Summer Conferences – Details, episodes & analysis

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Summer Conferences

Christendom College

Education

Frequency: 1 episode/92d. Total Eps: 81

Welcome to the official podcast of Christendom College’s Summer Conferences! Explore timeless truths and profound insights as we publish lectures from leading Catholic thinkers, theologians, and artists who have graced our annual summer gatherings. Each episode delves into themes central to the Catholic intellectual tradition, such as beauty, truth, faith, philosophy, and culture. Join us for thought-provoking discussions that inspire the mind, nourish the soul, and deepen your understanding of the faith. Perfect for lifelong learners, seekers of truth, and anyone passionate about integrating Catholic wisdom into modern life. Subscribe now and journey with us through the treasures of Christendom College’s Summer Conferences!

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A Conversation with Moonwalker Astronaut and Scientist Dr. Harrison Schmitt

Episode 81

Thursday, August 13, 2026 • Duration 34:42

Explore the profound journey of Dr. Harrison Schmitt, the last man to walk on the moon and a pioneering geologist. Hear firsthand accounts of lunar exploration, the iconic "Blue Marble" image, and the scientific endeavors of Apollo 17. Dr. Schmitt also discusses the future of space exploration, including lunar resource utilization and the intriguing convergence of science and faith.

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Science and Religion: The Myth of Conflict | Dr. Stephen Barr

Episode 80

Thursday, August 13, 2026 • Duration 51:06

Dr. Stephen Barr, president of the Society of Catholic Scientists, argues that the supposed war between science and religion is a myth resting on confused philosophy, bad history, and a misreading of scientific discovery. Philosophically, he traces the modern idea of "laws of nature" back to the biblical conception of God as rational lawgiver, and uses the primary/secondary causality distinction—illustrated by asking what caused Polonius's death in Hamlet (Hamlet's dagger and Shakespeare's pen are both 100% the cause, at different levels)—to show that natural explanations and divine causation aren't competitors. Historically, he dismantles the 19th-century "conflict thesis" popularized by Draper and White, noting that virtually every founder of modern science (Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Descartes, Pascal, Boyle, Newton) was a devout believer, and that Catholic priests founded entire fields of science outright: Mendel (genetics), Lemaître (Big Bang cosmology), Steno (geology), Secchi (astrophysics), and Mersenne (acoustics). Turning to the actual content of 20th-century discoveries, Barr walks through five "plot twists" that moved science closer to, not further from, the religious picture of the world: the universe turns out to have had a beginning (the Big Bang); quantum mechanics undercut the deterministic physics that seemed to rule out free will; the universe's finely-tuned laws appear "tailor-made" for life (per Hawking and Witten, both non-believers); the universe's vast size and age are a precondition for, not evidence against, our existence; and quantum measurement suggests consciousness isn't fully reducible to matter. He closes by quoting physicist Ed Witten's remark that the mathematical structure of physics makes it seem "as though the world had been created by a mathematician."

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A Catholic Understanding of Artificial Intelligence: Principles, Prospects and Perils | Dr. Eric Jenislawski

Episode 79

Thursday, August 13, 2026 • Duration 45:31

Framed by Pope Leo XIV's Magnifica Humanitas ("ours is the pressing duty to remain profoundly human"), Dr. Eric Jenislawski argues that large language model AIs, however uncanny they feel in conversation, are not intelligent in the way human beings are. Human consciousness is free, self-reflective, capable of judgment about truth and value, and oriented toward ultimate questions that lead the soul toward God; AI, by contrast, is a deterministic system of matrix multiplication trained on human-authored text, and its impressive output reflects the borrowed genius of its programmers and the millions of writers in its training data—not genuine understanding. He warns against the "fallacy of functionalism," the mistake of assuming that because a machine produces a result once achieved only by human intelligence, it must be doing so through a humanlike process (his coin-counting-machine analogy). Turning to prospects and perils, Jenislawski affirms AI's real practical value—for business efficiency, accessibility, and specialized tasks like medical imaging or text-to-speech—while walking through concerns Magnifica Humanitas raises: the "technocratic paradigm" that lets efficiency and profit override human judgment; AI's tendency toward confident inaccuracy ("hallucination"); hidden ideological bias baked into corporate "alignment" policies; the need to keep specific humans accountable for AI-assisted decisions; AI-amplified disinformation; the de-skilling risk of over-reliance (the rationale behind his college's restrictive AI-in-coursework policy); AI-driven surveillance; and the encyclical's near-categorical prohibition on entrusting lethal or irreversible decisions to autonomous weapons systems.

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The Technology Crisis in Our Homes | Dr. John Cuddeback

Episode 78

Thursday, August 13, 2026 • Duration 31:56

Dr. John Cuddeback argues that science, big business, and the pursuit of power form a "toxic trio" that currently determines what technologies get developed and how they're used—none of which is capable of answering the truly decisive question of whether a technology actually serves human flourishing. Drawing on the Aristotelian-Thomistic distinction between speculative and practical reasoning, and further between "making" (governed by art, which can be misused) and "doing" (governed by prudence, which cannot), Cuddeback locates the real fix not at the political or industrial level but in the household: "domestic prudence," the virtue of ordering everything in a home's life to the true good of its members, is squarely within a family's power even when the wider culture isn't. He argues many technologies—the smartphone chief among his examples—never should have been developed, or at least demand far more scrutiny than the "innovation is good by default" instinct of a technocratic culture allows, since the inner logic of technology tends toward control and power and will overrun prudence unless deliberately reined in. His practical counsel: cultivate intentionality about what a good home life looks like, default to skepticism toward new technologies rather than presumption in their favor, and build a concrete vision of good work and true leisure in the home, using technology only in service of that vision rather than letting it set the terms. He closes by reading Pope Benedict XVI's reminiscence of his own simple, technology-free childhood as a picture of the ordinary, unmediated goods worth protecting.

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Faith & Science Panel Discussion

Episode 77

Thursday, August 13, 2026 • Duration 28:18

Panelists: Dr. David Deavel, Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, George Harne, Matthew Tsakanikas, Greg Townsend, Douglas Dailey

This panel opens with mathematics as the "language" behind reality, tracing the idea from Pythagoras and Plato's Republic through Galileo's mathematization of science, and connecting it to number language applied to God (the Trinity as three-in-one) and the sense of beauty and contemplation that mathematical description of creation can evoke. The conversation pushes back gently on a numbers-obsessed modernity, noting that quantification captures the "how" but not the whole truth, and touches on final causality — arguing that natural law itself functions as a kind of final cause even when scientists don't use that language. The discussion then pivots to how to counsel students anxious about science-and-faith tensions: distinguishing primary causality (God) from secondary causality (natural processes, per the Baltimore Catechism's "Who made you?"), reading Genesis according to its proper ancient genre rather than modern historical-literal expectations (citing the 1948 Pontifical Biblical Commission), naming "scientism" as itself an act of faith, and using wonder and beauty — in music, love, or mathematics — to widen students' sense of what reality includes. It closes with a reflection on how AI is now forcing mathematicians to reconsider the nature and purpose of mathematical thought itself.

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Quiet and Neighborly Ways: Integrating Science & Wisdom with Newman | Dr. David Deavel

Episode 76

Thursday, August 13, 2026 • Duration 55:46

In this opening keynote, Dr. David Deavel makes the case for St. John Henry Newman as a "Doctor of Education" whose vision of the university — as a unified pursuit of truth, not a fragmented "multiversity" — is more praised than practiced in Catholic higher ed today. Turning to Newman's Dublin lecture Christianity and Physical Science, Deavel unpacks Newman's argument that theology and the natural sciences occupy distinct but non-contradictory domains ("truth cannot contradict truth"), walks through historical flashpoints like Galileo and the reception of Aristotle to show the Church has generally avoided adjudicating scientific questions, and highlights Newman's own track record building science programs at the Catholic University of Dublin. He closes with Newman's vision of scientists and theologians working in "quiet and neighborly" freedom, confident that their fields will ultimately harmonize into one synthesis of wisdom.

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Finding God in the Book of Creation | Msgr. Charles Pope

Episode 75

Tuesday, June 10, 2025 • Duration 48:24

Msgr. Charles Pope discovered his vocation to the priesthood through his work as a church musician, serving as an organist, cantor, and choir director. He entered Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary in 1985, earning a Master of Divinity and a Master of Arts in Moral Theology, and was ordained on June 24, 1989, by James Cardinal Hickey. Named a Monsignor in 2005, he currently serves as Pastor of Holy Comforter–St. Cyprian Parish, where he returned in 2007. Msgr. Pope conducts Bible studies, including one at the White House, and holds roles such as Spiritual Director for the Washington Comitium of the Legion of Mary, Archdiocesan Coordinator for the Latin Mass, and Dean of the Northeast Deanery. He has written extensively, taught catechetical courses, preached retreats for priests, and enjoys his multifaceted work as a diocesan and media priest.

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The Catholic Artist in the 21st Century | Dr. Daniel McInerny

Episode 74

Tuesday, June 10, 2025 • Duration 42:28

McInerny is an associate professor and chair of the philosophy department at Christendom College. As a philosopher, author, and playwright, he explores the intersection of faith, culture, and the human experience. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from The Catholic University of America and has taught at institutions including the University of Notre Dame and Baylor University. As a writer, McInerny has published works ranging from children’s literature to philosophical essays, often focusing on themes of virtue and the moral imagination. Most recently published is the acclaimed Beauty and Imitation: A Philosophical Reflection on the Arts as well as the novel The Good Death of Kate Montclair. Through his diverse endeavors, McInerny seeks to illuminate the profound connections between storytelling, humor, and the pursuit of truth.

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Panel | Frank La Rocca, Dr. Kurt Poterack, Dr. George A. Harne, Dr. Conor Sweeney

Episode 73

Tuesday, June 10, 2025 • Duration 47:47

Harne is the fourth president of Christendom College. A widely respected and accomplished scholar of music history and the liberal arts, Harne earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University and received master’s degrees from Princeton, St. John’s College, and the University of Washington. La Rocca, Composer-in-Residence at the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Liturgy, is renowned for his Mass of the Americas, hailed as “a cornerstone of modern liturgical composition.” Poterack is an Assistant Professor of Liturgical Music at Christendom College, where he also directs the college choir and Schola Gregoriana, and coordinates the Beato Fra Angelico Fine Arts Program. Sweeney is an Associate Professor of Theology at Christendom College, specializing in sacramental theology, theological anthropology, and the New Evangelization.

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Homily | Msgr. Charles Pope

Episode 72

Tuesday, June 10, 2025 • Duration 13:08

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Summer Conferences – Details, episodes & analysis

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Summer Conferences – Details, episodes & analysis

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