The Hank Center for The Catholic Intellectual Heritage
The Building Bridges Initiative continues with its fifth installment, a synodal encounter between Pope Francis and university students from Europe. Early Spring, 2025, and stay tuned!
The Hank Center for The Catholic Intellectual Heritage
Spring 2025 Event Calendar
Check here for information about all of our Spring 2025 events and to access our events calendar for the semester! Click on individual events to access their landing pages.
News and Events
Annual Cardinal Bernardin Lecture
"Images and Likenesses: Immigration, Dignity, and the Soul of America" featuring Bishop Mark Seitz
April 22, 2025 | 7鈥�8:30 pm McCormick Lounge, Coffey Hall, Lake Shore Campus
The Hank Center is excited to welcome Most Rev. Mark J. Seitz, Bishop of El Paso and Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration, to deliver the annual Cardinal Bernardin Common Cause lecture. This event is free and open to the public.
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Events
Panel and Reception at the North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting
May 24 | 4:00-6:00 PM Lewis Towers, Water Tower Campus
This year marks the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicea, the first ecumenical council of the Church. Convened by the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine I, the council鈥檚 legacies are as contentious as they are historically and theologically signficant. Seventeen centuries later, what does it mean to teach Nicea? How do we approach it as simultaneously an historical document, a creed, a confession of faith, a cultural artifact, and an eccesial event? The Hank Center is hosting special panel session and reception to end the NAPS annual meeting. This event is free & open to the public.
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Events
Flannery Abroad: A Conference in Celebration of Flannery O'Connor's Centenary
June 6-8, 2025 | 7pm CST Fordham University London, 2 Eyre St Hill, London, EC1R 5ET, United Kingdom
Flannery O'Connor famously didn't like to travel. Nonetheless, in the tradition of the previous International Flannery O'Connor Conferences, we are taking O'Connor abroad in honor of her 100th birthday and to celebrate O鈥機onnor鈥檚 influence on European writers, thinkers, and artists. Sponsored by Fordham's Curran Center for American Catholic Studies, 黑料门Chicago's Hank Center, Georgetown University, The Flannery O'Connor Trust.
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Events
Listening Our Way Forward: An Interfaith Dialogue
Event Postponed; Date TBA
Nostra Aetate, the 1965 Declaration on the Church's Relationship to Non-Christian Religions, was one of the most influential and celebrated documents issued by the Second Vatican Council. Highlighting deep spiritual and religious kinship, it made possible a renewed and positive relationship between Jews and Catholics. Please join the Hank Center as we welcome Cardinal Blase Cupich and Rabbi Noam Marans, Director of Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee, to offer some reflections and join in dialog as we mark this important anniversary. This event is by invitation only.
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Happy Anniversary Pope Francis from The Way Forward 2025
Participants in "The Way Forward 2025, An Ecclesial Gathering," send messages of prayer and appreciation to Pope Francis on the 12th anniversary of his pontificate.
Laudato Si' @ 10 Panel: Video Now Available
The Hank Center has supported the annual Climate Change Conference from its inception and was proud to host a special panel entitled 'Laudato si' @ 10: Pope Francis and Caring for Our Common Home Today.' Video now available.
Sam Sawyer Event Video: Now Available
The Hank Center proudly welcomed Sam Sawyer, S.J., editor of America Media, to speak on the topic of depolarization. View the video recording and event information here.
Interview with Jason Blakely, Author of "Lost in Ideology"
Hank Center Director, Dr. Michael Murphy, sits down with Dr. Jason Blakely, political philosopher, Associate Professor of Political Science at Pepperdine University and author of the new book, "Lost in Ideology." Thirty minutes of rousing conversation about the themes that constitute Dr. Blakely’s timely, needed work.
Philip Metres: Seeking Refuge, Writing Home
In his recent Fugitive/Refuge, Philip Metres follows the journey of his refugee ancestors—from Lebanon to Mexico to the United States—in a vivid exploration of what it means to long for home. Video recording of Seeking Refuge, Writing Home with Philip Metres is now available.
Highlights of the Third Biennial Catholic Imagination Conference
Poets, novelists, filmmakers, and more gathered at 黑料门in September 2019 to reflect on the future of the Catholic literary tradition. Join us in a look back.
Our Community
Hank Center Fellows Highlight
We are proud to highlight and celebrate the accomplishments of our Hank Center Fellows. Introducing Jane Wageman, an MFA candidate in fiction writing at Bowling Green State University, where she currently works as the managing editor for Mid-American Review. Her thesis project, a novel titled The Mind is a Real Thing, follows the story of a large Catholic family in the Midwest. The novel begins with a relatively minor car accident that serves as a catalyst for the family to consider questions about knowledge and uncertainty. Learn more about Jane and her research, as well as all of our other past and present Hank Center Fellows:
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Faculty Seminar
The Hank Center has been tasked by the university to offer an innovative seminar for faculty and administrators on the mission of the university and its commitment to social justice.
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Each month CCIH will recommend new and notable books that integrate, interrogate, and celebrate the Catholic intellectual and artistic tradition.
Remembering Pope Benedict
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a leading theologian of the 20th century and the first pope to resign from office in nearly 600 years, died on December 31st at the age of 95. The Hank Center has compiled some of the remembrances of Pope Benedict which focus not only on his life, but also his legacy.
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