The nature of power and how the abuse of power has been dealt with in the past and present were the focus of an international conference in Rome attended by about a dozen scholars earlier this month. Experts in history, philosophy, sociology, political science, psychology and education came together at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University April Read more
The University of Notre Dame held its commencement ceremony this weekend with the notable absence of one very important guest: President Biden. The Catholic News Agency reported earlier this month that Biden, the second Catholic president in American history, was invited to give remarks to new graduates but could not attend due to scheduling conflicts. Read more
Fifteen US seminaries have committed to using new sexual misconduct benchmarks to assess how well their misconduct policies are working and if their seminarians know about them. The benchmarks were developed at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame after surveying responses from 1,544 seminarians in 2018. A 20-person study Read more
The University of Notre Dame in the United States has launched a campaign highlighting how it practises inclusion for gay athletes. A video to kick-off the campaign is titled “At Notre Dame, if you can play, you can play”. About 50 other US universities have made similar videos. On the video, Notre Dame athletic director Read more
A Catholic scientist known for his public defence of evolution is to receive a prestigious honour from a top American university. Professor Kenneth Miller, a biologist at Brown University, is to receive the University of Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal. A previous recipient was President John F. Kennedy. “Like many other scientists who hold the Catholic Read more
Most people believe the real power in Catholicism resides with the hierarchy, and in terms of both theology and church law, that’s basically right. For instance, canon law says the pope wields “supreme, full, immediate and universal” authority, and it’s tough to get more sweeping than that. One wonders, however, if an accountant would reach Read more