Upcoming Events:
Praxis of Encounter:
Forming Catholic Leaders for a Public and Synodal Church
Wednesday, May 21 – Friday, May 23, 2025
University of San Francisco
McLaren Conference Center
Invitation only
Learn more: iacs@usc.edu
Watch for:
A Conversation on Religion and Race
USC and in Orange County
Date TBD
Past Events:
Journal of Social Catholic Thought Online Discussion
January 17, 2025
Online
A conversation with editors and authors behind the new issue of the Journal of Catholic Social Thought, including IACS President Dr. Richard Wood. The journal’s articles explore how we can most effectively organize in Catholic spaces for the healthiest future for the Church and for American democracy.
Sponsored by the Collaborative for Catholic Organizing and the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC.
Humanity in the Digital Age
December 16 and 17, 2024
Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican
Part of the IACS project Humanizing Networks, and held in collaboration with the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University and the Domus Communis Foundation in Rome.
“Beauty at Work: the Role Beauty Plays in our Lives and the Work We Do”
A presentation by IACS Hancock Fellow Brandon Vaidyanathan, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology
The Catholic University of America
The Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC hosted Brandon Vaidyanathan, Ph.D., in April 2024 for a presentation titled “Beauty at Work: the Role Beauty Plays in our Lives and the Work We Do.”
Dr. Vaidyanathan discussed his groundbreaking research on the role of beauty in people’s lives, and how beauty contributes to professional excellence and human thriving.
Dr. Vaidyanathan is associate professor and department chair of sociology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he directs the Institutional Flourishing Lab.
His work examines the role of culture in religious, economic, and scientific institutions around the world, and how cultural and institutional factors shape mental health and well-being.
Watch his presentation on the IACS YouTube channel.
Gustavo Gutiérrez:
Between Memory and Prophecy
Theological insights emerging from Latin America have left an indelible mark upon both Christianity and public policy.
On both fronts, Gustavo Gutiérrez’ work has been seminal.
In a lecture hosted by the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC, Leo Guardado, Ph.D., assessed the past fifty years of Gustavo Gutiérrez’ theological contributions, the global impact and reception of a commitment to doing theology from the perspective of the poor and insignificant, and the ongoing challenges liberation theology presents for a global Catholic Church.
Leo Guardado, Ph.D., is the inaugural DePaul Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC and an assistant professor in the Department of Theology at Fordham University.
Watch his lecture on the IACS YouTube Channel.
Co-sponsors:
Nova Forum, the USC Center for the Political Future, the Center for Religion and Civic Culture and the USC School of Religion.
