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

Kate Ward

Associate Professor of Theological Ethics
Marquette University

Friday, January 30, 2026

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.

In her Encounter lecture, she drew from her latest book, Making a Life: Catholic Social Teaching and the Meaning of Work, to explore work not only as a paid job but as purposeful human activity, examining it through five lenses: purpose, care, food, art, and pay. She encouraged the audience to rethink what work is for, who it serves, and how it can nurture human flourishing.

Trust, Subsidiarity, and Solidarity in Global Public Health

Meghan J. Clark

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

Friday, February 6, 2026

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.

In her Encounter lecture, she discussed Catholic social teaching, subsidiarity, and solidarity in global public health. “What Catholic social thought pushes us to do,” she said during her visit, “is to move from justice as just basic needs, as just survival, to how we envision a sense of justice that is human flourishing together.”

Tested Loyalties: Christianity, Racism, and Gender Abuse

Traci C. West

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

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

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.

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

Linda Hogan

Professor of Ecumenics
Trinity College Dublin

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

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.

Pope Francis and the Transformation of Prison Ministry

Kevin Hargaden

Social Theologian
Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice

Friday, April 24, 2026, 4:00 p.m.
Geddes Hall, Coffee House

Kevin Hargaden is the Social Theologian at the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice in Dublin, Ireland. His work focuses on the intersection of the Catholic social tradition and Irish public policy, specifically regarding housing, environmental care, and penal reform. Kevin earned his Ph.D. in Theological Ethics from the University of Aberdeen and is the author of Theological Ethics in a Neoliberal Age (Cascade: 2018) and co-author (with Ciara Murphy) of Parish as Oasis (Messenger, 2022). A frequent contributor to both academic journals and popular media like America Magazine, he is dedicated to translating complex theological frameworks into transformative social action.

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Watch the 2025 Encounter Series lectures