Past Events
The Classical and Christian Tradition in American Democracy: New Cases for & Against
Collegium Institute and PRRUCS present this luncheon event with Professor Kody Cooper and Professor Ann Norton.
10th Anniversary Celebration
Join Collegium Institute as we celebrate our 10th anniversary with a two-day conference featuring St. John’s Tutor, Zena Hitz, and a gala featuring remarks by New York Times columnist Ross Douthat.
Just Responsibility: Natural Intelligence in a World of A.I.
Join Collegium Institute on July 13 for a public lecture by Jennifer Herdt.
God and the Multiverse: A Magi Project Special Event & PRRUCS Perry-Collegium Initiative Event
Join Collegium Institute for this Magi Project conversation, “God and the Multiverse,” with Dr. Deborah Haarsma, Astronomer and President of BioLogos.
Reading Newman in the Third Reich: Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the White Rose Student Resistance
Collegium Institute invites you to the 2023 Newman Lecture. Our invited speaker this year is Dr. Helena Tomko, Associate Professor of Humanities at Villanova University. She will be giving her lecture, “Reading Newman in the Third Reich: Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the White Rose Student Resistance” on Newman’s birthday, February 21st, at 7:30pm at the Penn Newman Center.
The Lost Women: Recovering the Other English Catholic Literary Revival
Collegium Institute invites you to this special online Ars Vivendi Initiative event on Jan. 12 at noon: The Lost Women: Recovering the Other English Catholic Literary Revival. We will look to recover these lost Catholic women writers, from Caryll Houselander to Sheila Kaye-Smith and Josephine Ward, and explore how the obscuring of women’s participation in the Catholic Literary Revival has distorted the movement’s intellectual legacy.
Mathematics for Human Flourishing: A Magi Project Lecture by Francis Su
Join Collegium Institute and the Penn Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society for an evening conversation on math and human flourishing featuring distinguished mathematician and author, Prof. Francis Su. Prof. Su’s remarks will explore mathematics as a deeply human enterprise that fulfills basic human longings, such as for beauty and exploration and truth, and offers the opportunity to build virtues.
The Professional Life and the Good Life? A Conversation With Arthur Brooks
To open its 10th Anniversary commemoration events, Collegium Institute will host a reception featuring remarks by Professor Arthur Brooks of Harvard University on Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 5pm in University City.
Completely Free? The Relevance of John Stuart Mill to Liberalism Today
Join us on September 22 at 12pm in the Benjamin Franklin Room in Houston Hall for John Peter DiIulio’s talk on his new book, Completely Free: The Relevance of John Stuart Mill to Liberalism Today, followed by a panel discussion with two University of Pennsylvania’s professors of Political Science, Professor Rogers Smith and Professor Anne Norton.
Synodality in Perspective: Traditions Past and Present
Collegium Institute is proud to cosponsor this series, which is hosted by the American Cusanus Society, Nova Forum and the Lumen Christi Institute. In light of Pope Francis’ call for global Catholic communities to enter into a two-year process on synodality, this six-part series will examine both the history of synods and the current dialogue around the future of synodality in the Church. Each session will be a dialogue with a moderator hosting a conversation between two scholars.
A Theological Exploration of Human Becoming: Belonging to this World and the Next (Opening Lecture of the Magi Conference)
This lecture will tackle the question of what is life through an exploration of the evolutionary currents of human becoming as both grounded in this world and yet orientated towards transcendence and the development of virtues.
“No Unsacred Places”: The Rhythms, Rituals, and Routines of the Creative Life
Join the Collegium Institute for an online conversation exploring the rhythms, routines, and rituals of a painter, poet, sculptor, & writer on Thursday June 2nd via Zoom.
How Catholics Became American: 2022 Annual Penn Club Reception
Collegium Institute is pleased to announce our 2022 Annual Penn Club Reception featuring Prof. Michael Breidenbach (Ave Maria University), who will be speaking about his new book Our Dear-Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America.
Collegium Institute & Penn Newman Alumni Weekend Brunch: Integral Catholic Humanism at Penn?
All students, alumni, and friends are welcomed to attend this free Alumni Weekend event, co-sponsored by Collegium Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture and the Penn Newman Center. Join us for a casual buffet brunch, fellowship, and brief remarks by Dr. Terence Sweeney, Collegium Institute’s Theologian-in-Residence and coordinator of the Catholic Humanism Fellowship at Penn.
The Way of Medicine: Ethics and the Healing Profession — A Medical Humanities Reception with Farr Curlin, MD
Collegium Institute is honored to host Farr A. Curlin, MD for a Medical Humanities lecture and reception this spring. This event, The Way of Medicine: Ethics and Healing, will convene local doctors, academics, and medical students for a conversation about medical ethics.
Living & Powerful: Catholic Bibles Before and After the Reformation
Collegium Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture and St. Patrick’s Parish are pleased to co-present this special event that will explore new research on the history of Catholic Bibles and their readers. We will explore what kinds of Bibles were used in the medieval and early modern periods, how contemporary Catholics engage with the Bible, and why the Bible we use matters.
To Be Deep In History Is To Be Catholic: High School Seminar On Newman's Development of Doctrine
The Collegium Institute's Young Catholic Leaders Initiative invites high school students to join us for this afternoon seminar at the Penn Newman Center on March 26th, 2022. Drawing from John Henry Newman's Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, this seminar will provide a framework to understand Church history and apply this framework to contested historical episodes and contemporary questions.
Vespers & Benediction for the Annunciation of the Lord
Join Collegium Institute and Durandus Institute for Sacred Liturgy and Music for Vespers & Benediction for the Annunciation of the Lord.
Anscombe on Money, Debt, and Usury: An Evening Conversation with Graham Hubbs
Collegium Institute and PRRUCS are pleased to welcome Graham Hubbs, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Chair of Politics and Philosophy at the University of Idaho, for a lecture on GEM Anscombe’s philosophy of money, debt, and usury. This lecture will take place live in person at Penn and will also be live-streamed.
Edith Stein and John Henry Newman on Christian Education: Annual Newman Lecture featuring Prof. Dermot Moran
Collegium Institute is pleased to welcome Prof. Dermot Moran of Boston College to deliver this year’s Annual Newman Lecture. Prof. Moran will be speaking about John Henry Newman and Edith Stein on Christian education and the university. This event will take place in person and be live-streamed.
As Earth Without Water: An Evening with Novelist Katy Carl
In this evening conversation, we will encounter the debut novel by Katy Carl, As Earth without Water. Christopher Beha, editor of Harper’s Magazine describes the novel as a “sharp and moving meditation on freedom, choice, and the creative life. Katy will read from her novel and participate in a discussion about the text with Joshua Hren, editor-in-chief of Wiseblood Books.
Can Science Daunt Our Faith? The Biblical Story of Creation in Light of Today's Scientific Picture of the Universe
Collegium Institute is proud to cosponsor this event presented by the St. Basil Center for Orthodox Thought and Culture at Eastern University, featuring physicist and Orthodox Priest Fr. Victor Gorodenchuk.
Catholic MidCentury Modern: The Church & Other Possible Modernities
A collection of recent books have highlighted the impact of Catholicism on modernity and modernity on Catholicism. In this webinar event, we gather three prominent scholars—James Chappel, Brenna Moore, and Stephen Schloesser, SJ—to discuss those turbulent years with an eye to understanding our own modern moment.
Gold Mass for Catholic Scientists
Join the Collegium Institute for a special Gold Mass for Catholic scientists on November 20th! Gold Masses are for Catholics who are or have been involved with science, including scientists, retired or former scientists, science teachers at any level, science graduate students and undergraduate science majors, as well as all of those with an interest in science, formal or informal.
On Reconciling Science and Religion
Join the Collegium Institute for a special Gold Mass for Catholic scientists on November 20th! Gold Masses are for Catholics who are or have been involved with science, including scientists, retired or former scientists, science teachers at any level, science graduate students and undergraduate science majors, as well as all of those with an interest in science, formal or informal.
The Women Are Up to Something
Join Collegium Institute for a conversation with Benjamin J.B. Lipscomb, a philosophy professor at Houghton College, who is writing a group biography on Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch. He will speak about how these four women converged at Oxford to change the course of intellectual history in the 20th century.
Pontifical Mass with Cardinal Müller: Feast of St. John Paul II
The Collegium Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture, together with the Durandus Institute, welcome Gerhard Cardinal Müller, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to Philadelphia. His Eminence will celebrate a pontifical Mass (Ordinary Form) on the memorial of St. John Paul II, pope, at the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter & Paul, where St. John Paul II celebrated Mass in 1979.
What is Catholicism? An Evening with Cardinal Gerhard Müller
Collegium Institute and the Catholic Philopatrian Literary Institute are pleased to invite you to an evening event featuring Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Dr. Jessica Murdoch, Associate Professor of Fundamental and Dogmatic Theology at Villanova University. Cardinal Müller's opening remarks will center on his forthcoming book, What is Catholicism?
Anscombe and Moral Prohibition
In this talk, Dr. Candace Vogler will discuss Elizabeth Anscombe’s views on moral philosophy and the basis of moral prohibition. This lecture is open to the public and will be live-streamed for those who can’t attend in person.
Choral Evensong: Vespers in the Ordinariate Office
Collegium Institute welcomes students back with a choral celebration of EVENSONG, or Vespers according to the use of the Ordinariates, on the feast of the Nativity of Mary. This celebration of the Divine Office draws upon some of the finest works of liturgical worship in the English language, featuring music of William Byrd and other English masters, as sung by the Durandus Institute Choir.