Catholicity as Gift & Task: Conference Program

FOR

by Hans Urs von Balthasar

Seigneur notre Dieu, Ta vie trinitaire est one étemelle communion en toi-même. Et la participation à cette vie, que tu nous offres par le corps du Christ livré pour nous, est encore commumon.

Ton Eglise ne serait rien si elle n’existait pas par la puissance de cette Communion.

Nous te remercions, Seigneur, que tu as bénie si visiblement notre effort au service de ta Communion. Nous sentons que ton Esprit divin nous aide à garder l’unité entre nous-mêmes, a consolider à travers beaucoup de pays et de cultures l’unité ecclésiale. Nous savons que sans cet Esprit notre tentative ne pourrait survivre.

Ne tolère pas que la vanité humaine fausse notre témoignage. Accorde-nous l’humilité, dont l’Apôtre nous dit qu’elle est en mesure de juger tout, parce que ce n’est pas notre propre esprit mais celui du Christ que nous guide.

Donne nous la grâce de réaliser dès maintenant quelque chose de la Communion des Saints, avec Marie comme centre.

Pour tout cela nous sollicitons ta bénédiction trinitaire Amen

Lord our God, Your trinitarian life is an eternal communion within yourself. And the participation in that life which you offer us in the body of Christ, given up for us, is communion again. Your Church would be nothing if she did not exist by the strength of that communion.

We thank you, Lord, that you have so visibly blessed our effort in the service of your communion, and that your Holy Spirit so perceptively helps us to keep unity among ourselves and to consolidate ecclesial unity across many countries and cultures. We know that without your Spirit our endeavor could not survive.

Do not permit human vanity to falsify our witness. Give us the humility which the apostle tells us judges everything in measure because it is not our own spirit, but the Spirit of Christ, which guides us.

Give us the grace to realize from this moment onward something of the Communion of Saints, with Mary as their center.

For this we solicit your trinitarian blessing. Amen.

This prayer was composed by Father Balthasar at the Communio Reunion, Warsaw, Poland, Ascension Thursday, 1983.

BRIEF CONFERENCE OVERVIEW

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30TH — FEAST OF ST. JEROME

5:00pm–7:00pm: Check-In and Registration

7:00pm–9:00pm: Keynote Panel #1: Rev. Jacques Servais, SJ, Ph.D.

9:00pm–10:00pm: Evening Reception

10:00pm: Compline in the Chapel

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1ST — FEAST OF ST. THÉRÈSE OF THE CHILD JESUS

7:30am–9:00am: Continental Breakfast

8:30am: Morning Prayer in the Chapel

9:00am–10:30am: Concurrent Session #1

11:00am–12:30pm: Concurrent Session #2

1:00pm–2:15pm: Lunch

2:30pm–4:00pm: Concurrent Session #3

4:30pm–5:15pm: Vigil Mass in the Chapel

5:30pm–7:30pm: Keynote Panel #2: Jean-Luc Marion, Ph.D. and Jean Duchesne, Ph.D.

7:30pm–9:00pm: Dinner and Reception

9:00pm–9:20pm: Compline in the Chapel 9:30pm: Evening Reception

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2ND

7:30am–9:00am: Continental Breakfast

8:30am: Morning Prayer in the Chapel

9:00am–10:30am: Concurrent Session #4

11:00am–1:00pm: Keynote Panel #3: Tracey Rowland, Ph.D. and Concluding Panel Discussion with Keynote Speakers

1:00pm: Lunch (containers provided)

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30TH — FEAST OF ST. JEROME

5:00pm–7:00pm:

7:00pm–9:00pm: Check-In and Registration Keynote Panel #1

Nicholas J. Healy, Ph.D. "Reflections on the History of Communio"

Rev. Jacques Servais, SJ, Ph.D. “Communio at 50: A Mission in Retrospect"

9:00pm–10:00pm: 10:00pm: Evening Reception Compline in the Chapel

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1ST — FEAST OF ST. THÉRÈSE OF THE CHILD JESUS

7:30am–9:00am: Continental Breakfast

8:30am: Morning Prayer in the Chapel

9:00am–10:30am: Concurrent Session #1

ROOM B (Moderator: Daniel Drain)

Taylor Patrick O’Neill, Thomas Aquinas College, “Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange and Hans Urs von Balthasar on the Necessity and Character of Christian Contemplation: A Rapprochement”

Lisa Lickona, St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, “Love Acknowledged: The Ressourcement of Theology Through a Friendship with the Saints”

Thomas Esposito, O.Cist., University of Dallas, “Prayer in the Work of the Exegete”

ROOM C (Moderator: Stephen J. Loughlin)

Melanie Susan Barrett, Mundelein Seminary, “Balthasar and Moral Theology: Aesthetic Virtue Ethics”

Alessandro Rovati, Belmont Abbey College, “Peter, Do You Love Me? Communio, Giussani, and Catholic Moral Theology”

Mark A. Banga, John Paul II Institute, “Joseph Ratzinger’s Communio Liturgical Theology: Illuminating the Issue of Communion for the Divorced and Remarried”

ROOM D (Moderator: Charles Hughes Huff)

Eugene R. Schlesinger, Santa Clara University, “Per Crucem ad Deum: Mysticism, Charity, and Catholic Renewal in Henri de Lubac”

Rev. Benjamin A. Roberts, St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, “The Nuptial Vision of Preaching: A Communio School Homiletic”

J.Leavitt Pearl, Carlow University, “Communio Nuptiality and the Question of Queer Sexuality”

11:00am–12:30pm: Concurrent Session #2

ROOM B (Moderator: Charles Hughes Huff)

Jennifer Newsome Martin, University of Notre Dame, “The Ever-Prior Act: Love & the Poetics of Communio”

Dwight A. Lindley, Hillsdale College, “Poetic Communion: Literary Form and Divine Encounter”

Anne M. Carpenter, St. Mary’s College of California, “‘From the Untraceable Land’: On the Form of the Reader in Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Texts”

ROOM C (Moderator: Michael Ceragioli)

Matthew Ramage, Benedictine College, “Covenantal Communion between God, Man, and Creation: Reflections on an Underappreciated Dimension of Joseph Ratzinger’s Ecological Thought”

Michael Dominic Taylor, Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, “Inhabiting the World: Communio and the Battle for Meaning of Creation”

Matthew Pietropaoli, St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, “The Science of Being that Culminates in Prayer: Catholic Metaphysics in Response to the Critique of Onto-Theology”

ROOM D (Moderator: Taylor Patrick O’Neill)

Daniel Drain, St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, “For What May We Hope? Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Church’s Ecclesial Task”

Rodney Howsare, DeSales University, “God’s Universal Salvific Will and the Mission of Communio”

Margaret Harper McCarthy, John Paul II Institute, “Putting Predestination in its Place”

1:00pm–2:15pm: 2:30pm–4:00pm: Lunch Concurrent Session #3

ROOM B (Moderator: Michael Ceragioli)

Marco Stango, St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, “Reflections on Catholic Philosophy”

Travis Lacy, Mount Mercy University, “Divine Exuberance: Erich Przywara on the Metaphysics of Catholicity”

Erik Van Versendaal, Magdalen College, “Formed in and for Communion: Philosophy and the Salvation of the World”

ROOM C (Moderator: Apolonio Latar)

Kevin E. Miller, Franciscan University of Steubenville, “The Desire for God in de Lubac’s Catholicism”

Joseph Terry, CUNY Kingsborough, “The Theotokion Cipher to the Relationship between Nature and Grace”

Kevin Clarke, St. Patrick’s Seminary and University, “The Spiritual Senses and the ‘Complete Act’ of Scripture: Henri de Lubac’s Recovery of the Mystical in Serious Exegesis”

ROOM D (Moderator: Rev. Harrison Ayre)

Nathan Bradford Williams, University of Toronto, “Kenotic Koinonia: Toward a Catholic and Orthodox Theology of Episcopacy”

Matthew Kuhner, St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, “Papal Resignation as Theological Event? On Benedict XVI, the Petrine Ministry, and the Nature of Ecclesial Office”

Rev. Thomas Dailey, Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, “Before and After the First Papal Tweet: How Benedict XVI Promotes ‘Communio’ in a World of Social Communications”

4:30pm–5:15pm: Vigil Mass in the Chapel

5:30pm–7:30pm: Keynote Panel #2

Jean-Luc Marion, Ph.D., “From Confession of Faith to Christian Hermeneutics of the World: The Consistency and Evolution of Communio in France”

Jean Duchesne, Ph.D., “Challenges and Expectations in France in the 1970s”

7:30pm–9:00pm: Dinner and Reception

9:00pm–9:20pm: Compline in the Chapel

9:30pm: Evening Reception

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2ND

7:30am–9:00am: Continental Breakfast

8:30am: Morning Prayer in the Chapel

9:00am–10:30am: Concurrent Session #4

ROOM B (Moderator: Daniel Drain)

Nicholas J. Healy, John Paul II Institute, “Joseph Ratzinger on the Unity of the Roman Rite and the Unity of the Church”

Patricia Pintado, University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, “The Encounter of Faith and Reason in the Thought of Ratzinger/Benedict XVI”

Trevor B. Williams, Villanova University, “The Teilhardism Dispute: Ratzinger and Schillebeeckx on the Anthropology of Gaudium et Spes”

ROOM C (Moderator: Matthew Kuhner)

Peter Gavin-Griffin, Regis College, Jesuit Graduate School of Theology at University of Toronto, “Beginning with Encounter: The Influence of Romano Guardini on Popes Benedict XVI and Francis as Hermeneutical Key to their Continuity”

Michael Ceragioli, Oblate School of Theology/St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, “Pope Francis, Guardini, and de Lubac on the Reconciliation of Opposites: Toward a Spirituality of Paradox”

T. Alexander Giltner, University of Saint Francis, “Recapitulating History: Interpreting Vatican II through the Christology and Eschatology of Hans Urs von Balthasar and Joseph Ratzinger”

ROOM D (Moderator: Lisa Lickona)

Apolonio Latar III, St. Paul VI Catholic High School / St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, “The Classroom as a Place of Affection: The Vision of Ratzinger and Giussani as a Response to Cancel Culture”

Keith Lemna, St. Meinrad Seminary, “‘O Christ, Ever Greater’: The Catholicity of Jesus Christ and Cosmic Communion in his Humanity”

J Richard Middleton, Northeastern Seminary at Roberts Wesleyan College, “Theology of Ascent or Incarnation? A Tale of Two Theological Frameworks”

11:00am–1:00pm: Keynote Panel #3

Tracey Rowland, Ph.D., “From Extrinsicism to a World that Denies both Nature and Grace: a Polyphonic Analysis of Contemporary Western Culture” Concluding Panel Discussion with Keynote Speakers

1:00pm: Lunch (containers provided)

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Jean Duchesne, Ph.D.

Jean Duchesne is co-founder of the Editorial Board of the International Catholic journal Communio, the editorial advisor of Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris, and the literary executor of Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger and Father Louis Bouyer. He is part of the Oasis Scientific Committee and of the Observatory for Faith and Culture of the Episcopal Conference of France. He directs the Catholic Academy of France. Among his publications, the most recent are: Retrouver le mystère. Plaidoyer pour les rites et la liturgie (2004); Petite histoire d’Anglo-Saxonnie (2007); Histoire sainte racontée à mes petits-enfants (2008); Histoire de Jésus et de ses apôtres racontée à mes petits-enfants (2010); La pensée de Louis Bouyer (2011); Incurable romantisme? (2013).

Jean-Luc Marion, Ph.D.

Jean-Luc Marion works at the intersection of contemporary phenomenology, the history of philosophy, and Christian theology. In Reduction and Givenness, Being Given, In Excess, Givenness and Hermeneutics, and most recently Reprise du donné among other works, he has presented and developed a phenomenology of givenness. In more directly historical work Marion has published several studies reading philosophy through a phenomenological lens, particularly Descartes. Full-length works include Sur l’ontologie grise de Descartes, Sur la théologie blanche de Descartes, Descartes’ Metaphysical Prism, and most recently Sur la pensée passive de Descartes. In theology and the history of Christian thought Marion wrote The Idol and Distance and God Without Being on the question of God and metaphysics, and more recently he has written books on Augustine (In the Self’s Place) and on the concept of revelation (Givenness and Revelation). He has also worked in Greek and Latin patristics and in medieval thought. His most recent title is Brève apologie pour un moment catholique. In 2017 a collection of short pieces and a collection of interviews with Dan Arbib will be published in translation (Believing in Order to See and The Rigor of Things).

Tracey Rowland, Ph.D.

Tracey Rowland holds the St. John Paul II Chair of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, Australia. She has published eight books: Culture and the Thomist Tradition (London: Routledge, 2003), Ratzinger’s Faith: The Theology of Benedict XI (Oxford University Press, 2008), Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed (London: Bloomsbury, 2010), Catholic Theology (London: Bloomsbury, 2017), The Culture of the Incarnation: Essays in Catholic Theology (Steubenville: Emmaus Academic, 2017), Portraits of Spiritual Nobility (New York: Angelico, 2019), Beyond Kant and Nietzsche: The Munich Defence of Christian Humanism (London: Bloomsbury, 2021), and Despre Permanenta Adevărului şi alte eseuri (Bihor: Ratio et Revelatio, 2021). The latter is a collection of her essays first published in the English language edition of Communio: International Catholic Review and translated into Romanian. She has also edited the collection Anglican Patrimony in Catholic Communion (London: Bloomsbury, 2021) and coedited Chiesa Sotto Accusa (Cantagalli, 2020) with Don Livio Melina, also published in Spanish as La Iglesia en el Banquillo (Madrid: Didaskalos, 2021). She is a member of the editorial board of Communio: International Catholic Review and was appointed to the 9th International Theological Commission in 2014. In 2009 she was awarded the Archbishop Michael J. Miller Award for the Promotion of Faith and Culture by the University of St. Thomas in Houston and in 2010 she was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. In 2020 she won the Ratzinger Prize for theology.

Rev. Jacques Servais, S.J., Ph.D.

Fr. Jacques serves as the Director of the Casa Balthasar and is the current President of the Balthasar-Speyr-Lubac Association. He has been intimately involved with the house since its original inception in 1991. Since 1985 he has lived in Rome, teaching systematic spiritual theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and working under then-Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Now retired from his work at the Gregorian and the CDF, Fr. Jacques is dedicated entirely to his role at the Casa Balthasar where he offers spiritual direction to the residents and guests making the Spiritual Exercises. Additionally, he makes himself available to researchers interested in our authors of reference. Fr. Jacques has published various works and articles on H. U. von Balthasar and the spiritual sources of his thought, in particular St. Ignatius of Loyola and A. von Speyr, but also J. H. Newman, M. Blondel, and F. Ulrich.

Great Works by Communio Authors

Joseph Ratzinger

◆ e Spirit of the Liturgy — Commemorative Edition

One of Ratzinger’s most important works, with a new foreword by Robert Cardinal Sarah, also includes the full text of the classic work of the same title by Romano Guardini that helped Ratzinger rediscover the beauty and grandeur of the liturgy.

SPLCEP • Sewn So cover, $19.95

◆ Jesus of Nazareth

In this bold, momentous work, Ratzinger seeks to salvage the person of Jesus from recent “popular” depictions and to restore Jesus’ true identity as discovered in the Gospels.

Vol. 1: JNP • Sewn So cover $19.95

Vol. 2: JN2H • Sewn Hardcover $19.95

Vol. 3: JN3H • Sewn Hardcover $20.00

◆ Introduction to Christianity

This remarkable elucidation of the Apostle’s Creed gives an excellent, modern interpretation of the foundations of Christianity. Ratzinger’s profound treatment of Christianity’s basic truths combines a spiritual outlook with a deep knowledge of Scripture and the history of theology.

INCH2P • Sewn Softcover, $19.95

◆ e God of Jesus Christ

Ratzinger presents his profound thoughts on the nature and person of God, building a bridge between theology and spirituality as he makes use of Scriptures to reveal who God is.

GJCP • Sewn So cover, $17.95

Henri de Lubac

◆ e Church: Paradox and Mystery

In these re ections written at the end of Vatican II, de Lubac—who played a key role at the Council yet was leery of rapid reform—searches out the wrinkled, mysterious beauty of the Church he loves as his mother.

CPMP • Sewn So cover, $18.95

◆ e Drama of Atheist Humanism

De Lubac traces the origin of 19th century attempts to construct a humanism apart from God, the sources of contemporary atheism which purports to have “moved beyond God.” The three persons he focuses on are Feuerbach, Nietzsche, and Comte.

DAHP • Sewn So cover, $26.95

◆ e Splendor of the Church

Considered by many the bright jewel among the works of de Lubac, this is a hymn to the beauty of the Church, under some of whose leaders for a time he unjustly su ered. His profound insights contributed to Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium.

SCP • Sewn So cover, $21.95

◆ Catholicism

"For me, the encounter with this book became an essential milestone on my theological journey. De lubac makes visible to us in a new way the fundamental intuition of Christian Faith so that from this inner core all the particular elements appear in a new light."— Joseph Ratzinger Sewn So cover, $24.95

Hans Urs von Balthasar

◆ Love Alone Is Credible

Based in the theological aesthetic form, this work has a fresh perspective with a deeply insightful theological meditation that serves to both deepen and inform the faith of the believer.

LOALP • Sewn So cover, $17.95

◆ Prayer Perhaps the best, most comprehensive book on prayer ever written. From the persons of the Trinity through the Incarnation to the Church and the very structure of the human person, it is a powerful synthesis of what prayer is and how to pray.

PRAYP • Sewn So cover, $18.95

◆ Mary: e Church at the Source

Balthasar, with Joseph Ratzinger, endeavor to recover the centrality of Marian doctrine and devotion for the contemporary Church, offering a spiritually rich approach to Mariology that brings into new relief the Marian contours of ecclesial faith.

MCSP • Sewn So cover, $17.95

◆ Cosmic Liturgy

A powerful, religiously compelling portrait of the thought of a major Christian theologian and saint, Maximus the Confessor, that is based on a careful reading of his own writings. Here the history of theology has become itself a way of theological reflection.

COSLP • Sewn So cover, $27.95

HANS URS VON BALTHASAR

Cosmic Liturgy

Dare We Hope “That All Men Be Saved”?

The Glory of the Lord vol. 1 vol. 3 vol. 5

The Office of Peter and the Structure of the Church

Love Alone Is Credible

Mary: The Church at the Source

The Moment of Christian Witness Prayer Romano Guardini

Theo Drama vol. 4 vol. 5

Theo-Logic, vol. 1

The Theology of Henri de Lubac

(AUGUSTINE, ED H.U. VON BALTHASAR) The City of God

(ED. J. SERVAIS) Hans Urs von Balthasar on the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises

(ED. R. CLEMENTS) The Meaning of the World Is Love

HENRI DE LUBAC

Brief Catechesis of Nature and Grace

The Church: Paradox and Mystery

Catholicism

The Drama of Atheist Humanism

Paradoxes of Faith

The Splendor of the Church

Vatican Council Notebooks vol. 1 vol. 2

(ED. D. GRUMETT) Henri de Lubac and the Shaping of Modern Theology

JOSEPH RATZINGER

Behold the Pierced One Dogma and Preaching

Introduction to Christianity

Jesus of Nazareth vol. 1 vol. 2

God Is Near Us

The God of Jesus Christ

The Spirit of the Liturgy (Commemorative Edition)

Theology of the Liturgy

Truth and Tolerance

LOUIS BOUYER

The Church of God

Memoirs Newman

The Spirit and Forms of Protestantism

Women Mystics (2nd ed.)

ADRIENNE VON SPEYR

Handmaid of the Lord

The World of Prayer

(ED. H.U. VON BALTHASAR) First Glance at Adrienne von Speyr

ÉTIENNE GILSON

From Aristotle to Darwin and Back Again

Thomist Realism

The Unity of Philosophical Experience

JOSEF PIEPER

Divine Madness Faith Hope Love

In Defense of Philosophy

In Search of the Sacred Leisure: The Basis of Culture

Only the Lover Sings

VARIOUS AUTHORS

Balthasar for Thomists (AIDAN NICHOLS)

The Dynamics of the Liturgy: Joseph Ratzinger’s Theology of Liturgy

(D. VINCENT TWOMEY)

The Genesis of Gender (ABIGAIL FAVALE)

Ressourcement after Vatican II (ED. NICHOLAS HEALY, JR., & MATTHEW LEVERING)

The Seven Gifts of The Spirit of the Liturgy (ED. CHRISTOPHER CARSTENS)

Recently Published Books

Thomas Aquinas: Selected Commentaries on the New Testament

ED. JASON PAONE

Thomas Aquinas: Selected Commentaries on the New Testament is a selective anthology of Thomas Aquinas’ New Testament commentaries, collected and organized to reflect the centrality of Christ in the saint’s profoundly theological approach to the Bible. Complete with an introduction, explanatory footnotes, patristic source citations, and other research utilities, this volume offers an introduction to Thomas’ biblical theology suitable for students and independent readers at any level of exposure to his thought.

Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Master

ROBERT BARRON

Thomas Aquinas is widely considered to be among the greatest and most influential of Catholic theologians. Yet too often his insights into the nature of God and the meaning of life are seen as somehow cold, impersonal, and divorced from spirituality. In this award-winning book, Bishop Robert Barron shows how Aquinas’ profound understanding of the Christian mystical life animates and illumines his writings on Jesus Christ, creation, God’s “strange” nature, and the human call to ecstasy.

Tolkien’s Modern Reading

HOLLY ORDWAY

Tolkien’s Modern Reading addresses the widely accepted view that Tolkien was dismissive of modern culture, and that The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are fundamentally medieval and nostalgic in their inspiration. Holly Ordway demonstrates that, in fact, Tolkien enjoyed a broad variety of contemporary works, engaged with them in detail, and even named specific titles as sources for his creation of Middle-earth.

After Humanity

MICHAEL WARD

After Humanity is a guide to one of C.S. Lewis’ most widely admired but least accessible works, The Abolition of Man Michael Ward explains both the general academic context and the circumstances in Lewis’ life that helped give rise to his profound reflection on the nature of moral value. Ward’s detailed commentary on the text shows how this resolutely philosophical book fits in with C.S. Lewis’ other, more explicitly Christian works.

And Now I See: A Theology of Transformation

ROBERT BARRON

In And Now I See: A Theology of Transformation, Bishop Robert Barron blends insights from the theological and literary traditions to show that metanoia or conversion to God, revealed in Christ, is about transforming the mind and soul and theology itself supports this transformation. He also shows that this change conduces not just to a new way of believing or thinking but to a new way of being.

Light from Light

ROBERT BARRON

A leading Catholic teacher and public figure, Bishop Robert Barron invites skeptics and seekers to discover the intellectual richness of the Catholic faith through a penetrating study of the ancient Nicene Creed.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Conference Committee

Matthew Kuhner, Conference Co-Chair

Lisa Lickona, Conference Co-Chair

Daniel Drain

Mary Colleen Drain Bernadette Bobrowski Katharina Nieves

Kelly Brunacini

Rev. Van Lieshout, Conference Chaplain

Thank You

Margaret McCarthy and Schola Session Moderators

Student Assistants

Transportation Drivers

Tyburn Academy

Hotel Shuttle:

A complimentary shuttle will be provided to take attendees from and to the conference hotels (DoubleTree by Hilton Rochester, 1111 Jefferson Road Rochester, NY 14623, and Holiday Inn and Suites Rochester- Marketplace, 800 Jefferson Road Rochester, NY 14623) and conference location on Friday evening, Saturday morning, Saturday evening, and Sunday morning. A shuttle will not be provided to or from the airport.

Coffee and water can be found on hand throughout the conference in Room A and in the Student Lounge near the restrooms.

Host InstItutIon:

St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry

For more than 125 years, St. Bernard’s has steadily pursued a course of dedication and service to Christ and His Church. In 1981 St. Bernard’s became one of the first Roman Catholic theological seminaries in the eastern US to offer graduate education to lay people. Striving to reunite theology, sanctity, and prayer in our courses by contemplating what is true, beautiful, and good, we appeal to both the mind and heart in coming to know and to love Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Himself. We offer graduate degrees in theology, pastoral studies, divinity, and philosophy; certificate programs in the fine arts, bioethics, philosophy, catechetical leadership, and Biblical studies; as well as diaconal formation in the dioceses of Rochester, Albany, Buffalo, and Allentown, and pre-theology studies in the diocese of Albany. Our physical campuses are located in Rochester and Albany, New York, and have legacies that include people and places such as Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen and the nearby Cistercian Abbey of the Genesee.

Our mission is to nurture the entirety of the human person through attention to the pastoral, intellectual, spiritual, and human dimensions of formation with the hope that we may, in a definite and dedicated way, assist our students to understand the things of our Faith and to incarnate them in their day-to-day service to God’s people and the world as a whole.