The Thomistic Institute

Apr 2, 2026 • 49 min

Prof. Rik Van Nieuwenhove argues that Thomas Aquinas’s theology of hope offers a needed response to quiet despair by reorienting human life toward God, eternal beatitude, and the Paschal Mystery. This lecture was given on March 12th, 2026, at University of Edinburgh. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Rik Van Nieuwenhove is Professor of Medieval Theology at Durham University, UK. He has published scholarly articles on medieval theology (especially Aquinas) and spirituality, theology of the Trinity, and soteriology. His books include: Providence, Evil and Salvation. A Thomist Perspective (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2026); Thomas Aquinas on Contemplation (Oxford: OUP, 2021); Introduction to Medieval Theology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2nd ed., 2022); Jan van Ruusbroec. Mystical Theologian of the Trinity (IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2003); Introduction to the Trinity (with D. Marmion) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011); and he is co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Apophatic Theology (with John Betz) (Oxford: OUP, 2026); The Theology of Thomas Aquinas (with J. Wawrykow) (IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2005); and Late Medieval Mysticism of the Low Countries (with R. Faesen & H. Rolfson) (NJ: Paulist Press, 2008). Keywords: Aquinas, Assisted Dying, Despair, Divine Beatitude, Hope, Paschal Mystery, Presumption, Quiet Despair, Suffering, Theological Virtues

Apr 1, 2026 • 45 min

Prof. Christopher Frey argues that Stoicism offers real insights about freedom and detachment from externals, but its ideal of self-sufficient serenity risks flattening human emotion, moral life, and the need for grace. This lecture was given on November 7th, 2024, at United States Military Academy. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Christopher Frey is currently the McFarlin Professor of Philosophy at The University of Tulsa. Prof. Frey works primarily in Ancient Greek philosophy, especially Aristotle’s natural philosophy and metaphysics. He also works in contemporary philosophy of perception and mind and has written extensively on the relationship between the intentionality and phenomenality of perceptual experience. Keywords: Ancient Philosophy, Aquinas, Aristotle, Augustine, Boethius, External Goods, Grace, Sorrow, Stoicism, Volition

Mar 31, 2026 • 51 min

Sr. Anna Wray argues that sorrow can either deform the soul as acedia or save it when rightly faced, and she offers a Thomistic account of how sorrow, friendship with God, and spiritual remedies shape the Christian life. This lecture was given on November 6th, 2025, at Iowa State University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: 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: Acedia, Contemplation, Friendship With God, Gratitude, Sorrow, Sabbath, Thomistic Psychology, Spiritual Remedies

Mar 30, 2026 • 48 min

Fr. Stephen Ryan argues that the Old Testament remains a vital guide to prayer and the spiritual life because Scripture reveals God’s friendship, sanctifies time, and forms the practices of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. This lecture was given on February 19th, 2026, at University of Tulsa. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Fr. Stephen Ryan was born and raised in Boston and entered the Order of Preachers in 1987. He was ordained a priest in 1993 and, on completion of doctoral studies in Scripture, was assigned to the Dominican House of Studies in 2000. He teaches Scripture and the biblical languages. Keywords: Almsgiving, Ascetical Life, Bible And Prayer, Friendship With God, Liturgical Year, Old Testament, Prayer, Sabbath, Spiritual Life

Mar 27, 2026 • 53 min

Prof. Michael Dauphinais contends that modern Christians, formed by empiricism, individualism, and a this‑worldly hope that easily turns to despair, especially need the Eucharist because it is the concrete, sacramental way Christ draws us into the Trinitarian communion for which we were created, making his paschal mystery present and reproducing his own filial relation to the Father in us. This lecture was given on November 14th, 2025, at University of Oklahoma. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Michael A. Dauphinais, Ph.D., serves as the Fr. Matthew Lamb Professor of Catholic Theology and the co-director of the Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal at Ave Maria University, Ave Maria, Florida.  He has co-authored with Matthew Levering Knowing the Love of Christ: An Introduction to the Theology of Thomas Aquinas; Holy People, Holy Land: A Theological Introduction to the Bible; and The Wisdom of the Word: Biblical Answers to Ten Questions about Catholicism. He specializes in C.S. Lewis, the Bible, and St. Thomas Aquinas. He speaks frequently in both academic and popular settings, and particularly enjoys visiting Thomistic Institute student chapters. Dr. Dauphinais hosts The Catholic Theology Show podcast to help a wide audience discover the richness of coming to know and love God as he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. Keywords: Aquinas on the Eucharist, Creed and Sacraments, Gospel of John, Modernity and Empiricism, Paschal Mystery, Real Presence, Sacramental Communion, Trinitarian Self‑Gift, 1 Corinthians

Mar 26, 2026 • 43 min

Prof. Gavin D’Costa explains how, since Vatican II, the Catholic Church has rethought its relationship to Judaism by affirming the enduring validity of God’s covenant with the Jewish people, recovering the Church’s identity as a fundamentally Jewish–Gentile reality, and opening unresolved but fertile questions about mission, ecclesiology, and antisemitism. This lecture was given on October 9th, 2025, at University of Edinburgh. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Gavin D’Costa is Professor of Catholic-Jewish Relations at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas, Rome; and Emeritus Professor of Catholic Theology at the University of Bristol. He is author of seven books, most recently: Christianity and the World Religions. Disputed Questions in the Theology of Religions, (2009); Vatican II and the World Religions, (OUP, 2014) and Catholic Doctrines on the Jewish People after Vatican II, (OUP, 2019) He is an advisor to the Vatican, the Roman Catholic Bishops in England and Wales, and to the Church of England, Board of Mission on matters related to other religions. He is a published poet and worked on musical poetry with composer John Pickard and has two discs. Keywords: Antisemitism, Covenant, Hebrew Catholics, Interfaith Dialogue, Lumen Gentium 16, Nostra Aetate 4, Post‑Conciliar Judaism, Rabbinic Judaism, Supersessionism, Vatican II and the Jews

Mar 25, 2026 • 45 min

Prof. Michael Root argues that, in Catholic theology, we are saved wholly by the unmerited grace of Christ, and that this grace brings us into a Spirit‑given life of faith, hope, love, and morally significant works, so that eternal life is at once pure gift and, in a secondary sense, a “merited destiny.” This lecture was given on September 9th, 2025, at North Carolina State University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Michael Root is Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. Earlier in life, he was a Lutheran, teaching at various Lutheran seminaries and serving ten years as a Research Professor at the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, France. He was received into the Catholic Church in 2010. His particular theological interests lie in grace and justification, eschatology (death, heaven, hell, etc.), and Protestant-Catholic relations. Keywords: Augustine and Pelagius, Council of Trent, Grace and Merit, Justification, Luther’s Sola Fide, St. Thomas Aquinas, Teleological Salvation, Faith Hope and Love, Works and Final Judgment

Mar 23, 2026 • 32 min

Fr. John Baptist Ku unpacks St. Thomas Aquinas’s doctrine of predestination, showing how God’s universal salvific will, efficacious grace, and real human freedom coexist without collapsing into Calvinist double predestination or Pelagian self-salvation. This lecture was given on November 22nd, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Fr. John Baptist Ku was born in Manhattan (1965) and grew up in Fairfax, Virginia. After graduating from School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia, he worked in software design at AT&T for five years before entering the Dominican Order in 1992. After obtaining his S.T.B./M.Div. (1998) and S.T.L. (2000) at the Dominican House of Studies, he served for three years in St. Pius Parish in Providence, R.I., before going on to complete his studies doctoral studies at the University of Fribourg in 2009. He was awarded the Thomas Aquinas Dissertation Prize by the Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal at Ave Maria University (2010) for his dissertation on God the Father in the Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas. He now teaches at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., where he has also served as book review editor of The Thomist, chaplain to commuter students, and chaplain to the Immaculate Conception Chapter of Third Order Dominicans. Keywords: Aquinas on Predestination, Divine Providence, Efficacious and Sufficient Grace, Free Will and Foreknowledge, Molinism and Middle Knowledge, Reprobation, Single Predestination, Universal Salvific Will

Mar 20, 2026 • 46 min

Prof. Thomas Osborne clarifies how, for Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, the distinctive immateriality of human intellectual knowledge grounds a philosophical case for the soul’s immortality, going beyond today’s narrower “problem of consciousness.” This lecture was given on October 16th, 2025, at University of Connecticut. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Thomas M. Osborne, Jr. (Ph.D, Duke University, 2001) is the Frank A. Rudman Endowed Chair in Philosophy and the Chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas.  He has published widely on Thomas Aquinas, Thomism, and medieval and late scholastic philosophy.  His interests cover moral psychology, ethics, political philosophy, and metaphysics. His latest book is Thomas Aquinas on Virtue (Cambridge University Press, 2024). Keywords: Aristotle's De Anima, Immaterial Intellect, Immortality of the Soul, Intentional Presence, Philosophy of Mind, Soul, Subsistent Form, Universals and Knowledge

Mar 19, 2026 • 44 min

Prof. Marshall Bierson uses Aristotle’s distinction between work, play, and deeper “energetic” activities to argue that friendship and contemplation uniquely allow us to “rest” in what is truly good and meaningful, and then shows how Aquinas radicalizes this by making both contemplation and friendship with God the heart of human fulfillment. This lecture was given on November 20th, 2025, at Cornell University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Marshall Bierson is an assistant professor of philosophy at the Catholic University of America. His research centers on the intersection of ethics and philosophical anthropology. He is particularly focused on the work of Elizabeth Anscombe and in exploring how her Thomisticly inflected philosophical psychology clarifies moral absolutes. Keywords: Aristotle, Energeia and Kinesis, Friendship and Contemplation, Meaning of Human Activity, Nihilism and Work–Play, Practical and Theoretical Reason, Thomistic Friendship with God

Mar 18, 2026 • 46 min

Dr. Erik Dempsey explains how St. Thomas Aquinas sees pleasure as a natural and God-given part of the good life, one that both signals our true human ends and yet must be disciplined by temperance in a fallen world. This lecture was given on December 4th, 2025, at Southern Methodist University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Professor Erik Dempsey an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Departments of Government, Classics, and Religious Studies, and is the Assistant Director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas. He has taught at the University of Texas at Austin for over ten years, during which time he has offered classes in the history of political philosophy, on the Bible and its interpreters, on American political thought, on classical philosophy and literature, and others. His favorite classes to teach are Jerusalem and Athens, a class comparing the political, moral, and theological ideas of the Hebrew Bible to Aristotle's, and the Question of Relativism, a class on what he considers the central quandary of our time. He writes primarily about Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, and he is currently studying John Locke's commentaries on St. Paul's epistles. Last but not least, he is an Eagle Scout. Keywords: Asceticism and Grace, Desire, Natural Law, Original Sin, Pleasure and Temperance, Screwtape Letters, Virtue and the Good Life

Mar 17, 2026 • 53 min

Prof. Timothy O’Connor examines why an all-loving, omnipotent God permits horrendous suffering and explores how, within a Christian framework, such evils can be “defeated” and taken up into the communion of saints as part of our eternal union with God. This lecture was given on December 3rd, 2025, at University of Scranton. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Tim O’Connor is the Mahlon Powell Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Indiana University, Bloomington. He has held research fellowships at the Universities of Oxford, St. Andrews, and Notre Dame. He specializes in metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of religion. He has given 200+ lectures in 26 countries. He has written two books, one on free will and the other on God and ultimate explanation. He is currently co-writing a large and wide-ranging book entitled Human Persons: A Contemporary Philosophical-Scientific Synthesis. Having spent many years as an ecumenical Protestant, Tim was received back into the Catholic Church in February 2024. He has an apostolate to help Protestants better understand and be receptive to the fullness of Catholic faith. Keywords: Communion of Saints, Eleonore Stump, Horrendous Evil, Marylyn McCord Adams, Problem of Evil, Suffering and Divine Love, Theodicy, Union With God, Wandering in Darkness

Mar 16, 2026 • 52 min

Sr. Mary Madeline Todd draws upon Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, and friendship with Christ in order to show that sharing a common journey and life, together with mutual self-gift, turns everyday relationships into true, virtuous friendships that enable us not merely to survive but to thrive in happiness with God and one another. This lecture was given on November 27th, 2025, at Thomistic Institute in Limerick. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Sister Mary Madeline Todd, O.P., a Dominican Sister of the Congregation of Saint Cecilia, has spent over three decades joyfully living consecrated life and sharing the teaching ministry of Christ. After completing a master’s degree in English at the University of Memphis and in theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Sister was blessed to study in Rome, earning her doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. Sister Mary Madeline speaks and writes on spiritual and moral theology. She currently teaches theology at Aquinas College in Nashville, where she finds joy in helping the next generation discover the liberating freedom of who they are in Christ. Keywords: Aristotle on Friendship, Benevolence, Divine Friendship, Friendship, Mutuality, True and Virtuous Friendship, Willing the Good of the Other

Mar 13, 2026 • 50 min

Dr. R. J. Snell analyzes our “burnout society” as an achievement-obsessed culture that drives people to anxiety, depression, and exhaustion by demanding endless self-optimization while starving them of leisure, contemplation, and a meaningful narrative for their lives. This lecture was given on December 8th, 2025, at University of Pennsylvania. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: R. J. Snell is Editor-in-Chief of Public Discourse and Director of Academic Programs at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, NJ. He has been a visiting instructor at Princeton University, where he is also executive director of the Aquinas Institute for Catholic Life. He's written books and articles on Natural Law, Education, Bernard Lonergan, Boredom, Subjectivity, and Sexual Ethics for a variety of publications. Keywords: Achievement Society, Attention Economy, Burnout and Depression, Byung-Chul Han, Disenchantment and Meaning, Existential Poverty, Leisure and Contemplation, Sabbath Rest, Student Anxiety, Thin Soul

Mar 12, 2026 • 42 min

Dr. Kevin Kambo argues that our culture has moved from a “dictatorship of relativism” to a “tyranny of pathos,” in which appeals to hurt feelings and empathy displace reasoned deliberation about truth, justice, and human nature. This lecture was given on October 23rd, 2025, at Fordham University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Kevin M. Kambo is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Dallas in Irving, TX. Before completing his doctoral studies at the Catholic University of America, he earned a bachelor of science in Chemistry at Stanford University and worked as an intellectual property paralegal in Manhattan, NY. Dr. Kambo specialises in classical Greek philosophy, particularly on Platonic moral psychology and on the dramatic elements of Platonic dialogues. He also works on the reception of Platonic thought through history, from late antique (e.g., in Clement of Alexandria and Augustine of Hippo) through contemporary (e.g., W. E. B. Du Bois and Simone Weil) thinkers, and has broader scholarly interests in philosophy of technology, philosophy and literature (especially tragedy), philosophy of race, and liberal education. He is a partisan of the original Star Wars trilogy, P. G. Wodehouse, and receiving postcards--not necessarily in that order. Keywords: Aristotle and Logos, Benedict XVI Regensburg, Dictatorship of Relativism, Ethics and Politics, John Paul II, Nature and Human Flourishing, Politics of Pathos, Relativism and Tolerance, Tyranny of Pathos

Mar 11, 2026 • 50 min

Prof. Steven Jensen argues that right and wrong are not just a matter of opinion by defending moral realism over moral relativism, showing that moral truths are grounded in human nature and goals rather than mere subjective attitudes. This lecture was given on November 13th, 2025, at Fordham University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Steven J Jensen holds the Bishop Nold Chair in Graduate Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, where he teaches in The Center for Thomistic Studies. His fields of research include bioethics, moral psychology, the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, human nature, and natural law. Keywords: Argument From Disagreement, Flat Earth Example, Human End and Purpose, Moral Objectivity, Moral Realism, Moral Relativism, Rationalization and Desire, Right and Wrong, Thomistic Moral Theory

Mar 10, 2026 • 50 min

Fr. Jacques Benoit-Rauscher explores whether the Catholic Church is truly anti-capitalist by clarifying how Catholic social doctrine distinguishes legitimate market structures from the problematic “spirit of capitalism” and proposing a prudent, Thomistic way of living faithfully within contemporary economic systems. This lecture was given on October 30th, 2025, at University of Galway. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: A Dominican friar since 2010, Fr. Jacques-Benoît Rauscher, O.P. is Regent of Studies of the Province of France. He teaches moral theology at the Catholic University of Lyon. He is the author, among others, of Découvrez la Doctrine sociale de l’Église avant d’aller voter (Discover the Social Doctrine of the Church before Voting) (2022) and Des enseignants d’élite ? Sociologie des professeurs de classes préparatoires (Teaching Elite? Sociology of Teachers in Preparatory Classes at Grandes Écoles), published by Éditions du Cerf (2019). Keywords: Adam Smith, Catholic Social Doctrine, Common Good, Economics, Economy of Communion, John Paul II, Marxism, Pope Francis, Rerum Novarum, Spirit of Capitalism

Mar 9, 2026 • 50 min

Prof. George Corbett examines how Dante’s vision of Christian wisdom, politics, and philosophy stands in deep harmony with Aquinas and Pope Leo XIII’s Leonine Thomistic revival, against Etienne Gilson’s charge that Dante shattered both Thomism and Christendom. This lecture was given on January 20th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: George Corbett is Professor of Theology at the University of St. Andrews, and the Director of Cephas (a Thomistic Centre for Philosophy and Scholastic Theology). He researches and teaches theology and the arts (with specialisms in Dante studies, sacred music, and theological aesthetics) and historical theology (with specialisms in medieval theology, Aquinas’s theology and its influence, and Catholic theology). His books include Dante’s Christian Ethics (2020), Dante and Epicurus (2013), and, as editor or co-editor, Vertical Readings in Dante’s ‘Comedy’ (2015-18), Annunciations: Sacred Music for the Twentieth-Century (2019), and Music and Spirituality: Theological Approaches, Empirical Methods, and Christian Worship (2024). Keywords: Aquinas and Dante, Catholic Political Thought, Christian Philosophy, Dante the Thomist, Etienne Gilson, Leonine Thomistic Revival, Philosophy and Theology, Pope Leo XIII, Thomism and Christendom

Mar 6, 2026 • 56 min

Prof. Jonathan I. Lunine presents his life as a planetary scientist and Catholic convert as a lived example of the harmony between faith and science, then highlights two priest‑scientists—Georges Lemaître and Gregor Mendel—whose foundational work on the Big Bang and genetics shows that Catholic belief has stood at the center of modern scientific revolutions. This lecture was given on February 20th, 2026, at Duke University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Jonathan Lunine is the Chief Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Professor of Planetary Science at Caltech in Pasadena, California. Beforehand, he was the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences and Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. Lunine is interested in how planets form and evolve, what processes maintain and establish habitability, and what kinds of exotic environments (methane lakes, etc.) might host a kind of chemistry sophisticated enough to be called "life".  He pursues these interests through theoretical modeling and participation in spacecraft missions.  He is co-investigator on the Juno mission now in orbit at Jupiter, using data from several instruments on the spacecraft, and on the MISE and gravity science teams for the Europa Clipper mission. He was on the Science Working Group for the James Webb Space Telescope, focusing on characterization of extrasolar planets and Kuiper Belt objects.  Lunine has contributed to concept studies for a wide range of planetary and exoplanetary missions. Lunine is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has participated in or chaired a number of advisory and strategic planning committees for the Academy and for NASA. Keywords: Big Bang, Catholic Scientists Society, Conversion Story, Darwin Mendel Synthesis, Georges Lemaitre, Gregor Mendel Augustinian Monk, Myth of War Between Science And Religion, Planetary Science, Thomistic Perspective On Creation, Vatican Observatory

Mar 5, 2026 • 38 min

Dr. Timothy P. Flanigan, M.D., presents Catholic faith and medicine as profoundly harmonious, showing how Christ’s person‑to‑person healing, the Church’s hospital tradition, and a “culture of life” can and must be lived inside today’s secular, therapeutically focused healthcare system—precisely where pressures over abortion, assisted suicide (MAID), and gender interventions create the sharpest conflicts of conscience. This lecture was given on April 6th, 2025, at Thomistic Institute in New York. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Timothy P. Flanigan, MD, is Professor of Medicine in the Infectious Diseases Division of The Miriam and Rhode Island Hospitals and the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He received a BA from Dartmouth College and an MD from Cornell University Medical School. In 1991, he came to The Miriam Hospital to join Dr. Charles Carpenter to lead the HIV and AIDS program and was subsequently appointed Chief of Infectious Diseases in 1999 until stepping down in 2012. He spearheaded the HIV Care Program at the Rhode Island Department of Corrections to develop improved treatments for HIV infection and has received NIH and CDC funding for over 30 years. He received the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community Health Leadership Award in 2000. He also co-directed the Lifespan Lyme Disease Clinic. He is co-founder of RISE (Rhode Islanders Sponsoring Education). As a byproduct of his work in corrections, he is the founder and president of the Newport/Fall River Star Kids Scholarship Program to help break the cycle and support the children of parents with a history of incarceration and/or substance abuse to succeed in school, go on to post-secondary education and to meet their full potential as self-sufficient, active participants in their communities. He has been recognized by the HIV Medicine Association for his community-based work with HIV-infected men and Women. In 2013, he was ordained a permanent Deacon in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, RI and serves at Saint Theresa’s and St. Christopher’s churches in Tiverton, RI. In 2014, he spent two months in Monrovia, Liberia helping the Catholic Medical Clinics and hospitals respond to the Ebola epidemic. Earlier this year he received the Milton Hamolsky Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Physicians, Rhode Island Chapter and is married to Luba Dumenco, MD and the proud father of five children and a grandson. Keywords: Catholic Faith And Medicine, Clinical Conscience, Critique of Gender Affirming Care, Culture Of Life, Hospice And Suffering, Jesus As Healer, Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID), Secularism In Medicine