Making a Life: Catholic Social Teaching’s Inclusive Definition of Work

Kate Ward

Associate Professor of Theological Ethics
Marquette University

Kate Ward, Ph.D., is a theological ethicist working in areas including economic ethics, virtue ethics, fundamental moral theology and Catholic social thought. She is the author of Wealth, Virtue and Moral Luck: Christian Ethics in an Age of Inequality (Georgetown, 2021) and has published articles in journals including Theological Studies, Journal of Religious Ethics, Heythrop Journal, Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, and American Journal of Economics and Sociology. She serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Moral Theology, Journal of Catholic Social Thought and Asian Horizons.

Friday, January 30, 2026, 4:00 p.m.
Geddes Hall, Andrews Auditorium

Trust, Subsidiarity, and Solidarity in Global Public Health

Meghan J. Clark

Professor of Moral Theology
St John’s University (NY)

Meghan J. Clark, Ph.D, is a professor of moral theology at St John’s University (NY). At St. John’s, Dr. Clark engages students inside and outside the classroom on diverse topics in moral theology and Catholic social thought.

She is author of The Vision of Catholic Social Thought: the Virtue of Solidarity and the Praxis of Human Rights (Fortress Press, 2014) and co-editor of Public Theology and the Global Common Good: The Contribution of David Hollenbach (Orbis, 2106), both of which were awarded first place prizes from the Catholic Press Association Book Awards. She contributed the commentary on Caritas in Veritate in the 2nd edition of Modern Catholic Social Teaching: Commentaries and Interpretations (Georgetown University Press, 2017). Active in public theology, she is a columnist for US Catholic and has written for America, National Catholic Reporter, and other public outlets.

Friday, February 6, 2026, 4:00 p.m.
Geddes Hall, Andrews Auditorium

Tested Loyalties: Christianity, Racism, and Gender Abuse

Traci C. West

Professor of Christian Ethics and African American Studies
Drew University Theological School (Madison, NJ)

Rev. Dr. Traci C. West is Professor of Christian Ethics and African American Studies at Drew University Theological School (Madison, NJ).

Traci is the author of Solidarity and Defiant Spirituality: Africana Lessons on Religion, Racism, and Ending Gender Violence (New York University Press, 2019), Disruptive Christian Ethics: When Racism and Women’s Lives Matter (Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), Wounds of the Spirit: Black Women, Violence, and Resistance Ethics (New York University Press, 1999), and the editor of Our Family Values: Same-sex Marriage and Religion (Praeger, 2006). She has also published many articles and book chapters on sexual, gender, and racial justice, gender-based intimate violence, and clergy ethics.She is author of The Vision of Catholic Social Thought: the Virtue of Solidarity and the Praxis of Human Rights (Fortress Press, 2014) and co-editor of Public Theology and the Global Common Good: The Contribution of David Hollenbach (Orbis, 2106), both of which were awarded first place prizes from the Catholic Press Association Book Awards. She contributed the commentary on Caritas in Veritate in the 2nd edition of Modern Catholic Social Teaching: Commentaries and Interpretations (Georgetown University Press, 2017). Active in public theology, she is a columnist for US Catholic and has written for America, National Catholic Reporter, and other public outlets.

Friday, March 27, 2026, 4:00 p.m.
Geddes Hall, Andrews Auditorium

Ethical by Design? Catholic Social Teaching in the Age of AI

Linda Hogan

Professor of Ecumenics
Trinity College Dublin

Linda Hogan is an ethicist with extensive experience in research and teaching in pluralist and multi-religious contexts. Her primary research interests lie in the fields of inter-cultural and inter-religious ethics, social and political ethics, human rights and gender.

In addition to her academic role, Professor Linda Hogan was Vice-Provost/Chief Academic Officer and Deputy President at Trinity College Dublin (2011-16) and Head of Irish School of Ecumenics (2006-2010).

She has received a number of international professional honors including election to the Royal Irish Academy 2023, the award of an Honorary Doctorate by Regis College, University of Toronto, 2022, and election to the International Women’s Forum 2016. Recent national roles include appointment as Chair of the Expert Committee of the Creating Our Future Campaign, 2021 and her appointment as an Irish Representative to the UNESCO Intergovernmental Meeting of Experts which negotiated the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, Paris 2021. Recent publications include “Justifying Human Rights: Plural Foundations, Embedded Universalism” in The Freedom of Human Rights: Subjects, Institutional Guarantees, Democracy, ed. Michael Krennerick, et al., and “Human Rights and the Vulnerabilities of Gender in a Climate Emergency,” in In Solidarity with the Earth: A Multi-Disciplinary Theological Engagement with Gender, Mining and Toxic Contamination, ed. Hilda Koster and Celia Deane-Drummond. She is the author of three monographs: Keeping Faith with Human Rights, Confronting the Truth, and From Women’s Experience to Feminist Theology, as well as numerous edited volumes.

Friday, April 17, 2026, 4:00 p.m.
Geddes Hall, Andrews Auditorium

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