Catholic Studies Colloquium

Spring 2017 Colloquium in Catholic Studies

April 2017

Presenter: Dr. Jeff Mulder, author of What Does It Mean to Be Catholic? (Eerdmans)
Date and Topic TBA

Fall 2016 Colloquium in Catholic Studies

November 17, 2016 
Donnelly Center
Presenter: Dr. Jeff Polet, Professor of Political Science, Hope College 
Topic: "The Present Moment and the Future of American Democracy"

Spring 2016 Colloquium in Catholic Studies
April 4, 2016

"Liturgy: The Basis of Western Culture"
Presenter: Fr. Rob Johansen
Commentator: Fr. Pierre Ingram, CC. 
Moderator: Dr. John Pinheiro

Fr. Robert Johansen is a priest of the Diocese of Kalamazoo, where he is Theological Consultant for the diocese, and pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Bangor. He holds a Licentiate in Sacred Theology, specializing in sacramental theology and liturgy, from the Liturgical Institute at the University of St. Mary of the Lake. Fr. Johansen completed seminary at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, and was ordained in 2001. He holds a Master’s Degree in Greek and Latin from the Catholic University of America, where he also undertook doctoral studies in Patristics.

Fr. Pierre Ingram is a member of the Companions of the Cross, a Society of Apostolic Life dedicated to the New Evangelization and based in Ottawa, Canada. He was ordained in 1995. In 2011 he completed a doctoral dissertation at St. Paul University entitled, "The representation of Christ by the priest: a study of the antecedents of in persona Christi theology in ancient Christian tradition." Since 2012 he has been an assistant professor of sacramental theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan. He was recently elected to the Board of the Society for Catholic Liturgy.

Spring 2015 Colloquium in Catholic Studies
April 9, 2015

"Beyond Politics: T.S. Eliot and Christopher Dawson on Religion and Culture"
Paper presentation by Dr. Benjamin G. Lockerd, English Dept., GVSU
Commentary by Dr. John C. Pinheiro, Professor of History, Aquinas College

Dr. Lockerd  is Professor of English at Grand Valley State University and was president of the T. S. Eliot Society. He is author of "Aethereal Rumours: T.S. Eliot's Physics and Poetics" (Bucknell University Press, 1998) and "The Sacred Marriage: Psychic Integration in the Faerie Queene (Bucknell University Press, 1987). He also writes an annual review of Eliot scholarship for American Literary Scholarship.

Spring 2014 Colloquium in Catholic Studies
March 26, 2014

"Turning Worshippers into Gods: The Christian Understanding of Salvation"
Paper presentation by Dr. Jared Ortiz, Religion Department, Hope College.
Commentary by Dr. Dennis Marshall, Theology Department, Aquinas College.

Dr. Ortiz is Assistant Professor of Religion at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. He earned his doctorate in theology from The Catholic University of America. He currently is finishing a book on creation, deification, and liturgy in St. Augustine’s Confessions.

Spring 2013 Colloquium in Catholic Studies
April 3, 2013

"Salvation of the Creation: The Teaching of the Church Fathers on Environment"
Presentation by Fr. Oleh Kindiy, Ph.D., Lecturer in Theology at Ukrainian Catholic University and Visiting Fulbright Scholar at Aquinas College.
Commentary by Dr. Robert Marko, Professor of Theology at Aquinas College.

Matthea Brandenburg ('12) of the Acton Institute reflects on this event in "Christianity, the Environment, and Modern Gnostics"

Fall 2011 Colloquium in Catholic Studies
October 13, 2011

"Facing Jesus in the Art of Rembrandt"
Presentation by Dr. Henry Luttikhuizen, Professor of Art History at Calvin College.
Commentary by Joseph Antenucci Becherer, Lena Meijer Professor in the History of Art at Aquinas College.