June 5-11, 2023: Monastic Wisdom Seminar, "The Schola Caritatis"
The Lumen Christi Institute, the St. Anselm Institute and Our Lady of the Angels Monastery, a Trappistine monastery located near Crozet, Virginia are partnering for the first time to organize a retreat that explores the monastic wisdom tradition. The Trappistine Community at Crozet, Virginia lives according to a continual tradition of Christian monasticism with its roots in the Cistercian Tradition. This seminar will offer the possibility of not only learning the guiding principles that foster a good and balanced life according to the monastic tradition, but of putting them into practice, since it is experience alone that leads not only to correct understanding but to real wisdom.
After reading some core texts in the monastic tradition in advance, participants will then spend a week praying, working, reading, and learning from the Sisters during two daily conferences and other times of sharing and mutual exchange.
May 25, 2023 Seminar
We know we live in a world dominated by technology, big data, and predictive algorithms that few understand and even fewer design or control. Contemporary secular ethics has litte to say about our lack of agency, understanding or the collective and individual responsibilities we bear for the consequences of our modern world. Is Christianity and its life-affirming purposes simply mute about all of this, as if there's nothing for us to see or to consider about present or future conditions? Join us as we engage invited Catholic University of America Professor Paul Scherz on the most significant topic of his latest book. Tomorrow's Troubles: Risk, Anxiety, and Prudence in an Age of Algorithmic Governance.
Interested in joining this seminar, email Dr. Charles Kromkowski (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
This seminar is made possible through the support of ‘In Lumine: Supporting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide’ (Grant #62372) from the John Templeton Foundation.
2023 Catholic Novel Reading Group
Javier Herrero (1926-1923)
April 14, 2023: Holy Women of the Americas Lunch Discussion
St. Théodore Guérin (1798-1851)
Bring a friend and come to meet someone new as everyone is invited to join us for friendly conversation, a free lunch, and an introduction to the educational pioneer St. Theodore Guerin, a holy example of perseverance, ingenuity and missionary zeal despite family tragedies, personal health difficulties, and the resentful political, social and even ecclesiastical forces of her times.
Help us with the lunch order by registering today. We'll meet In UVA Bryan Hall-Room 235 on Friday, April 14 at 12:30pm for lunch, with discussion of Guerin's life and works beginning @ 1:00pm.
Questions? Please email Meaghan Brennan (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
St. Hilary, On the Trinity Reading Group (Spring 2023)
Belief in the Holy Trinity clearly distinguishes Christianity from every other system of beliefs, and yet can we describe it as something more than a beautiful Mystery? Join us for 6 Friday lunch seminars as we search for an answer in St. Hilary's classic 4th-century text De Trinitate/On the Trinity. A light lunch will be provided and UVA students and faculty will receive a free copy of the text.
March 18, 2023 Public Lecture
UVA Graduate Student Quaecumque Vera Fellowship Group
March 2, 2023 Public Lecture
Fr. Ambrose Little, O.P.
Can Rule by AI be Like Rule by a God?
Please join us as we warmly welcome the return of Fr. Ambrose Little, O.P. on Thursday, March 2, 2023. From 2014 until 2021, Fr. Ambrose was in residence at St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish as a graduate student in Philosophy at UVA. He completed his Ph.D. in 2021 and was appointed Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute in Washington, D.C.
This public lecture is free and open to all, so invite a friend and come to meet others who are interested in thinking about how the Catholic intellectual tradition can inform our understanding of the modern world.
Mr. Blue Performance, Saturday February 25th
Reserved tickets required.
Spring 2023 Minicourses
*Spring 2023: Beauty and the Catholic Imagination
*Spring 2023: Faith, Reason and a Meaningful Life
Edith Stein, "The Hidden Life and Epiphany" [3pp]
Fr. Robert Sokolowski, "Christian Experience"
St. Anselm, "On the Fall of the Devil"
Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar, "The State of Lay Persons in the World," and selections from Gaudium et Spes
Spring 2023: Beauty and the Catholic Imagination Minicourse
5 Fridays 10:30-11:30am (UVA Location: Minor Hall Auditorium)
Beauty is an experience we all seem to recognize...yet it frequently escapes explanation, even in an academic setting! In one hour-long discussions students and faculty will explore how the Catholic faith perspective reveals something different: Beauty’s urgent and transforming call to respond to the greatest Reality.
All students are invited to register for this free, faculty-led minicourse. Prior experience not necessary, only an openness to considering the call and response to beauty in nature, art, liturgy, the every day of a life lived well. Sign-up using this form or by emailing Dr. Jocelyn Moore at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
February 10: Who is the Artist? John Paul II, "Letter to Artists" (1999)
February 17: Revelation of Beauty in Christ & the Eucharist. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, "The Feeling of Things, the Contemplation of Beauty" (2002); Selections from Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis (2007)
February 24: How Can an Image of a Crucifixion be Beautiful? Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, “The Question of Images" (2000)
March 3: Sacramental Beauty in the "Ordinary" Moments of a Life Well-Lived. Angela O’Donnell, “The Sacrament of Beauty,” Mortal Blessings (2015)
December 4, 2022: Public Lecture
Faith, Reason, Modern Science: Understanding the Ever Ancient, Ever New Christian Synthesis
Merry Christmas, 2022