Veritas Series for Faith and Culture

The Veritas Lecture Series engages speakers from a variety of backgrounds to explore the depth of human experience and to articulate the truth – the fullness of personhood – to which we each aspire. The Catholic Intellectual Tradition welcomes and embraces this exploration as a means of seeking the common good that enhances this world we share.

All lectures will be held in the Joanne and Peter Kenny Theatre at 7:00PM (EST).  Registration is not required to attend. Parking is free in the P1 parking lot beside the Wemple building. Lectures may be recorded and made available on this site at the discretion of the featured presenter(s). Poster for the entire series is available here.

The lectures for this year’s series focus on discovering, or perhaps uncovering, the sacred in our life – in grief, resilience, food, migration and the experience of deep listening. The artistic piece chosen to depict this year’s series is Embers by Virginia Varley, CSJ (used with permission from Loyola House - Ignatius Jesuit Centre, Guelph, Ontario). This work evokes a sense of reflection and regeneration. In her writings about this painting, Virginia recalls a line from Richard Wagamese’s, book One Drum, Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet: “Choosing to act with courage is the doorway to Spiritual Transformation.” (2019, p. 156) The invitation of her artwork, and this lecture series, is to courageously encounter Divine Mystery in the ordinariness of everyday life and be transformed.

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  •  SEPTEMBER 19, 2024  

Indigenous Arts and Cultural Resurgence 

SANDRA LARONDE and performance by RED SKY PERFORMANCE
President’s Lecture (Sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph) 

This discussion of Indigenous Arts and Cultural Resurgence will include a lecture from Sandra Laronde and live performance by Red Sky Performance.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sandra Laronde is an accomplished arts innovator, multi-disciplinary artist, and visionary leader playing a vital role in the ongoing Indigenous cultural resurgence of Canada. She is Teme-Augama Anishinaabe from the Temagami First Nation in northern Ontario. Sandra is the founder of Red Sky Performance, an award-winning company that leads in the creation, elevation, and evolution of contemporary Indigenous performance in Canada and worldwide. Her extensive body of creations include dance, theatre, music, and media. At the heart of her work lies a commitment to storytelling and ongoing exploration and experimentation. She has received multiple accolades for her body of work that has created powerful transformational experiences across Canada, the United States, Europe, and Asia. Sandra is an inspirational speaker and guest lecturer and has spoken at arts summits, forums, special events, and numerous universities and colleges across Canada, the United States, and Asia.

See poster here.

  •  OCTOBER 24, 2024  

The Spirituality of Eating:  
Why Food Matters in the Life of Faith

NORMAN WIRZBA

The provision of food is one of God’s most basic ways of expressing love and care for creatures. Wirzba will show how our producing and consuming food can be a witness to God’s loving ways with the world.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Norman Wirzba is the Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor Theology and Director of Research in the Office of Climate and Sustainability at Duke University. He is the author of numerous books, including Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating, This Sacred Life: Humanity’s Place in a Wounded World, and most recently Love’s Braided Dance: Hope in a Time of Crisis, anticipated at the end of October 2024.

See poster here.

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  •  NOVEMBER 21, 2024   

Is the Christian God A Migrant?

PETER C. PHAN
Annual Christ the King Lecture

The lecture explores the concept of the Christian God as a migrant: God the Father as the Primordial Migrant in the act of creation; God the Son as the Paradigmatic Migrant in the incarnation; and God the Spirit as the Power of Migration in the act of transformation. Each migrant is therefore the image par excellence of the Christian God; whoever welcomes migrants welcomes God, and whoever rejects them rejects God.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Peter C. Phan is the Ignacio Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought at Georgetown University, Washington, DC. He has three earned doctorates and four honorary doctorates.  He has authored and edited some 40 books and published over 300 articles on various aspects of theology.

See poster here.

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  •  January 30, 2025   

A Conversation in the Spirit: Reflecting on  the Synod and the Experience of Synodality

LINDA STAUDT

Linda will be sharing her reflections on the Synod as well as her reflections on synodality as experienced through “Conversations in the Spirit,” a method of discernment founded on prayer, listening, and silence.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Linda Staudt, past Director of Education for the London District Catholic School Board, is one of seven lay people from North America selected by Pope Francis as a voting delegate to the two sessions of the 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome. She was nominated by His Excellency, Bishop Ronald Fabbro, for her extensive knowledge of the Synod, service to the Diocese of London, and her achievements as a leader in Catholic education. She was the Co-Chair of the Diocese of London Synod Committee, Chair and Lead Writer of the Synod Synthesis Team for the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario, and has facilitated ‘Conversations in the Spirit’ for a variety of local, provincial, and national groups.

See poster here.