This week, in collaboration with Sacred Heart University and Seton Hall's Catholic Studies department, both institutions have received a Lilly Grant for a conference that will be held at Sacred Heart in April 2020.
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Sacred Heart University, Photo via Flickr/Sean MacEntee[/caption]
The conference’s theme will be “The Catholic Intellectual Tradition: Challenges and Opportunities for the Catholic University in the 21st Century.”
Seton Hall’s Msgr. Liddy and Director of the Core Nancy Enright are at the head of the initiative, and Professor Enright spoke about her goals with the conference.
“What I hope from the conference is increased awareness of what we are doing at Seton Hall with regard to the Catholic intellectual tradition, in collaboration with our colleagues from Sacred Heart University in CT. I feel it’s an opportunity to showcase what some of our faculty and others at the university are doing in the Core and in Catholic Studies” Enright said, adding that “there are a lot of interesting and exciting things going on in both areas.”
Director of Catholic Studies Dr. Ines Murzaku’s hope fall in line with this view.
“The conference will showcase the treasures we have here at Seton Hall University. We have a one-of-a-kind program in Catholic Studies and offer some of the most popular courses on campus.”
Work on the conference began in the late spring, when Dr. Michelle Loris, Director of the Core and of Catholic Studies at Sacred Heart contacted Msgr. Liddy and Professor Enright with the proposal of working to earn a Lilly Grant.
Speaking of the relationship between the two Universities, Enright said, “We were happy to work with them, and we found out only recently that we obtained the grant. Now it’s time to do some hard work in planning the conference, which should be happening in Spring of 2020 at Sacred Heart.”
Making connections between Catholic Studies and other curricular activities is another big goal.
“Catholic Studies courses explore the Catholic Intellectual Tradition innovatively and in a highly ‘connected’ way” Dr. Murzaku said, adding “by connected, I mean students can make connections between the Catholic Intellectual Tradition and their areas of study or their first major including diplomacy, nursing, sciences, education, criminal justice, English and philosophy.”
Peggy Burke, a senior with a major in catholic studies is also enthusiastic about the Catholic Studies department and its benefits.
“The Catholic Studies program allows you an avenue to study your faith and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition further,” adding that it provides “a solid understanding of what it means to be Catholic, the church’s teachings for thousands of year, and why it’s important to applying that in today’s issues. The Catholic Intellectual Tradition teaches us how to respect the law but also love our brothers and sisters. It tells us why it’s important to integrate those two things together.”
Burke thinks that grant will be “fabulous” in helping to increase publicity within the community and will “whet people’s appetites for Catholic Studies classes.”
"With hopes high and plans, we can eagerly anticipate what the Catholic Intellectual Tradition conference will bring in 2020."
Eric Pereira can be reached at eric.pereira@student.shu.edu.
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