On February 19, 2009, Fr. Richard Schenk, OP took part as the only theologian in a conference with and on the philosopher Martha Nussbaum (U. of Chicago), regarding her recent work, Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America’s Tradition of Religious Equality (2008). The conference was held at Villanova University, just outside Philadelphia. This was the Third Annual John F. Scarpa Conference on Law, Politics, and Culture, sponsored by the Scarpa Chair for Catholic Legal Studies. Other speakers included Mark Sargent (Dean of Villanova’s Law School), Patrick Brennan (the holder of the Scarpa Chair), Kent Greenawalt (Columbia), John McGreevy (Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Notre Dame), Jesse Choper (Boalt), Geoffrey Stone (U. of Chicago), Roderick Hills (NYU School of Law), and Richard Garnett (Notre Dame). The conference took place against the background of growing pressure for a still greater separation of church and state. Fr. Schenk’s paper, “Voices of Conscience,” took up Nussbaum’s basic project of underscoring respect for conscience in defense of both the Free Exercise and the Non-Establishment Clauses of the Constitution. He examined the senses of conscience developed by Thomas Aquinas and the Vatican II text on religious freedom, Dignitatis humanae.
Dr. Marga Vega lectured about theory of art on January 28 and February 4 to the Social Ontology Group in Berkeley. On February 11, she also presented an application to art of J. Searle’s Social Philosophy, which was followed by a reply by Andrew Moisey.
Fr. Michael Dodds, OP, is on sabbatical this semester in Oxford. On January 29, he presented a paper for the Aquinas Symposium, titled “Unlocking Divine Causality: Aquinas, Contemporary Science, and Divine Action.” His paper will be published in an upcoming issue of Angelicum. He also gave a talk for the Aquinas Colloquium at Blackfriars on February 28, titled, “Aquinas, God and Time.”
Fr. Albert Paretsky, OP, preached a Lenten retreat for the Dominican laity from February 27 through March 1 on “Encountering the Eternal Word in Time.” His preaching examined our experience of Christ as part of the ongoing drama of God’s creating Word, from the beginning of creation through the call of Israel and her prophets to the consequences for humanity of the Word becoming flesh. The retreat was held at the facilities of the Carmelite Monastery in Napa Valley.
Fr. Andrew Younan, DSPT alum, has recently published his thesis, The Mesopotamian School & Theodore of Mopsuestia.
