing why the path to a call is not endless hesitation but a grace-filled, courageous movement toward charity and the life God is asking of us.This lecture was given on April 15th, 2026, at University of South Florida.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, OP is a Coordinator for Campus Outreach at the Thomistic Institute in Washington, DC. He has served as a parochial vicar at St. Pius V Church in Providence, RI, as well as an adjunct professor and assistant chaplain at Providence College. He originates from Columbus, OH, studied architecture in Virginia and Switzerland, and practiced in the DC area before entering the Order of Preachers in 2013. He was ordained a priest in 2020 at the Dominican House of Studies during the quarantine. In his work with the Thomistic Institute, he has given talks on the virtue of penance, loving God with the mind, and the intersection of theology and architecture. He often travels the country visiting Thomistic Institute Campus Chapters, leading seminars that help students grasp Thomistic concepts. Additionally, he coordinates the TI's intellectual retreat programming, which affords students time to pray and integrate into their lives Thomistic theology and philosophy. Keywords: Aquinas, Charity, Discernment, Evangelical Counsels, Grace, Prudence, Religious Life, State Of Perfection, Vocation, Vocational Discernment

Prof. Steven Jensen asks whether computers can really think, and he argues that while machines can imitate reasoning and behavior associated with thought, they lack the awareness that makes genuine thinking possible.This lecture was given on April 16th, 2026, at Southern Methodist University.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Steven J Jensen holds the Bishop Nold Chair in Graduate Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, where he teaches in The Center for Thomistic Studies. His fields of research include bioethics, moral psychology, the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, human nature, and natural law. He is the author of several books, including the following: Living the Good Life: A Beginner’s Thomistic Ethics, The Human Person: A Beginner’s Thomistic Psychology, The Natural Law: A Beginner’s Thomistic Guide.Keywords: Awareness, Artificial Intelligence, Chinese Room, Cognition, Computers, Consciousness, Neural Networks, Philosophy Of Mind, Reasoning, Thought

Prof. Paige Hochschild explores what truth is and shows, through Tolkien, how truth arises from the mind’s encounter with reality, how myth can reveal historical meaning, and how truthful storytelling can shape moral vision.This lecture was given on April 16th, 2026, at Williams College.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Dr. Paige Hochschild is a professor of historical and systematic theology at Mount St. Mary's University (MD), specializing in Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and the early Church.  She also teaches philosophy courses at the Seminary at Mount St. Mary's.  She has written a book on the place of memory in Augustine's theological anthropology, and publishes on the Church, education, tradition, and 20th Century theological debates within the Church (scripture, history, marriage).Keywords: Allegory, Fantasy, History, J. R. R. Tolkien, Moral Imagination, Myth, Narrative, Reality, Storytelling, Truth

Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., explains why holiness does not require exceptional intelligence but does call every person to grow in the distinctly human capacities to know truth, choose the good, and love God.This lecture was given on June 27th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., is an instructor of dogmatic and moral theology at the Dominican House of Studies and the Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute. He holds a doctorate from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). He is the author of Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly and Your Eucharistic Identity: A Sacramental Guide to the Fullness of Life, and is co-author of Credo: An RCIA Program and Marian Consecration with Aquinas.His writing also appears in Aleteia, Magnificat, and Ascension’s Catholic Classics series. In addition to the TI podcast, he regularly contributes to the podcasts Godsplaining and Pints with Aquinas, and Catholic Classics. Keywords: Charity, Contemplation, Faith and Reason, Holiness, Image Of God, Intellect and Will, Lectio Divina, Rational Animal, St. Thomas Aquinas, Study

Prof. Michael Pakaluk compares Catholicism and golf in order to show how a game often dismissed as “useless” can become a surprisingly rich school of virtue, shaping humility, patience, prudence, honesty, and love of tradition.This lecture was given on April 17th, 2026, at Ohio State University.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Michael Pakaluk is Professor of Political Economy at The Catholic University of America.  An accomplished Aristotle scholar and expert in St. Thomas Aquinas, in 2011 he was appointed a member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas by Pope Benedict XIV.  His most recent books include: The Company We Keep:  True Friendship and Why It Matters (Scepter, 2025); The Shock of Holiness (Ignatius, 2025); Be Good Bankers: The Economic Interpretation of Matthew’s Gospel (Regnery Gateway, 2025); Natural Law: Five Views (Zondervan, 2025), for which he contributed the essays on classical natural law, and Walk in the Good Path: Essays in Natural Law and Civic Friendship, forthcoming (2026) with CUA Press.  He studied philosophy at Harvard under W.V. Quine, Hilary Putnam, Burton Dreben, and John Rawls, who supervised his dissertation. Pakaluk is a regular contributor to The Catholic Thing, and his essays have appeared in Crisis, Our Sunday Visitor, Crux, and other venues. He lives in Hyattsville, Maryland, with his wife, Catherine, a professor of economics, and their youngest children.Keywords: Catholicism, Charity, Golf, Honesty, Humility, Prudence, Study, Tradition, Virtue, Wonder

Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy shows how Thomas Aquinas helps Catholics contemplate the presence of God in nature, grace, and the Incarnation, so that ordinary prayer and daily life become occasions for deeper awareness of divine closeness.This lecture was given on April 17th, 2026, at Vanderbilt University.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, O.P. is a Coordinator for Campus Outreach at the Thomistic Institute in Washington, DC. He has served as a parochial vicar at St. Pius V Church in Providence, RI, as well as an adjunct professor and assistant chaplain at Providence College. He originates from Columbus, OH, studied architecture in Virginia and Switzerland, and practiced in the DC area before entering the Order of Preachers in 2013. He was ordained a priest in 2020 at the Dominican House of Studies during the quarantine. In his work with the Thomistic Institute, he has given talks on the virtue of penance, loving God with the mind, and the intersection of theology and architecture. He often travels the country visiting Thomistic Institute Campus Chapters, leading seminars that help students grasp Thomistic concepts. Additionally, he coordinates the TI's intellectual retreat programming, which affords students time to pray and integrate into their lives Thomistic theology and philosophy. Keywords: Aquinas, Contemplation, Grace, Hypostatic Union, Incarnation, Nature, Panentheism, Pantheism, Presence Of God, Thomas Aquinas

Dr. Joshua Hochschild asks how action, thought, and decision-making fit together, and he shows that prudent choice is the uniquely human act that unites intellect, desire, and moral formation under the guidance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.This lecture was given on June 25th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Joshua Hochschild is Professor of Philosophy at Mount St. Mary’s University, where he also served six years as the inaugural Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. His primary research is in medieval logic, metaphysics, and ethics, with broad interest in liberal education and the continuing relevance of the Catholic intellectual tradition. He is the author of The Semantics of Analogy: Rereading Cajetan’s De Nominum Analogia (2010), translator of Claude Panaccio’s Mental Language: From Plato to William of Ockham (2017), and co-author of A Mind at Peace: Reclaiming an Ordered Soul in the Age of Distraction (2017). His writing has appeared in First Things, Commonweal, Modern Age and the Wall Street Journal. For 2020-21 he served as President of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.Keywords: Action, Choice, Decision-Making, Gifts Of The Holy Spirit, Moral Virtue, Practical Reason, Prudence, Rational Choice, Thomas Aquinas, Virtue

Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P., examines Thomas Aquinas’s teaching on the Mass as the sacramental representation of Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice, drawing on medieval liturgical texts, sacred images, and Eucharistic prayer to show how believers share in the fruits of redemption.This lecture was given on March 6th, 2026, at University of California, Berkeley.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Innocent Smith, O.P., is Assistant Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. After undergraduate studies in music and philosophy at Notre Dame, he entered the Order of Preachers in 2008 and was ordained priest in 2015. Fr. Innocent served in parish ministry for several years before completing a doctorate in liturgical studies at the University of Regensburg in 2021. After teaching for several years in Baltimore and Washington, DC, he joined the Department of Theology in 2025. His research focuses on the material and musical aspects of medieval liturgical books as well as the relationship between liturgy and theology. His monograph Bible Missals and the Medieval Dominican Liturgy explores medieval manuscripts of the Bible that also contain liturgical texts for the celebration of Mass.Keywords: Christ’s Passion, Corpus Christi, Eucharistic Sacrifice, Liturgy, Mass, Medieval Manuscripts, Redemption, Sacrifice Of The Mass, St. Thomas Aquinas, Vatican II

Dr. Karin Öberg and Dr. Paul LaPenna take up a deceptively simple question—how can a scientist be holy?—and show how the pursuit of truth in creation can become a path to humility, charity, and wonder before God.This lecture was given on June 27th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Professor Öberg obtained her B.Sc. in Chemistry from Caltech and her Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Leiden. She has taught at Harvard since 2013, where she is the Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences. Her scholarship aims to uncover how chemical processes impact the outcome of planet formation, with special attention to the possible habitability of nascent planets. She has published over 250 refereed articles, including in Nature and Science. Professor Öberg has been awarded the Barry Prize by the American Academy of Sciences and Letters (2024), the Harnack Lectureship by the Max Planck Society (2022), a Simons Investigator Award (2019), the American Astronomical Society's Newton Lacy Pierce Prize (2016), a Packard Fellowship (2014), and a Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship (2014). She is the Vice President of the Angelicum Board, a Board Member of the Society of Catholic Scientists, a member of the American Academy of Catholic Scholars and Artists, and a frequent public speaker on questions of science and faith.Dr. Paul LaPenna is a neurologist based in Greenville, South Carolina, specializing in the care of patients with neurological emergencies. He is also an award-winning professor at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, where he teaches neuroscience and has been recognized as the Professor of the Neuroscience Block from 2019 to 2025.Dr. LaPenna’s professional and academic work is deeply informed by the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, particularly regarding the integration of faith and reason, science and religion, and the Thomistic understanding of the human person. Through his lectures and writings, he explores how modern neuroscience complements classical philosophy and theology, offering insights into human cognition, virtue formation, and the relationship between mind, brain, and soul.Dr. LaPenna lives in Greenville with his wife Nicole and their three daughters, Catherine, Susanna, and Lucia, who daily remind him of life’s greatest joys and deepest blessings.Keywords: AI, Charity, Creation, Holy Scientist, Humility, Intellectual Virtue, Scientific Method, Studiousness, Theology Of Science, Wonder

Fr. Thomas Aquinas Pickett and Sr. Anna Wray ask the question "How did study sanctify St. Thomas Aquinas?" St. Thomas serves as an exemplar of how study becomes holy when it is ordered by charity, tempered by right desire, and lived as a way of being with God.This lecture was given on June 27th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Fr Thomas Aquinas Pickett is a son of Ellensburg, Washington and a member of the Western Dominican Province. Apart from running, board games, and coffee, he enjoys studying his namesake, St Thomas Aquinas. Having received his BA in Philosophy at Gonzaga University (where he was NOT a member of the basketball team), his MDiv and MA in theology from the DSPT, his STB from l’Institut Catholique de Toulouse, and his STL and STD from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, he is now a professor of theology at the DSPT, assigned to St Albert the Great Priory.Sister Anna Wray is a native of Connecticut and a member of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia of Nashville, TN.  Sister received her PhD in philosophy from The Catholic University of America, having written her dissertation on Aristotle’s account of the activity of contemplation.  Sister is an assistant professor on the faculty of CUA's School of Philosophy in Washington, DC, where she regularly teaches courses in rhetoric, philosophy of religion, and philosophical psychology.  She is also an adjunct professor for Aquinas College, where she teaches metaphysics and epistemology to her sisters in formation.  Her research and conversational interests include imagination and attention in human agency and speech, the effects of technology on human agency, and form as function and unifying activity.Keywords: Charity, Contemplative Life, Dominican Life, Holy Study, Studiousness, Summa Theologiae, Temperance, Theology, Thomas Aquinas

Prof. Bruce Marshall explores the Christian doctrine of the Trinity through the Nicene Creed, describing how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct persons who share the one divine nature and showing how this confession grounds baptism, prayer, and the Eucharist.This lecture was given on April 23rd, 2026, at University of Louisiana at Lafayette.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Bruce D. Marshall is Lehman Professor of Christian Doctrine at Southern Methodist University, and in 2023 he held the Aquinas Chair in the Thomistic Institute at the Angelicum in Rome.  He is the author of Trinity and Truth and Christology in Conflict, and at present he is completing a book entitled The Primacy of Christ: Faith, Reason, and the Cross.  Marshall has written extensively on the doctrines of the Trinity, the person and redemptive work of Christ, the Eucharist, the Catholic Church and non-Christian religions, and the relationship between faith and reason.  He received his B.A. from Northwestern University and his Ph.D. from Yale University, and is a past President of the Academy of Catholic Theology.Keywords: Augustine, Baptism, Consubstantiality, Divine Persons, Eucharist, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Nicene Creed, Thomas Aquinas, Trinity

Prof. Marshall Bierson asks what it really means to be philosophical, and he takes listeners through the subtle ways our love of truth gets derailed—by winning, by approval, by self-justification, and even by mistaking the feeling of insight for insight itself.This lecture was given on June 27th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Marshall Bierson is an assistant professor of philosophy at the Catholic University of America. His research centers on the intersection of ethics and philosophical anthropology. He is particularly focused on the work of Elizabeth Anscombe and in exploring how her Thomisticly inflected philosophical psychology clarifies moral absolutes.Keywords: Aquinas, C. S. Lewis, C. S. Peirce, Debate, Gorgias, Philosophy, Plato, Rationalization, Socrates, Truth

Prof. Joshua Benson asks why we should be theological, and he answers with a vivid case for studying the faith: to think more deeply, speak more clearly to others, and let theology shape both mind and life.This lecture was given on June 27th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Joshua Benson specializes in Medieval Theology. He has taught at The Catholic University of America since 2008 and served as Chair of the Department of Theology and Franciscan Studies at St. Bonaventure University from 2018-2020.Keywords: Augustine, Bonaventure, Children, Contemplation, Faith Seeking Understanding, Lectio, Memory, Peter Lombard, Theology, Thomas Aquinas

Fr. Cajetan Cuddy shows why Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae still matters today, presenting it as a clear, enduring roadmap for understanding Catholic truth, teaching beginners, and thinking more carefully about God, the world, and the human person.This lecture was given on April 13th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticinstitute.org/study-abroad. About the Speaker:Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P. teaches dogmatic and moral theology at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. He is General Editor of the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CATHOLIC THEOLOGY (ect.org). Fr. Cuddy is the author of the book Catholic Theology: An Introduction (ECT Press, 2025). He has written for numerous publications on the philosophy and theology of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Thomist Tradition.Keywords: beginners, causality, Catholic truth, doctrine, divine truth, pedagogy, sacred teaching, Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas, theology

Mahon McCann argues that the real AI apocalypse already happened when social media and platform algorithms took over human judgment, reshaping what we see, think, and do through an attention economy that quietly downgrades our humanity.This lecture was given on April 11th, 2026, at University of Maynooth.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticinstitute.org/study-abroad. About the Speaker:Mahon McCann is an Irish philosophy lecturer and PhD researcher based in Dublin. He holds a BA in Philosophy & Economics from University College Dublin and an MA in English from Queen’s University Belfast. In 2022, he was awarded the DCU School of Theology, Philosophy, and Music Scholarship for his research on the attention economy, particularly how social media companies' commodification of user attention shapes their moral character. His academic research is at the intersection of modern cognitive science, ancient virtue ethics and transformative technologies. Outside of academia, he is involved in public philosophy communication and hosts a popular podcast, which has ranked in the top ten for self-improvement and education in Ireland, on the meaning crisis in the West.Keywords: AI apocalypse, attention economy, social media, algorithms, human judgment, cognitive decline, human agency, digital ethics, platform power, technological formation

Fr. Ezra Sullivan examines artificial intelligence through a theological lens, showing why AI may imitate personhood and judgment, but cannot replace the human capacity for truth, freedom, and communion with God.This lecture was given on April 11th, 2026, at University of Maynooth.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticinstitute.org/study-abroad. About the Speaker:Fr. Ezra Sullivan, is a Dominican friar of the Province of St Joseph (USA), with a Doctorate in Sacred Theology and a License in Canon Law. He is currently the Director of the Institute of Spirituality at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome (Angelicum), where he has taught as professor of Moral Theology and Psychology for eight years. He is occasionally seen on Catholic television, or heard on Catholic radio, and he has preached parish missions and priestly retreats in over twenty countries around the world. Scholarly articles cover bioethics, artificial intelligence, moral theology, and ecclesiastical history. He is the author of various books, such as Habits and Holiness: Ethics, Theology, and Biopsychology (CUA Press 2020), and Alter Christus: Priestly Holiness in Time and Eternity (Sophia Institute Press, 2022). His next book is Yoga: A Theological Investigation (Catholic University of America Press, 2026).Keywords: Agency, Artificial Intelligence, Flatterer, Golem, Human Intelligence, Imago Dei, Technology, Theological Anthropology, Truth, Utility

Dr. Robert McNamara examines what remains distinctively human in the age of AI, arguing that while artificial intelligence can process and predict with remarkable speed, it cannot replace human understanding, freedom, or wisdom.This lecture was given on April 11th, 2026, at University of Maynooth.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticinstitute.org/study-abroad. About the Speaker:Dr. Robert McNamara is lecturer in philosophy and department head at St. Patrick’s Pontifical University, Ireland, adjunct professor of philosophy at Franciscan University of Steubenville, USA, while also tutoring periodically at the ITI Catholic University, Austria, and the Maryvale Institute, England. Robert is an associate series editor of Edith Stein Studies, an associate scholar of the Hildebrand Project, a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Man and Woman, and a founding member of the Aquinas Institute of Ireland (currently suspended). Having studied physics, computing, philosophy, and theology, Robert brings a multidisciplinary approach to his work while exploring anthropological and metaphysical themes in ancient, medieval, and phenomenological thinkers, with a defined focus on philosophical personalism in the Christian tradition. He currently resides in Carlow, Ireland, with his wife, Caroline, and their five children.Keywords: AI, Deep Learning, Edith Stein, Human Intelligence, Knowledge, Natural Language, Thomas Aquinas, Truth, Wisdom

Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P. argues that the Holy Spirit is the real power behind evangelization, showing how Mary, the apostles, and every Christian become instruments of God’s mission through grace, witness, and prayer.This lecture was given on December 13th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticinstitute.org/study-abroad. About the Speaker:Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., (Ph.D. Notre Dame) is professor of patristics and ancient languages at the Pontifical Faculty of the Dominican House of Studies where he serves as the director of the doctoral program. He authored Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus (Oxford University Press, 2013) and The Power of Patristic Preaching: The Word in Our Flesh (Catholic University of America, 2023). He co-authored A Living Sacrifice: Guidance for Men Discerning Religious Life (Vianney Vocations, 2019). Editor-in-chief of the academic journal The Thomist, Hofer is editor or co-editor of several volumes including The Oxford Handbook of Deification, The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's Sermons, and Thomas Aquinas and the Greek Fathers. He enjoys speaking with students about their theological and spiritual questions.Keywords: Apostles, Charity, Confirmation, Evangelization, Holy Spirit, Intercession, Mary, Pentecost, Preaching, Sacraments

Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy shows how evangelization works by grace from the inside out, arguing that its deepest “form” is the contemplative, witness-filled communication of Christ that moves others to faith.This lecture was given on December 13th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticinstitute.org/study-abroad. About the Speaker:Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, OP is a Coordinator for Campus Outreach at the Thomistic Institute in Washington, DC. He has served as a parochial vicar at St. Pius V Church in Providence, RI, as well as an adjunct professor and assistant chaplain at Providence College. He originates from Columbus, OH, studied architecture in Virginia and Switzerland, and practiced in the DC area before entering the Order of Preachers in 2013. He was ordained a priest in 2020 at the Dominican House of Studies during the quarantine. In his work with the Thomistic Institute, he has given talks on the virtue of penance, loving God with the mind, and the intersection of theology and architecture. He often travels the country visiting Thomistic Institute Campus Chapters, leading seminars that help students grasp Thomistic concepts. Additionally, he coordinates the TI's intellectual retreat programming, which affords students time to pray and integrate into their lives Thomistic theology and philosophy. Keywords: Aquinas, Blessed Virgin Mary, Christ, Contemplation, Evangelization, Formal Cause, Grace Of The Word, Holy Spirit, Sacred Doctrine, Witness

Prof. Paige Hochschild introduces natural law by exploring what nature is, how we know it, and why the classical tradition treats the world as an intelligible order to which human beings are truly fitted.This lecture was given on April 6th, 2026, at University of California, San Diego.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticinstitute.org/study-abroad. About the Speaker:Dr. Paige Hochschild is a professor of historical and systematic theology at Mount St. Mary's University (MD), specializing in Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and the early Church.  She also teaches philosophy courses at the Seminary at Mount St. Mary's.  She has written a book on the place of memory in Augustine's theological anthropology, and publishes on the Church, education, tradition, and 20th Century theological debates within the Church (scripture, history, marriage).Keywords: Aristotle, Classical Metaphysics, Essence, Fittingness, Natural Law, Nature, Philosophy Of Nature, Scientific Laws, Thomistic Tradition

Prof. Michael Dauphinais argues that stories are not just useful for faith—they are how human beings understand reality, and the Christian story of creation, redemption, and resurrection is the true narrative that reorders the imagination.This lecture was given on March 27th, 2026, at Florida State University.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticinstitute.org/study-abroad. About the Speaker:Michael A. Dauphinais, Ph.D., serves as the Fr. Matthew Lamb Professor of Catholic Theology and the co-director of the Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal at Ave Maria University, Ave Maria, Florida.  He has co-authored with Matthew Levering Knowing the Love of Christ: An Introduction to the Theology of Thomas Aquinas; Holy People, Holy Land: A Theological Introduction to the Bible; and The Wisdom of the Word: Biblical Answers to Ten Questions about Catholicism.  He specializes in C.S. Lewis, the Bible, and St. Thomas Aquinas. He speaks frequently in both academic and popular settings, and particularly enjoys visiting Thomistic Institute student chapters.  Dr. Dauphinais hosts The Catholic Theology Show podcast to help a wide audience discover the richness of coming to know and love God as he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ.Keywords: Alasdair MacIntyre, C. S. Lewis, Christian Story, Creed, Gospel, Imagination, Storytelling, Tolkien

Prof. Maria Fedoryka explains love as more than a feeling, showing how it begins with recognizing another person’s goodness, leads to self-gift and communion, and ultimately reveals why love is the source of meaning in human life.This lecture was given on March 16th, 2026, at University of Georgia.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticinstitute.org/study-abroad. About the Speaker:Dr. Maria Fedoryka is associate professor of philosophy and Chair of the department at Ave Maria University in Naples, FL. For the last several years she has studied, taught and lectured widely on questions related to the nature and dignity of the human person, especially the philosophy of love, and the place of love in the lives of persons, examining issues spanning from the centrality of love in the being of God, to its role at the center of creation, to its meaning for marriage, family, and sexuality.Keywords: Charity, Emotion, Human Person, Love, Meaning, Personalism, Self-Gift, The Trinity, Value

Fr. Andrew Hofer explains why Christian forgiveness is not the same as excusing harm, and shows how forgiving others is a deliberate act of mercy that frees us, heals our hearts, and reflects God’s own forgiveness.This lecture was given on March 7th, 2026, at University of Pittsburgh.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticinstitute.org/study-abroad. About the Speaker:Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., (Ph.D. Notre Dame) is professor of patristics and ancient languages at the Pontifical Faculty of the Dominican House of Studies where he serves as the director of the doctoral program. He authored Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus (Oxford University Press, 2013) and The Power of Patristic Preaching: The Word in Our Flesh (Catholic University of America, 2023). He co-authored A Living Sacrifice: Guidance for Men Discerning Religious Life (Vianney Vocations, 2019). Editor-in-chief of the academic journal The Thomist, Hofer is editor or co-editor of several volumes including The Oxford Handbook of Deification, The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's Sermons, and Thomas Aquinas and the Greek Fathers. He enjoys speaking with students about their theological and spiritual questions.Keywords: Charity, Christian Life, Forgiveness, Mercy, Prayer, Reconciliation, Resentment, Spiritual Works Of Mercy, The Cross

Prof. Lewis Ayres examines St. John Henry Newman’s critique of the university and argues that higher education often succeeds at training skills while failing to form the Christian imagination toward truth, wisdom, and God.This lecture was given on April 13th, 2026, at University of Aberdeen.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticinstitute.org/study-abroad. About the Speaker:Lewis was born in the UK, and studied Classics at St Andrews in Scotland, and Theology at Oxford. He has taught in the UK, in Ireland and in the US. He is currently Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology at Durham University in the UK, and McDonald Agape Chair in Early Christian Theology at the Angelicum University in Rome. He is interested in two main areas of Catholic thought: early Christian thought (on Christ, on the Trinity and on Biblical Interpretation), and modern Catholic thought (especially the idea of development in doctrine, the idea of Tradition, The second Vatican Council, Biblical Interpretation). He and his wife (Medi Ann Volpe) co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology.Keywords: Christian Formation, Creation, Hidden Curriculum, Imagination, Liberal Education, John Henry Newman, Theology, The University, Wisdom

Prof. Ross McCullough explores why evil and suffering exist, surveys the main Christian answers—especially free will and greater goods—and shows how suffering can be united to Christ rather than treated as meaningless.This lecture was given on November 17th, 2025, at University of Oregon.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticinstitute.org/study-abroad. About the Speaker:Ross McCullough is an assistant professor of theology at George Fox University and faculty fellow in the George Fox University Honors Program. He has academic publications on the doctrine of hell, the Eucharist, the hermeneutics of Scripture, and liberation theology. Dr. McCullough's first book, Freedom and Sin: Evil in a World Created by God reconciles traditional Christian commitments to, on the one hand, God causing all that is and, on the other, God in no way being responsible for sin. Dr. McCullough lives with his wife and four children in Newberg, Oregon.Keywords: Christian Hope, Cross, Evil, Free Will, Greater Goods, Problem Of Evil, Suffering, Theodicy, Union With Christ

Fr. Andrew Hofer explains gratitude as a theological virtue rooted in God’s gifts, showing how thanksgiving begins in the heart, becomes visible in words and worship, and ultimately orders us toward God.This lecture was given on November 11th, 2025, at University of Colorado Boulder.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticinstitute.org/study-abroad. About the Speaker:Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., (Ph.D. Notre Dame) is professor of patristics and ancient languages at the Pontifical Faculty of the Dominican House of Studies where he serves as the director of the doctoral program. He authored Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus (Oxford University Press, 2013) and The Power of Patristic Preaching: The Word in Our Flesh (Catholic University of America, 2023). He co-authored A Living Sacrifice: Guidance for Men Discerning Religious Life (Vianney Vocations, 2019). Editor-in-chief of the academic journal The Thomist, Hofer is editor or co-editor of several volumes including The Oxford Handbook of Deification, The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's Sermons, and Thomas Aquinas and the Greek Fathers. He enjoys speaking with students about their theological and spiritual questions.Keywords: Aquinas, Deo Gratias, Eucharist, Gift, Gratitude, Grace, Liturgy, Thanksgiving, Theology

Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy uses Aquinas to argue that the search for meaning is really the search for an ultimate end, and that human happiness is found not in success, pleasure, or status, but in God.This lecture was given on November 4th, 2025, at University of California, San Diego.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, OP is a Coordinator for Campus Outreach at the Thomistic Institute in Washington, DC. He has served as a parochial vicar at St. Pius V Church in Providence, RI, as well as an adjunct professor and assistant chaplain at Providence College. He originates from Columbus, OH, studied architecture in Virginia and Switzerland, and practiced in the DC area before entering the Order of Preachers in 2013. He was ordained a priest in 2020 at the Dominican House of Studies during the quarantine. In his work with the Thomistic Institute, he has given talks on the virtue of penance, loving God with the mind, and the intersection of theology and architecture. He often travels the country visiting Thomistic Institute Campus Chapters, leading seminars that help students grasp Thomistic concepts. Additionally, he coordinates the TI's intellectual retreat programming, which affords students time to pray and integrate into their lives Thomistic theology and philosophy. Keywords: Aquinas, Beatitude, Happiness, Meaning Of Life, Moral Life, Study, Ultimate End, Viktor Frankl

This lecture was given on October 23rd, 2025, at Indiana University.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Paul Gondreau is professor of theology at Providence College, where he has taught for 28 years. He received his doctorate in theology from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, doing his dissertation on Christ's full humanity (Christ's human passions/emotions) under the renowned Thomist scholar Jean-Pierre Torrell. He specializes in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas and has published widely in the areas of Christology (focusing on Christ’s full humanity and his maleness), Christian anthropology, the moral meaning and purpose of human sexuality and sexual difference, the biblical vision of Aquinas' theology, the theology of disability, the sacrament of the Eucharist and the priesthood, and the Catholic vision of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.Keywords: Body And Soul, Human Sexuality, Marriage, Natural Law, Procreation, Sacrament, Sexual Ethics, Thomistic Anthropology, Unitive Love

Fr. Thomas Pickett explores what Aquinas means by study and argues that study is not just academic work but a morally formative pursuit that shapes charity, virtue, and the Christian path to happiness.This lecture was given on August 29th, 2025, at University of California Berkeley.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Fr Thomas Aquinas Pickett is a son of Ellensburg, Washington and a member of the Western Dominican Province. Apart from running, board games, and coffee, he enjoys studying his namesake, St Thomas Aquinas. Having received his BA in Philosophy at Gonzaga University (where he was NOT a member of the basketball team), his MDiv and MA in theology from the DSPT, his STB from l’Institut Catholique de Toulouse, and his STL and STD from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, he is now a professor of theology at the DSPT, assigned to St Albert the Great Priory.Baglow is the author of Faith, Science and Reason: Theology on the Cutting Edge (2nd edition, Midwest Theological Forum, 2019) and Creation: A Catholic’s Guide to God and the Universe (Ave Maria Press, 2021). He serves as theological advisor to the Board of Directors of the Society of Catholic Scientists. He authored the transcripts for Wonder: The Harmony of Faith and Science, a Word on Fire film series directed by Manny Marquez and narrated by Jonathan Roumie. His work has appeared in Church Life Journal, Culture and Evangelization, and Joie de Vivre Quarterly Journal.Keywords: Aquinas, Beatitude, Charity, Christian Life, Moral Life, Studiousness, Study, Virtue, Wisdom

Prof. Michael Krom presents Aquinas’s account of charity and asks what it really means to love the sinner without affirming the sin, showing how true Christian love can require both mercy and moral clarity.This lecture was given on August 18th, 2025, at Universidad Panamericana.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Michael Krom started reading Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae shortly after his conversion at the end of college. Upon learning about Flannery O’Connor’s “hillbilly Thomist” habit of reading Aquinas every night, he started studying two articles a day and completed the Summa while in graduate school at Emory University. As a professor at Saint Vincent College, he saw the urgent need for collegians and seminarians to receive a solid foundation in Aquinas’s philosophical theology. In 2020, he published Justice and Charity:  An Introduction to Aquinas’s Moral, Economic, and Political Thought (Baker Academic Press), and teaches a Thomistic philosophy course each fall. In addition to continuing work on the moral, economic, and political topics covered in the book, his current research is on the influence of monastic spirituality on Aquinas; he is working on a monograph tentatively entitled Aquinas Among the Benedictines.Keywords: Aquinas, Charity, Christian Love, Common Good, Limits Of Charity, Sin, Tough Love, Virtue