The Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage

10/09/2026

Fr. Paddy Gilger, S.J., shares his insights on student experiences of fragmentation from our recent Let All Who Are Thirsty, Come conference—a gathering of students, practitioners, and scholars who explored together the increase of inquirers and conversions to the Catholic Church.

09/16/2026

Please join us for a most timely conversation this coming Saturday for a day-long conference cosponsored by the Hank Center and Mission Integration. Blue Ribbon panels of practitioners, students, and scholars will explore the increase of inquirers and conversions to the Catholic Church. Topics include enchantment and re-enchantment of the life of faith; the intellectual, media influence, class, gender, and culture elements in this revival; whether or not this is a revival; and what all of this means for young people and the Church in 2026. Please check all details—including the schedule and a truly Blue-Ribbon lineup of speakers—at our event landing page. Saturday, September 19
8 AM – 6 PM, Crown Center Lobby & Auditorium, Lake Shore Campus. https://www.luc.edu/ccih/events/upcomingevents/archive/letallwhoarethirstycome.shtml

05/22/2026

SPECIAL ZOOM EVENT
Magnificent Humanity: A Conversation on Pope Leo's First Encyclical

May 27, 2026
4-5:15 PM
Online

The Hank Center welcomes a blue ribbon panel of experts to provide initial takes on Pope Leo XIV’s first Encyclical Letter, Magnifica humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence, which will be released on May 25, 2026.

The document, which will likely be addressed not only to the Church but to all people of good will, will examine the moral and ethical challenges of artificial intelligence and its impact human dignity, human relationships, labor, and the future of work. Leo's needed message, in the spirit of Rerum Novarum (1891), is meant to be a prompt to think with the church about the "new things"--and to cultivate the beauty, wisdom, and potential of Christian humanism in the context of expanding digital cultures, new technologies, and shifting social environments.

Our Panel Includes:

Dr. Chris Baglow, University of Notre Dame
Dr. Matt Dunch, S.J., Loyola University Chicago
Heather Foucault-Camm, University of Notre Dame
Dr. Joe Vukov, Loyola University Chicago
Dr. Michael P. Murphy will moderate the discussion

This event is free and all are welcome.

Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScUJ7fFidB82cD53m8soWFs3PrreRU3hcfUaJAKyDLHnuwdSA/viewform

A Zoom link will be sent to you after you register and prior to the event.

05/06/2026

The leadership of the Hank Center joins forces with our friends at Lumen Christi. This will be an edifying evening and we hope to see you there.

WED May 13: Pope Leo XIV has already spoken movingly about the isolation and stress, especially for the young, of modern life. In a different format from our normal lecture, philosophers Joe Vukov and Mike Murphy will dialogue as they consider the prospects for the future as the Church confronts challenges such as social media, cyberreality and artificial intelligence.

https://lumenchristi.org/wsccs

03/21/2026

Flannery 101: Capping the Centenary Year of an American Master
Wednesday, March 25th from 2:00-9:00 PM
Information Commons, 4th Floor, Lakeshore Campus

March 25th, 2025 marks 101 years since the birth of acclaimed author, Flannery O’Connor. Though she only published two novels and two collections of short fiction in her life, O’Connor continues to compel and inspire scholars of literature, devotees of the short story, theologians, visual artists and a cast of others. A post-war author, a southerner, a woman, a Catholic writer, a contrarian, she’s been identified and grouped in a number of ways, but she always seems to transcend simple reductions. This gatheriing will have as its focus the ways that "art responds to art" and will take up the terrain of childhood and the art of teaching O'Connor as robust subthemes. Join us for a celebration of an artist who put her storytelling first, who embraced discomfort in the pursuit of truth, and who knew that "anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days."

Featured speakers--and performers--for this event include Amy Alznauer, Fr. Mark Bosco, SJ., Angela Alaimo O' Donnell, Elizabeth Coffman, Colin Cutler, Claudia Zoe Bedrick, Ping Zhu, Nick Coffman-Price, and Hank Center Director, Michael P. Murphy.

To see the full program, and to register for this event please visit the link below. This event is free; registration is highly encourgaged but not required. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdWTIzDGipYRqDjXpch3u53YRqWNwy-LmbYgYlhgfVLlqRvZw/viewform

03/12/2026

Marking 101 Years since the birth of acclaimed author, Flannery O’Connor, join us for a robust, mixed media celebration of an artist who put God first, embraced discomfort in the pursuit of truth, and continues to model the possibilities of a life-giving Catholic imagination. All are welcome!

03/01/2026

The Hank Center is pleased to announce the launch of our Lenten video series, “Scattered Seeds: Finding God in Secular Media.”

02/10/2026

Our featured speaker, David Gibson, adds his special invitation to our annual St. John Henry Newman Lecture. GIve it a look and we hope to see you this Thursday (2/12). All are welcome!

12/03/2025

Some photos from our great Sobrino Student Colloquium last week. A special thank you to our four presenters, find more on this event at our new Sobrino website. Link in bio!

12/01/2025

Enjoy these photos from our lecture featuring Fr. Kevin Burke, where he gave us a glimpse into the life of the great poet, Denise Levertov!