The Pleasures of Pseudepigraphy Conference

The event will begin with a pre-conference graduate student symposium, drawing students from the University of Notre Dame and Loyola University Chicago for lightning-round presentations of their research and faculty responses. The conference will officially commence with an invited plenary lecture. On the second day, scholars from the fields of classical studies, ancient Judaism, and ancient Christianity will present pre-circulated papers in seminar format. Sponsored by the Hank Center, the Loyola University Chicago Department of Theology and Department of Classical Studies.

Laudato Si' at 10 Series

Envisioning a Livable Future: Environmental Politics

What are practical, effective forms of political action to counter the climate crisis and build both solidarity and momentum? Are all the winds countervailing, or are there promising movements and trends? The fourth of seven events in the serial conference "Envisioning a Livable Future," marking the tenth anniversary of Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato Si': On Care for our Common Home.

Living Tradition Award Luncheon: Honoring Fr. Dan Hartnett, S.J.

Each spring the Hank Center presents the Living Tradition Award to a retired Loyola University Chicago faculty member who has exemplified the integration of Catholic thought into their work. This award commemorates extraordinary lives of scholarship, research, service, and teaching in specific fields of expertise. This year we honor Fr. Dan Hartnett, S.J., an exemplary practitioner of Catholic Jesuit education and service--and a key voice in the foundation of the Hank Center. By Invitation Only

2025 Annual Cardinal Bernardin Lecture featuring Bishop Mark Seitz

The Hank Center is excited to welcome Most Rev. Mark J. Seitz, Bishop of El Paso and Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration, to deliver the annual Cardinal Bernardin Common Cause lecture. This event is free and open to the public.

Hank Interfaith Dialogs: On the Sixtieth Anniversary of Nostra Aetate

Nostra Aetate, the 1965 Declaration on the Church's Relationship to Non-Christian Religions, was one of the most influential and celebrated documents issued by the Second Vatican Council. Highlighting deep spiritual and religious kinship, it made possible a renewed and positive relationship between Jews and Catholics. Please join the Hank Center as we welcome Cardinal Blase Cupich and Rabbi Noam Marans, Director of Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee, to offer some reflections and join in dialog as we mark this important anniversary. This event is by invitation only.

Panel and Reception at the North American Patristics Society Annual Meeting

This year marks the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicea, the first ecumenical council of the Church. Convened by the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine I, the council’s legacies are as contentious as they are historically and theologically signficant. Seventeen centuries later, what does it mean to teach Nicea? How do we approach it as simultaneously an historical document, a creed, a confession of faith, a cultural artifact, and an eccesial event? The Hank Center is hosting special panel session and reception to end the NAPS annual meeting. This event is free & open to the public.

Flannery Abroad: A Conference in Celebration of Flannery O'Connor's Centenary

Flannery O'Connor famously didn't like to travel. Nonetheless, in the tradition of the previous International Flannery O'Connor Conferences, we are taking O'Connor abroad in honor of her 100th birthday and to celebrate O’Connor’s influence on European writers, thinkers, and artists. Sponsored by Fordham's Curran Center for American Catholic Studies, Loyola Chicago's Hank Center, Georgetown University, The Flannery O'Connor Trust.

Common Home Corps #3

The Common Home Corps is a grant-bearing initiative that addresses the related challenges of climate change, youth climate anxiety, Catholic disaffiliation, and lack of the U.S. Church’s fidelity to creation care. The project is collaboratively led by Catholic Climate Covenant, The Hank Center and the School of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola University Chicago, and the Center for Justice and Peace at Creighton University. Twenty-five undergrads and young adults from across the US attended the first week-long training in June, 2023; and the setting of Cohort Three is underway– as Cohorts One and Two continue to work in the field.

Faculty Seminar

The Hank Center has been tasked by the university to offer an innovative seminar for faculty and administrators on the mission of the university and its commitment to social justice.

Recommended Reading

Each month CCIH will recommend new and notable books that integrate, interrogate, and celebrate the Catholic intellectual and artistic tradition.

Hank Center Fellows Highlight

We are proud to highlight and celebrate the accomplishments of our Hank Center Fellows. Introducing Zachary Taylor, a doctoral candidate in Religious Ethics at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His dissertation, “An Augustinian Ethic of Collective Memory,” explores whether and on what basis Christians can justify collective memorial duties in the political sphere. You can learn more about Zachary and his research, as well as all of our other past and present Hank Center Fellows by clicking here.

Remembering Pope Benedict

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a leading theologian of the 20th century and the first pope to resign from office in nearly 600 years, died on December 31st at the age of 95. The Hank Center has compiled some of the remembrances of Pope Benedict which focus not only on his life, but also his legacy.