With the saints, in Christ, we are members of a great family.

Dr. Gintaras Duda of Creighton University in Omaha Nebraska gives the annual Zahm lecture (via Zoom webinar) speaking on "From the Big Bang to The Saint John's Bible: The Role of Astonishment in A Scientist's Journey to Integrate Faith and Reason"

MIT Professor of History Jeffrey Ravel focuses on "The Case of the French Revolution of 1789 and French Catholicism" as he explores the role of religion in watershed historical events and its relevance in global politics today, 2/18/20. Sponsored by the Garaventa Center.

UP Senior Theology student Andrew Plasker explores Marie Kondo's methodology for "tidying up" and how her attitudes toward cleaning can enrich spiritual practices and help us look at our faiths in new ways, 2-11-20.  Co-sponsored by the Beckman Humor Project and the Garaventa Center.

Set before you are fire and water – life and death – stretch forth your hand to whichever you choose.

"O gates lift up your heads; grow higher ancient doors. Let him enter, the king of Glory."

Why does sinless Jesus insist on being baptized by John? Perhaps as evidence that He is fully human, as well as fully divine.

Linda Plitt Donaldson, MSW, PhD, examines the life of Dorothy Day, Catholic Social Teaching, and evidence-based practices to address and end homelessness, 11/5/19. Donaldson is Director of the Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services at James Madison University in Virginia, and has worked and studied homelessness in the D.C. area for over 25 years. Co-sponsored by the Garaventa Center and the Dorothy Day Social Work Program.

Dr. Ryan Kenton of UP Biology dives into the world of actual parasitic wasps, worms, and fungus that have been found to turn thousands of other species into assorted forms of "zombies!" 10/30/19. Co-sponsored by the Garaventa Center and the Beckman Humor Project.

Photographer and painter Anne Goetze tells the story behind her artwork depicting the lives of the Visitation Nuns in Annecy, France, 10/22/19. Sponsored by the Garaventa Center.

Dr. Robin Jensen, Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame and concurrent Professor of the History of Art, presents a survey of the ways the Holy Cross and Christ's Passion have been depicted in the history of Christian art. Jensen also discusses reasons for the late emergence of both the cross and crucifixion in Christian iconography and consider the ways their depictions developed, varied, and were transformed in different places and through the centuries. Sponsored by the...

Keeping our eyes on the prize is fine, as long as our eyes are on the correct prize.

In the Eucharist, everything that is precious, everything possessed of mortal beauty, takes its place at the one table – at the foot of the one Cross.

What is the most you’d be willing to do for a friend?

This essay won a top award in the 2019 Garaventa Center High School Essay Contest.

This essay won a top award in the 2019 Garaventa Center High School Essay Contest.

Like Thomas, we too recognize Christ by his wounds.

Celebrated writers read from their works, followed by a moderated panel examining how their faith influences and intersects the inspiration, process, and products of their imaginations. The panel includes: Poet GC Waldrep, Professor of English at Bucknell University, whose new book Feast Gently, was just released by Tupelo Press. GC is the acting director of the Stadler Center for Poetry at Bucknell, and editor of West Branch magazine.  Poet and fiction writer Rachel Jamison Webster,...

Christopher Pramuk, PhD, Chair of Ignatian Thought and Imagination at Regis University, presents the remarkable story of one-time slave trader John Newton, the composer of the song “Amazing Grace,” as a portal into the struggle for diversity and inclusion in the US and beyond, 3-20-19. Pramuk, the author of Hope Sings, So Beautiful: Graced Encounters Across the Color Line, explores the many beautiful and often painful ways that grace can break open our social horizons, from the classroom to...

If we read our Gospel closely, we learn that it was the Spirit, not the devil, who led Christ into the desert. It is the same Spirit who leads us into Lent.

Ultimately, it’s what we say, and not how we say it, that matters.

2-23-19 Performance of Angel of the Amazon, a new American opera by Evan Mack, in UP's Buckley Auditorium. The opera presents the riveting story of Sr. Dorothy Stang and her 2005 martyrdom as she worked to help the poor in the Brazilian rainforest, and features UP faculty member Nicole Hanig in a supporting role. Co-sponsored by Performing & Fine Arts and the Garaventa Center. 

Jesus is telling us that everything we think we know about finding meaning, satisfaction, and happiness in the world is wrong.

Jesus is a rock in a weary land.

UP School of Education doctoral fellow Danielle Trollinger presents a humorous look at what hipsters -- with their love of the authentic, the vintage and the obscure -- have to offer the field of theology, 2-6-19. Co-sponsored by the Beckman Humor Project and the Garaventa Center.