The Thomistic Institute

Jun 26, 2026 • 45 min

Fr. Brad Elliott argues that human beings are naturally social and are meant to flourish through the distinct but related societies of family, polity, and Church, with the Church uniquely ordering people to grace and the common good. This lecture was given on November 1st, 2025, at St. Albert's Priory. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speaker: Fr. Brad Elliott was raised in Dayton Ohio and studied Jazz percussion at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. After being raised as a Missouri Synod Lutheran he entered the Catholic Church in 2002. After moving to California, Fr. Brad became an active, performing musician, with a reputation as a highly sought after drummer on the international scene. Working in Los Angeles, CA, he performed and recorded various styles of modern music from Rock to jazz and big band. During his time in Los Angeles he performed and toured extensively with artists such as Annie Stela and Brie Larson. After ten years as a professional drum set player and feeling a call to commit himself entirely to Jesus Christ, Fr. Brad chose to leave the music industry and become a Dominican friar within Western Dominican Province. After completing theological studies, he was ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ on June, 22nd 2018 at St. Dominic’s Church in San Francisco, CA. In 2014 Fr. Brad received an MA in philosophy from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley CA. In 2021 he received a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. In 2025 he completed a Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC focusing on the role of human craft and participatory governance in the social doctrine of the Church. He is currently a professor of Moral Theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California. He authored the book The Shape of the Artistic Mind published by Pontifex University Press in 2023. Keywords: Catholic Social Teaching, Church, Common Good, Cosmopolitanism, Family, Friendship, Polity, Society, Solidarity, State

Jun 25, 2026 • 37 min

Prof. Jennifer Frey asks whether Flannery O’Connor is really a “hillbilly Thomist” or a “hillbilly nihilist,” and uses her life and fiction to show how grace, reality, and shocking moral drama can expose the deepest truths about human nature. This lecture was given on February 7th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speaker: Jennifer A. Frey is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tulsa. She previously served as the inaugural Dean of the Honors College. Before coming to Oklahoma, she was an Associate Professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina, where she was also a Peter and Bonnie McCausland Faculty Fellow in the College of Arts and Sciences. Prior to her tenure at Carolina, she was a Collegiate Assistant Professor the Humanities at the University of Chicago, and a junior fellow of the Society for the Liberal Arts. She earned her Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh and her B.A. in philosophy and medieval studies (with a classics minor) at Indiana University-Bloomington. In 2015, she was awarded a multi-million dollar grant from the John Templeton Foundation, titled “Virtue, Happiness, and the Meaning of Life.” She has published widely on virtue and moral psychology, and she has edited three academic volumes on virtue and human action: Self Transcendence and Virtue: Perspectives from Philosophy, Psychology, and Theology; Practical Truth; and Practical Wisdom (OUP, forthcoming 2025). Her writing has been featured in Breaking Ground, First Things, Image, Law and Liberty, The NewYork Times, The Point, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal.  She lives with her husband and six children in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Keywords: Christian Realism, Flannery O’Connor, Grace, Hillbilly Thomist, Misfit, Reality, Sin, Thomism, A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Jun 24, 2026 • 47 min

Prof. Michael Krom uses Aquinas to argue that while stealing is always morally wrong, urgent need can change what counts as rightful use of superabundant goods, revealing how private property is meant to serve the common good. This lecture was given on February 12th, 2026, at Georgia Institute of Technology. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speaker: Michael Krom started reading Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae shortly after his conversion at the end of college. Upon learning about Flannery O’Connor’s “hillbilly Thomist” habit of reading Aquinas every night, he started studying two articles a day and completed the Summa while in graduate school at Emory University. As a professor at Saint Vincent College, he saw the urgent need for collegians and seminarians to receive a solid foundation in Aquinas’s philosophical theology. In 2020, he published Justice and Charity:  An Introduction to Aquinas’s Moral, Economic, and Political Thought (Baker Academic Press), and teaches a Thomistic philosophy course each fall. In addition to continuing work on the moral, economic, and political topics covered in the book, his current research is on the influence of monastic spirituality on Aquinas; he is working on a monograph tentatively entitled Aquinas Among the Benedictines. Keywords: Adverse Possession, Common Good, Divine Law, Human Law, Natural Law, Private Property, Robin Hood, Stealing, Theft, Urgent Need

Jun 23, 2026 • 39 min

Dr. Edmund Lazzari explains how Christ’s divinity and humanity make the sacraments, grace, confession, purgatory, and the communion of saints all part of one living mystical body in which every Christian is united to every other in Jesus. This lecture was given on February 11th, 2026, at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speaker: Edmund Lazzari is Teaching Fellow in the Department of Catholic Studies at Duquesne University. Dr. Lazzari is also a member of the Aquinas and 'the Arabs' International Working Group and affiliated faculty of the Carl G. Grefenstette Center for Ethics in Science, Technology, and Law. A former Basselin Fellow, he earned an ecclesiastical licentiate degree in philosophy from the Catholic University of America, as well as a doctorate in systematic theology and ethics from Marquette University. He has previously taught philosophy and theology at Mount St. Mary's University, Marquette University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other universities not starting with the letter "M." Dr. Lazzari has published on a wide variety of topics in theology, such as theology and science, the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, Catholic-Muslim dialogue, liturgical theology, machine learning/AI, Catholic ethics, and extraterrestrial intelligence. He is the author of two books: Why Nature Matters: Unlocking Catholic Doctrine through Commonsense Philosophy (2022) and Miracles in Said Nursi and Thomas Aquinas (Routledge, 2024). Keywords: Baptism, Confession, Communion of Saints, Grace, Mystical Body of Christ, Purgatory, Sacraments, Sanctifying Grace, Suffering, Union with Christ

Jun 22, 2026 • 34 min

Prof. Christopher Kaczor takes Jefferson’s famous declaration apart piece by piece to ask what it really means to say that all people are created equal, why those words still matter, and how natural law and inalienable rights shape a just political order. This lecture was given on April 9th, 2026, at Indiana University. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speaker: Dr. Christopher Kaczor (rhymes with razor) graduated from the Honors Program of Boston College and earned a Ph.D. four years later from the University of Notre Dame. A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Kaczor is a former Federal Chancellor Fellow at the University of Cologne and William E. Simon Visiting Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University and Honorary Professor in Bishop Barron's Word on Fire Institute. His eighteen books include Is Belief Believable? The Gospel of Happiness, The Seven Big Myths about Marriage, A Defense of Dignity, The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church, The Ethics of Abortion, O Rare Ralph McInerny: Stories and Reflections on a Legendary Notre Dame Professor, Thomas Aquinas on the Cardinal Virtues; Life Issues-Medical Choices; Thomas Aquinas on Faith, Hope, and Love; The Edge of Life, and Proportionalism and the Natural Law Tradition. Dr. Kaczor’s views have been in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, National Review, NPR, BBC, EWTN, ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, MSNBC, TEDx, and The Today Show. Keywords: Declaration Of Independence, Inalienable Rights, Jefferson, Justice, Natural Law, Political Order, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Jefferson, United States

Jun 19, 2026 • 48 min

Prof. Christopher Tollefsen argues that medicine is fundamentally ordered to health, not preference satisfaction, and he shows why that matters for abortion, euthanasia, physician authority, and conscience. This lecture was given on February 5th, 2026, at University of Scranton. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speaker: Christopher Tollefsen is Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina. He has published over 100 articles in journals and edited collections, and a similar number of popular essays in venues such as Public Discourse, First Things, and National Review.  He is the author of Lying and Christian Ethics and the forthcoming Killing and Christian Ethics, and is co-author of The Way of Medicine: Ethics and the Healing Profession (with Dr. Farr Curlin) and Embryo: A Defense of Human Life (with Robert P. George).  In 2019-20, he served as a Commissioner on the State Department’s Commission on Unalienable Rights.  He has twice been a Visiting Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University, and in 2024-25 was a Visiting Fellow at the DeNicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame. Keywords: Abortion, Conscience, Ethics, Euthanasia, Health, Medicine, Physician Authority, Patient Authority, Rights, Services

Jun 18, 2026 • 58 min

Prof. Gregory Doolan explains how Aquinas uses philosophy to show that angels are real immaterial beings—pure forms with intellect and will—whose place in creation can even be understood in relation to the famous “head of a pin” question. This lecture was given on February 5th, 2026, at Harvard University. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speaker: Gregory T. Doolan is Associate Professor in the School of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America (CUA). His research interest is in the area of Aquinas’s metaphysics, in particular themes concerning Aquinas’s natural theology as well as those concerning the intersection between his semantic theory and his account of metaphysics. Prof. Doolan received his B.A. in political theory from Georgetown University in 1993 and his Ph.D. in philosophy from CUA in 2003. He taught philosophy at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. from 2004–05 and joined the faculty of the School of Philosophy at CUA in 2005.  A native of Philadelphia, Prof. Doolan currently lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife, three children, two cats, dog, and a bearded dragon. Keywords: Aquinas, Angels, Hylomorphism, Immateriality, Intellect, Metaphysics, Separate Substances, Spiritual Beings, Universal Hylomorphism, Virtual Presence

Jun 17, 2026 • 43 min

Fr. Brad Elliott, O.P. explores how the Catholic tradition understands ownership as a moral relation that binds persons together rather than isolating them, and why that matters for families, society, and human flourishing. This lecture was given on February 4th, 2026, at Stanford University. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speaker: Fr. Brad Elliott was raised in Dayton Ohio and studied Jazz percussion at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. After being raised as a Missouri Synod Lutheran he entered the Catholic Church in 2002. After moving to California, Fr. Brad became an active, performing musician, with a reputation as a highly sought after drummer on the international scene. Working in Los Angeles, CA, he performed and recorded various styles of modern music from Rock to jazz and big band. During his time in Los Angeles he performed and toured extensively with artists such as Annie Stela and Brie Larson. After ten years as a professional drum set player and feeling a call to commit himself entirely to Jesus Christ, Fr. Brad chose to leave the music industry and become a Dominican friar within Western Dominican Province. After completing theological studies, he was ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ on June, 22nd 2018 at St. Dominic’s Church in San Francisco, CA. In 2014 Fr. Brad received an MA in philosophy from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley CA. In 2021 he received a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. In 2025 he completed a Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC focusing on the role of human craft and participatory governance in the social doctrine of the Church. He is currently a professor of Moral Theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California. He authored the book The Shape of the Artistic Mind published by Pontifex University Press in 2023. Keywords: Common Good, Law, Private Property, Political Friendship, Rule of Law, Rational Dominion, Relative Dominion, Social Trust, Universal Destination of Goods, Virtue

Jun 15, 2026 • 42 min

Fr. Brad Elliott shows how Leo’s Rerum Novarum responds to Marx and Engels by grounding property rights in the father’s duty to provide, the family’s priority over the state, and the Church’s vision of human flourishing. This lecture was given on November 1st, 2025, at St. Albert's Priory. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speaker: Fr. Brad Elliott was raised in Dayton Ohio and studied Jazz percussion at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. After being raised as a Missouri Synod Lutheran he entered the Catholic Church in 2002. After moving to California, Fr. Brad became an active, performing musician, with a reputation as a highly sought after drummer on the international scene. Working in Los Angeles, CA, he performed and recorded various styles of modern music from Rock to jazz and big band. During his time in Los Angeles he performed and toured extensively with artists such as Annie Stela and Brie Larson. After ten years as a professional drum set player and feeling a call to commit himself entirely to Jesus Christ, Fr. Brad chose to leave the music industry and become a Dominican friar within Western Dominican Province. After completing theological studies, he was ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ on June, 22nd 2018 at St. Dominic’s Church in San Francisco, CA. In 2014 Fr. Brad received an MA in philosophy from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley CA. In 2021 he received a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. In 2025 he completed a Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC focusing on the role of human craft and participatory governance in the social doctrine of the Church. He is currently a professor of Moral Theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California. He authored the book The Shape of the Artistic Mind published by Pontifex University Press in 2023. Keywords: Catholic Social Teaching, Communism, Family, Marx, Engels, Pope Leo XIII, Private Property, Property Rights, Rerum Novarum, Social Justice

Jun 12, 2026 • 51 min

Prof. James Nolan argues that Nagasaki’s prayerful response to the atomic bomb can only be understood through the city’s long Christian history, especially the witness of the hidden Christians and Takashi Nagai. This lecture was given on January 29th, 2026, at Florida State University. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speaker: Professor James L. Nolan, Jr. is the Washington Gladden 1859 Professor of Sociology at Williams College, where he has been teaching since 1996. Professor Nolan’s teaching and research interests fall within the general areas of law and society, culture, technology and social change, and historical comparative sociology. His most recent book, Atomic Doctors: Conscience and Complicity at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age, was published with Harvard University Press in 2020. His previous books include What They Saw in America: Alexis de Tocqueville, Max Weber, G.K. Chesterton, and Sayyid Qutb (2016); Legal Accents, Legal Borrowing: The International Problem-Solving Court Movement (2009); Reinventing Justice: The American Drug Court Movement (2001); and The Therapeutic State: Justifying Government at Century’s End (1998). He is the recipient of several grants and awards including National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships and a Fulbright scholarship. He has held visiting fellowships at Oxford University, Loughborough University, the University of Notre Dame, Catholic University of America, and Nagasaki Junshin Catholic University. Keywords: Atomic Bomb, Christian History, Forgiveness, Hidden Christians, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Providence, Suffering, Takashi Nagai, Urakami Cathedral

Jun 11, 2026 • 1h 2m

Fr. Brad Elliott argues that it is really a theological vision of the human person as a social being ordered to God through family, polity, and Church, showing how the common good, friendship, and the distinct missions of these three societies shape both public life and spiritual life. This lecture was given on January 23rd, 2026, at Vanderbilt University. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speaker: Fr. Brad Elliott was raised in Dayton Ohio and studied Jazz percussion at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. After being raised as a Missouri Synod Lutheran he entered the Catholic Church in 2002. After moving to California, Fr. Brad became an active, performing musician, with a reputation as a highly sought after drummer on the international scene. Working in Los Angeles, CA, he performed and recorded various styles of modern music from Rock to jazz and big band. During his time in Los Angeles he performed and toured extensively with artists such as Annie Stela and Brie Larson. After ten years as a professional drum set player and feeling a call to commit himself entirely to Jesus Christ, Fr. Brad chose to leave the music industry and become a Dominican friar within Western Dominican Province. After completing theological studies, he was ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ on June, 22nd 2018 at St. Dominic’s Church in San Francisco, CA. In 2014 Fr. Brad received an MA in philosophy from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley CA. In 2021 he received a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. In 2025 he completed a Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC focusing on the role of human craft and participatory governance in the social doctrine of the Church. He is currently a professor of Moral Theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California. He authored the book The Shape of the Artistic Mind published by Pontifex University Press in 2023. Keywords: Catholic Social Teaching, Common Good, Church, Family, Friendship, Holiness, Polity, Rerum Novarum, Society, Subsidiarity

Jun 10, 2026 • 1h 6m

This lecture was given on January 23rd, 2026, at University of Toronto. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speaker: Sarah Byers is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Boston College. Her interests include St. Augustine, Hellenistic philosophy, and the history of ancient and medieval ethics and metaphysics. She is responsible for many publications, including Perception, Sensibility, and Moral Motivation in Augustine: A Stoic-Platonic Synthesis, a book that argues that Augustine assimilated the Stoic theory of perception into his philosophy. Keywords: Augustine, Compassion, Justice, Mercy, Martha Nussbaum, Neoplatonism, Political Life, Seneca, Stoicism, Virtue Ethics

Jun 9, 2026 • 55 min

Dr. Brian FitzGerald explores how the first universities emerged from cathedral schools and monastic learning, and why they were built not just to transmit information, but to cultivate wisdom, practical judgment, and a love of learning. This lecture was given on January 15th, 2026, at Dartmouth College. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speakers: Brian FitzGerald is Lecturer on Medieval Studies and the Study of Religion at Harvard University.  A scholar of medieval history, his research focuses on the intellectual and religious culture of Europe from the twelfth to the fo­urteenth century.  His first book, Inspiration and Authority in the Middle Ages: Prophets and their Critics from Scholasticism to Humanism (Oxford University Press, 2017) examined how medieval intellectuals in France, England, and Italy sought to understand and resolve competing claims of divine inspiration or prophecy.  His other interests include medieval historical consciousness, the history of education, and relations between eastern and western Christianity.  Before coming to Harvard, he taught in the Humanities program and served as Academic Dean at Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts. Keywords: Cathedral Schools, Collegiate Principle, Disputation, Liberal Arts, Medieval University, Practical Wisdom, Scholasticism, Thomas Aquinas, University Of Paris, Wisdom

Jun 8, 2026 • 47 min

Prof. Raymond Hain argues that Tocqueville’s insights show democratic citizenship depends on stable attachments, shared social life across class lines, and a willingness to let citizens practice freedom through responsibility. This lecture was given on December 4th, 2025, at University of Tulsa. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speakers: Raymond Hain is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Associate Director of the Humanities Program at Providence College in Providence, RI. Educated at Christendom College, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Oxford, he is the founder of the PC Humanities Forum and Humanities Reading Seminars and is responsible for the strategic development of the Humanities Program into a vibrant, world class center of teaching, research, and cultural life dedicated to the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. His scholarly interests include the history of ethics (especially St. Thomas Aquinas), applied ethics (especially medical ethics and the ethics of architecture), Alexis de Tocqueville, and philosophy and literature (especially Catholic aesthetics). His work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Templeton Foundation, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, and the Charles Koch Foundation. His essays have appeared in various journals and collections including The Thomist, International Journal of Applied Philosophy, and The Anthem Companion to Tocqueville. He is the editor of Beyond the Self: Virtue Ethics and the Problem of Culture and is currently working on a monograph titled The Lover and the Prophet: An Essay in Catholic Aesthetics. He joined Providence College in 2011 and lives just across the street with his wife Dominique and their five children. Keywords: Citizenship, Democracy in America, Democratic Citizenship, Family Formation, Religion, Robert Putnam, Tocqueville, Subsidiarity, Stability, Strong Gods

Jun 5, 2026 • 47 min

Prof. James Felak shows how John Paul II used the saints in his pilgrimages to communist Poland to challenge atheistic rule, strengthen Catholic identity, and encourage resistance and hope. This lecture was given on October 31st, 2025, at St. Albert's Priory. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speakers: James Felak is a Professor of History and current holder of the Newman Center Term Professorship in Catholic Christianity at the University of Washington.  He specializes in Catholicism in East Central Europe and has authored two books on Catholic politics in Slovakia, and a book on Pope John Paul II and his visits to his native Poland during and after Communist rule there.  This latter work is based on hundreds of pages of papal speeches and sermons, and the records of the Communist government and secret police as they monitored the Pope during his visits.  Besides courses on modern Europe, Felak teaches “The History of Christianity” and “Catholic Classics in Historical Context.”  The latter course covers the major Catholic writers and thinkers from St. Augustine and St. Benedict through G. K. Chesterton and Flannery O’Connor.  Felak is from southwestern Pennsylvania, received his doctorate from Indiana University, and has resided in Seattle since 1989. Keywords: Catholic Identity, Communion Of Saints, Communist Poland, John Paul II, Maximilian Kolbe, Polish History, Saint Stanislaus, Saint Wojciech, Sacred Space, Solidarity Movement

Jun 4, 2026 • 45 min

Sr. Anna Wray argues that many people are caught in a “musical dependence” that uses music to make ordinary life merely tolerable, a mere toleration which can transformed into true enjoyment by means of asceticism and an education in genuine enjoyment. This lecture was given on November 12th, 2025, at Catholic University of America. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speaker: Sister Anna Wray is a native of Connecticut and a member of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia of Nashville, TN.  Sister received her PhD in philosophy from The Catholic University of America, having written her dissertation on Aristotle’s account of the activity of contemplation.  Sister is an assistant professor on the faculty of CUA's School of Philosophy in Washington, DC, where she regularly teaches courses in rhetoric, philosophy of religion, and philosophical psychology.  She is also an adjunct professor for Aquinas College, where she teaches metaphysics and epistemology to her sisters in formation.  Her research and conversational interests include imagination and attention in human agency and speech, the effects of technology on human agency, and form as function and unifying activity. Keywords: Asceticism, Aristotle, Delight, Entelechaic Activity, Liturgy, Music, Musical Dependence, Silence, Thomistic Anthropology, Worship

Jun 3, 2026 • 56 min

Fr. Ephrem Reese argues that silence is not mere absence but a fertile, hidden potency through which contemplation, devotion, and the word of God can come to life. This lecture was given on November 8th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speakers: Fr. Ephrem Reese was born in Harrisburg, PA, and has family in Philadelphia, New Jersey and California. He received a BA from St John’s College in Annapolis, MD in 2010, and was confirmed in the Catholic Church at that year’s Easter Vigil. He lived for a year in DC, a few blocks from the Dominican House of Studies, and attended the nearby parish, St Anthony of Padua. While in DC, he was an intern for Pax Christi USA, promoting Just War teaching. “Dominican life has finally given me a picture of what it means for my own soul to be saved. This is a joy worth preaching: loving Jesus Christ, united with the Brethren in one heart and mind.” Keywords: Contemplation, Devotion, Grace, Hiddenness, Non-Being, Prayer, Silence, Thomism, Womb, Word Of God

Jun 2, 2026 • 57 min

Fr. Ephrem Reese argues that boredom can be read both as a modern opening onto time and wonder and, more importantly, as a spiritual problem that must be disciplined by the virtues. This lecture was given on November 7th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speaker: Fr. Ephrem Reese was born in Harrisburg, PA, and has family in Philadelphia, New Jersey and California. He received a BA from St John’s College in Annapolis, MD in 2010, and was confirmed in the Catholic Church at that year’s Easter Vigil. He lived for a year in DC, a few blocks from the Dominican House of Studies, and attended the nearby parish, St Anthony of Padua. While in DC, he was an intern for Pax Christi USA, promoting Just War teaching. “Dominican life has finally given me a picture of what it means for my own soul to be saved. This is a joy worth preaching: loving Jesus Christ, united with the Brethren in one heart and mind.” Keywords: Acedia, Boredom, Charity, Curiosity, Heidegger, Hope, Magnanimity, Prudence, Romans 12, Walter Benjamin

Jun 1, 2026 • 36 min

Dr. Jan Bentz argues that utopias are dangerous because they promise a perfected society by denying human fallenness, replacing Christian hope and grace with man-made salvation, and turning politics into a counterfeit religion. This lecture was given on November 1st, 2025, at Thomistic Institute in Limerick. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the Speakers: Dr. Jan C. Bentz was born and raised in Germany and graduated high school in St Louis, Missouri, where he attended as a foreign exchange student. Dr Bentz holds a doctorate in Philosophy from the Roman Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, a Masters in Sacred Art, Architecture, and Liturgy and a Masters in Church, Ecumenism, and Religious Studies. His dissertation was published in German on Gustav Siewerth (1903-1963) and his work on Thomas Aquinas and G.W.F. Hegel. His fields of expertise include Metaphysics, History of Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy, Thomism, and Philosophy of Art. Dr Bentz lectures at Blackfriars’ Studium on History of Modern and Contemporary Philosophy, Aesthetics, and Philosophy of History. He taught Philosophy of Art (Aesthetics) for The Catholic University of America, Rome Campus, History of Medieval Philosophy at Christendom College, Rome Campus, and Apologetics for IES Study Abroad also in Rome. His journalistic career included the production of weekly TV coverage in German and English for EWTN Global; interviews and commentary for Catholic News Agency, Inside the Vatican; and for The Catholic Herald in English and Jüdische Rundschau in German. His current format is called Reality Check, a series of video interviews also published on YouTube with the European Conservative. Keywords: Equality, Eschatology, Grace, Human nature, Joachim of Fiore, Marx, Politics, Religion, Technology, Utopia

May 29, 2026 • 46 min

Professor James Felak argues that Catholic social teaching presents a holistic vision of the human person and society, insisting that rights and duties belong together, the market must serve the common good, and neither socialism nor unchecked capitalism can satisfy human dignity. This lecture was given on November 1st, 2025, at St. Albert's Priory. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: James Felak is a Professor of History and current holder of the Newman Center Term Professorship in Catholic Christianity at the University of Washington.  He specializes in Catholicism in East Central Europe and has authored two books on Catholic politics in Slovakia, and a book on Pope John Paul II and his visits to his native Poland during and after Communist rule there.  This latter work is based on hundreds of pages of papal speeches and sermons, and the records of the Communist government and secret police as they monitored the Pope during his visits.  Besides courses on modern Europe, Felak teaches “The History of Christianity” and “Catholic Classics in Historical Context.”  The latter course covers the major Catholic writers and thinkers from St. Augustine and St. Benedict through G. K. Chesterton and Flannery O’Connor.  Felak is from southwestern Pennsylvania, received his doctorate from Indiana University, and has resided in Seattle since 1989. Keywords: Capitalism, Common good, Culture, Duties, Human dignity, John Paul II, Market, Property, Rights, Subsidiarity