Lenten Lecture Series

Each year during Lent, on the five Wednesdays between Ash Wednesday and Holy Week, the St. Kateri Institute offers a series of lectures focused on a theme within the Catholic intellectual tradition.


Past series have taken up such topics as “Virtue and Happiness,” “God’s Love and the Eucharistic Imagination,” and “Faith, Hope, and Love: Reflections on the Theological Virtues.” Among the excellent speakers who have contributed to the lecture series are Christopher Thompson, Fr. Bryan Daley, S.J., Phil and Carol Zaleski, Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P., and Daria Spezzano. See our past offerings below.

Location:

Parish Hall | Sts. Patrick and Raphael Parish, Williamstown, MA

2025 Dates and Lectures

Faith, Food, and the Environment

March 12

“Why Eating is a Moral Act”

Presented by:

James Ennis
Director, Catholic Rural Life

St. Paul, MN

March 19

“Laudato Si' and Ignatian Spirituality”

Presented by:

Bridget Power
Catholic Chaplain, Williams College

March 26

“Environment, Nature, Creation”

Presented by:

Marco Stango
Associate Professor of Philosophy
St. Bernard’s School of Theology & Ministry

April 2

“Integral Ecology for Faith and Food”

Presented by:

Sr. Damien Marie Savino
Melchor Visiting Prof. of Engineering

University of Notre Dame

April 9

“Integrating Farming, Food, and the Life of Faith”

Presented by:

Emily Sullivan
Student Support Coordinator, Thomas Aquinas College

2024 Dates and Lectures

Reflections on the Mysteries of the Rosary

February 21

“The Roots and Riches of the Rosary”

Presented by:

Fr. Philip Nolan, O.P.
Parochial Vicar, Holy Innocents Church, Pleasantville, NY

February 28

“Lifting Up the Lowly: The Humble Joy of the Glorious Mysteries”

Presented by:

Fr. Jordan Zajak, O.P.
Assistant Professor of English, Providence College

March 6

“Keeping Company with Mary: The Sorrowful Mysteries”

Presented by:

Sr. Catherine Marie Kauth and

Sr. Diana Marie Andrews
Hawthorne Dominican Sisters, Hawthorne, NY

March 13

“The Joyful Mysteries: Lessons for a Life of Peace and Fulfillment”

Presented by:

Ester Munt-Brooks
Founder of Fe, Valor, y Alegria

March 20

“In Your Light We Shall See Light: Contemplating Christ in the
Luminous Mysteries”

Presented by:

Meghan Duke
Tutor, Thomas Aquinas College

2023 Dates and Lectures

Reflections on the Theological Virtues

March 1

“The Joy of Christian Hope in an Age of Distress & Despair”

Presented by:

Emily Sullivan
Student Support Coordinator, Thomas Aquinas College

March 8

“The Light Shines in the Darkness:
Clarity and Obscurity in the Act of Faith”

Presented by:

Fr. Simon Teller, O.P.
Associate Chaplain, Providence College

March 15

“Knowing the Love of Christ that Surpasses Knowledge”

Presented by:

Fr. Robert Van Alstyne, S.J.
PhD Candidate in Philosophy, Boston College

March 22

“Lessons from the Cross:
What Christ Crucified Can Teach Us about the Virtue of Charity”

Presented by:

Daria Spezzano
Associate Professor of Theology, Providence College

March 29

“True Hope”

Presented by:

Ester Munt-Brooks
Founder of Fe, Valor, y Alegria

2022 Dates and Lectures

God’s Love and the Eucharistic Imagination

March 9

“Love as Gift and Love as Grief ”

Presented by:

R.J. Snell
Director of the Center on the University and Intellectual Life,
Witherspoon Institute, Princeton, N.J.

March 16

“Remain with Us: Adoration and the Eucharistic Presence”

Presented by:

Amy Chandran
PhD Candidate in Political Theory, Harvard University

March 24

“Fluidity: What the Eucharist Teaches Us”

Presented by:

Angela Franks
Professor of Theology, St. John’s Seminary, Boston, MA

March 30

“The Eucharistic Sacrifice: Drawing Us Near to Divine Love”

Presented by:

Fr. Hugh Cleary, C.S.C.
Parochial Vicar, Sacred Heart & St. Francis De Sales, Bennington, VT

April 6

"Sacrament of Charity: Eucharistic Friendship and the Life of Prayer"

Presented by:

Fr. Peter Gaustch, O.P.
Associate Chaplain, Providence College

2018 Dates and Lectures

Virtue & Happiness

February 21

“Partakers of the Divine: Christian
Perfection and the Gift of Grace”

Presented by:

Amy Chandran

PhD. Candidate in
Political Theory, Harvard University

February 28

“Happy or Good: Must we Choose?”

Presented by:

R.J. Snell

Director of the Center
on the University and Intellectual
Life, Witherspoon Institute,
Princeton, N.J.

March 7

“The Four Cardinal Virtues:
Living the Good in Daily Life”

Presented by:

Leila Lawler

Author of God
Has No Grandchildren

March 14

“Making a Welcome: Christian Life
and the Practice of Hospitality”

Presented by:

Maria Poggi Johnson

Professor
of Theology, Scranton University

March 21

“The God of the Virtues”

Presented by:

Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P. Prior,
Dominican House of Studies,
Washington, D.C.

2017 Dates and Lectures

Recovering our Riches

March 8

“J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and the
Recovery of the Christian Imagination”

Presented by:

Phil and Carol Zaleski

authors of

The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings

March 15

“St. Philip Neri—Third Apostle of Rome”

Presented by:

Fr. Daniel Seward

Provost, The Oxford Oratory

March 22

“Suffering, Hope, and the Atom Bomb”

Presented by:

James L. Nolan, Jr.

Prof. of Sociology, Williams College

March 29

“Love as our New Creation:
Some Central Themes in the Spirituality of St. Augustine”

Presented by:

Fr. Brian Daley, S.J.

Huisking Prof. of Theology,
University of Notre Dame

April 5

“Recovering Rationality:
Thomas Aquinas and the Spark of Reason”

Presented by:

Fr. Raymund Snyder, O.P. Dominican House of Studies

2016 Dates and Lectures

Rediscover Your Spiritual Roots

February 17

“Through the Eye of the Needle with Two Portly Men:
Insights from G.K. Chesterton & Hilaire Belloc on Catholic
Social Teachings”

Presented by:

William E. Fahey
President, Thomas More College of Liberal Arts

February 24

“The Problem of Sin and What to Do About it”

Presented by:

Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P.
Parochial Vicar, St. Joseph’s Church, Greenwich Village, NY

March 2

“The Treasure of Laudato Si: Pope Francis’ Seminal Achievement”

Presented by:

Christopher J. Thompson
Academic Dean, St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity,
University of St. Thomas

March 9

“Getting the Year of Mercy: Gems from Pope Francis’ Jesuit Heart”

Presented by:

Bryan Norton, S.J.
Visiting Instructor of Classics, Xavier University

March 16

“Our Suffering and Christ’s Passion”

Presented by:

Fr. Raymund Snyder, O.P. Dominican House of Studies

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