Ethics and Culture Cast

Dr. Komrad is a psychiatrist on the teaching faculty of Johns Hopkins and Sheppard Pratt in Baltimore and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland and Tulane. He earned his undergraduate degree in molecular biophysics at Yale University, his M.D. degree at Duke Medical School, and trained in internal medicine and psychiatry at Johns Hopkins. He was an attending psyc...

In this episode, we chat with Villanova University professor and poet James Matthew Wilson. He was with us on campus as part of our 20th Annual Fall Conference on friendship. In our conversation, we talk about the real work of writing poetry, listening to the muse, and why each of us should learn to write a bit of poetry ourselves. Special Guest: James Matthew Wilson.

Our guests were part of a panel discussion at the dCEC's 20th Annual Fall Conference, "I Have Called You Friends." Their panel discussed "digital friendship." Video of the panel session will be posted to the Center's YouTube channel. Special Guests: Fr. Anthony Sciarappa, Fr. Harrison Ayre, and Sr. Theresa Aletheia Noble, FSP.

J. J. Wright is a composer with roots in jazz and sacred music. He is the director of the Notre Dame Folk Choir, and his gig list includes recording and performing with Caribbean Jazz Project: Afro Bop Alliance, featuring vibraphonist Dave Samuels. The album was nominated for a GRAMMY for 'Best Latin Jazz Album' and won the Latin GRAMMY in the same category. In addition to Mr. Samuels, J.J. has ha...

Dale Ahlquist is the president of the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton and the author of five books about Chesterton, including The Complete Thinker and Common Sense 101 . We chat about Chesterton's 1930 visit to Notre Dame, his interdisciplinary approach to writing, and (spoiler alert!) the meaning of The Man Who Was Thursday . Special Guest: Dale Ahlquist.

In this episode, we sit down with Arthur Brooks, the former president of the American Enterprise Institute and the author of "Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt." We talk about the importance of freedom of speech on college campuses, the role of American Catholics throughout history, and the importance of willing the good of the other as other . Spec...

Ernest Morrell is the Coyle Professor in Literacy Education and Director of the Center for Literacy Education at the University of Notre Dame. Ernest has recently been named director of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) James R. Squire Office for Policy Research in the English Language Arts. He is an elected Fellow of the American Educational Research Association, a past president...

Martin, a systematic theologian who received her Ph. D. from Notre Dame, joined the faculty in the College of Arts and Letters in 2012. Her first book, Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Critical Appropriation of Russian Religious Thought , was one of 10 winners internationally of the 2017 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise. She is co-editor of An Apocalypse of Love: Essays in Honor...

We chat with Margaret Cabaniss, the scholarly research and publications program manager for the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. She oversees the Center's book series with the University of Notre Dame Press, manages the visiting scholars program, and coordinates the Notre Dame Fall Conference, the signature academic event that the Center has sponsored since its foundation in 1999. Special...

On April 26, 2019, we were joined by His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, for a special Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart as we formally dedicated the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. In this episode, we share the Cardinal's homily at that Mass, in which he speaks about the mission of a great Catholic university like Notre Dame, and the role that the de...

Special Guest: Gabriel Reynolds.

Undergraduate students Emily Hirshorn and John Hale, along with Ph. D. candidate Fr. Justin Brophy, O.P., were part of a student pilgrimage and tour to the Holy Land sponsored by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture during Spring Break 2019.

Obianuju Ekeocha has advised many African Members of Parliament, African UN delegates, ambassadors and other decision makers on pro-life and pro-family issues. She has also worked closely with many African religious leaders to promote pro-life values in different countries. She has co-authored pro-life declarations with various African Catholic bishops' conferences promoting the message of life in...

Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon are the co-producers and co-directors who brought the pro-life film "Unplanned" to the screen. They have collaborated on more than 15 films and TV projects as screenwriters, producers, and directors since moving to Hollywood in the 1990s. Special Guests: Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman.

Abby Johnson has always been fiercely determined to help women in need. This desire is what led Abby to a career with Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, and caused her to flee the organization, becoming an outspoken advocate for the pro-life movement. Her dramatic conversion story is told in the new film "Unplanned," released nationwide on March 29, 2019. Today, Abby trave...

Father Wilson Miscamble, C.S.C. is a professor of history at Notre Dame and the author of the newly-published American Priest: The Ambitious Life and Conflicted Legacy of Notre Dame's Father Ted Hesburgh . Father Miscamble is a longtime friend of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, speaking at several of our Fall Conferences over the years as well as giving the invocation at the inaugural...

We chat with professor Duncan G. Stroik of the Notre Dame School of Architecture. Duncan's area of focus is Sacred Architecture, and he both teaches and practices in the field. We recorded this conversation in his firm's office in the Tower Building in downtown South Bend. Special Guest: Duncan Stroik.

Elizabeth Lev is an American-born art historian who has, as she calls it, "the good fortune to live and work in Rome." She teaches Renaissance and Baroque Art at Duquesne University’s Italian campus. She has taught and lectured in numerous venues in Ireland, Italy, the US and Australia, including an address at the United Nations in New York, and a TED talk representing the Vatican Museums. She wor...

Francis J. Beckwith is a philosopher who publishes and teaches in the areas of religion, jurisprudence, politics, and ethics. He is Professor of Philosophy and Church-State Studies and Associate Director of the Graduate Program in Philosophy at Baylor University. He is a longtime friend of the de Nicola Center, and joined us in Houston as we presented a mini version of our Vita Institute pro-life...

Matthew Mehan is a teacher at The Heights School in Washington, D.C. and The Worsham Teaching Fellow of Hillsdale College’s Washington DC Allan P. Kirby, Jr., Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a reader at the Folger Library. Matthew has been awarded the Claremont Institute’s Publius Fellowship as well as two fellowships from the Earhart Foundat...

Pete Hlabse oversees the CEC's student programs, including the Sorin Fellows Program which offers intellectual, spiritual, and human formation opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students at Notre Dame, Saint Mary's College, and Holy Cross College. The program has grown under his leadership to encompass more than 200 student fellows, offering exclusive events, internships, and research fun...

James Hankins is a professor of Renaissance intellectual history at Harvard University. He is the Founder and General Editor of the I Tatti Renaissance Library from Harvard University Press, a member of the British Academy, and is the author or editor of over twenty volumes and more than eighty articles, essays and book chapters. He was a Visiting Scholar at the Center in the Spring 2018 semester,...

In this blockbuster episode, we welcome CEC Acting Director Patrick Deneen into the interviewer's chair for a conversation with philosopher Remi Brague, professor emeritus of Arabic and religious philosophy at the Sorbonne and Romano Guardini chair of philosophy (emeritus) at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Professor Brague is the author of many books, including his masterwork trilogy...

In this episode, we sit down with Holy Cross Fr. William R. Dailey. Fr. Bill is the Thomas More Fellow at the CEC, and the Director of the Notre Dame-Newman Centre for Faith and Reason in Dublin, Ireland. We chat about how he got involved with the CEC, about his work in Ireland, and about the educational mission of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Special Guest: Fr. William R. Dailey, C.S.C..

n this episode, we sit down with Katherine Smith, an undergraduate Sorin Fellow spending her Spring 2018 semester in Rome, Italy. We chat about her experiences in the Eternal City, her internship at the Pontifical Academy for Life, and what being a Sorin Fellow has meant to her. We recorded this conversation in the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, also known as Chiesa Nuova, the "new church" t...