Thomas More Center Visiting Speaker Series

Since its inception in 2000, the Thomas More Center for Catholic Thought and Culture has sponsored a variety of public presentations on the Rockhurst University campus by nationally-known Catholic scholars and artists.  These speakers have addressed a number of significant and relevant topics, and have contributed to the on-going University discussion of its identity and the application of its mission values to various areas of human achievement.

October 24, 2019:  Fr. Steve Katsouros, S.J., "How the Jesuits are Reinventing Education Again"

February 11, 2019:  Dr. Gregory Smith, Pew Research Center, "Catholics and Catholicism in the Changing U.S. Religious Landscape"

October 3, 2018:  The Reverend David A. Brown, Vatican Observatory, "Faith and Science in the Catholic Tradition"

September 17, 2018:  The Reverend Barton T. Geger, S.J., Boston College, "Cura Personalis:  How to Live the Jesuit Mission with Courage and Consolation"

January 29, 2016:  Vincent Rougeau, J.D., Boston College School of Law, "Global Migration, Citizenship and Catholic Social Teaching”

February 24, 2015:  John L. Allen, Jr., Boston Globe, “The Global War on Christians: Anti-Christian Persecution in Today’s World”

September 17, 2013:  Thomas Madden, St. Louis University, “The Crusades in Myth and History”

September 13, 2011:  Judith Rock, novelist, Sarasota, FL, "The Rhetoric of Mystery: God, Jesuits and 17th Century Paris"

November 15, 2010:  Rev. Terrence Dempsey, S.J., Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, St. Louis University, "Creating a Religious Environment Through Contemporary Art and Architecture"

March 24, 2011:  Lloyd Baugh, S.J., Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, "The African Face of Jesus in Film"

March 4, 2008:  Rev. Michael Joncas, University of St. Thomas, MN, "The State of American Catholic Liturgical Music in the 21st Century"

March 8, 2007:  Robert Louis Wilken, University of Virginia, "Early Christianity, Gnosticism and The DaVinci Code"

September 22, 2006:  Kevin Fitzgerald, S.J., Georgetown University, "The Ethics of Stem Cell Research"

May 2, 2005:  Kathleen A. Mahoney, Caritas Foundation, "The Future of Catholic Higher Education"

April 28, 2004:  Michael Cuneo, Fordham University, "Almost Midnight: A Story of Crime and Punishment in Southwest Missouri"

February 18, 2004:  Todd D. Whitmore, University of Notre Dame, "Catholic Social Teaching and its Applicability to Rockhurst University"

March 24, 2003:  R. Scott Appleby, University of Notre Dame, "Religious Violence in Comparative Perspective"

January 23, 2003:  Richard Gyug, Fordham University, "El Camino de Santiago: Past and Present on the Road to Compostela"

February 7, 2002:  Ron Hansen, Santa Clara University, "Religion and the Arts"

April 5, 2001:  David Tlapek, independent film producer, "The Hidden Gift: War and Faith in Sudan"

February 13, 2001:  David J. O'Brien, College of the Holy Cross, "Catholic Studies and the Renewal of American Catholicism"