de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture

News

2024 Fall Conference: Call for Proposals

At its 24th annual Fall Conference, "Ever Ancient, Ever New: On Catholic Imagination," the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture will consider the idea of the Catholic imagination, its enduring and inexhaustible nature, and how it continues to illumine our modern world. With a particular focus on the literary arts, this conference will explore unique expressions of the Catholic imagination in more than 150 presentations, performances, and discussions across the disciplines, including philosophy, theology, ethics, law, history, and the natural and social sciences, as well as the creative domains of film, music, theater, and the visual arts. The conference will take place October 31–November 2, 2024 at Notre Dame.

For this year’s Fall Conference, the dCEC is pleased to partner with the Biennial Catholic Imagination Conference, which aims to enhance the understanding and appreciation of the richness and variety of contributions by Catholic artists; to explore the critical and theoretical foundations of the Catholic imagination; and to foster community and collaboration among writers and readers who share a knowledge of and respect for the Catholic tradition.

Learn more and submit a paper, panel, or performance proposal here.

dCEC director Carter Snead testifies before US Senate Judiciary Committee

O. Carter Snead, the Charles E. Rice Professor of Law and director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame, offered expert testimony on Wednesday (June 12) before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary on “Crossing the Line: Abortion Bans and Interstate Travel for Care After Dobbs.”

One of the world’s leading experts on public bioethics — the governance of science, medicine and biotechnology in the name of ethical goods — Snead also testified March 20 before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the current legal landscape following the landmark Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade.

Read the story here.

dCEC Presents Evangelium Vitae Medal to Dr. Elvira Parravicini

The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture presented the 2024 Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal—the nation’s most important award for heroes of the pro-life movement—to Dr. Elvira Parravicini, founding director of the Neonatal Comfort Care Program and professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center, at a Mass and dinner attended by more than 500 guests on April 27, 2024, at the University of Notre Dame.

Read the story here.

Directors' Statement on the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, Catholic Identity, and Academic Excellence

de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture director O. Carter Snead and director-elect Jennifer Newsome Martin published a statement in the Irish Rover on April 25, 2024.

"Given the recent discussion of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture in various public fora in tandem with the recently announced transition in its leadership, we are grateful for the opportunity to clear up some persistent misimpressions concerning its work and to offer some thoughts about the relationship between Catholic identity and serious, rigorous, and excellent academic research and teaching," they wrote.

Read their piece here.

Jennifer Newsome Martin to Succeed O. Carter Snead as Director of dCEC

I.A. O'Shaughnessy Dean of Arts and Letters Sarah Mustillo has appointed Notre Dame theologian Jennifer Newsome Martin to be the next director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. She will succeed O. Carter Snead, Charles E. Rice Professor of Law, who will conclude twelve years of service in this role on June 30, 2024.

“Serving as director of the de Nicola Center has been one of the greatest professional privileges and blessings of my life,” Snead said. “I can think of no one better to lead the Center into the future than my friend and dCEC faculty fellow Jenny Martin. She has a heart for the dCEC’s mission in all its dimensions, is a brilliant scholar, a beloved teacher, and a dynamic and inspiring leader. Simply put, Jenny is one of the most exciting Catholic intellectuals in academia today.”

Read the story here.

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All of our work at the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture is aimed at one goal: to share the richness of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition through teaching, research, and dialogue, at the highest level and across a range of disciplines. In so doing, we enrich Notre Dame’s distinctive intellectual ecology—and we bring the university’s voice into the academic and public conversations concerning the most vital and complex matters of ethics, literature, art, music, social sciences, philosophy, theology, history, political theory, applied and theoretical science, public policy, and law. For more information on how to support the work of the de Nicola Center, visit our support page.

Ethics and Culture Cast

Our podcast features lively conversations with fellows, scholars, and friends of the de Nicola Center. Episodes released every other Thursday during the academic year. Suggestions and feedback welcome at cecpodcast@nd.edu.

Podcast Episode List