On Thursday, January 19, the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame will mark the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade in Washington, DC, with an expert roundtable discussion on how best to care for and protect mothers, babies, and families in the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson…
The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture is pleased to welcome more than 1,000 scholars, students, and friends to its 22nd annual Fall Conference, hosted at the University of Notre Dame, November 10–12. Entitled “And It Was Very Good: On Creation…
The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture is pleased to welcome its newest Mission Fellows, graduate and professional students at the University of Notre Dame who share the de Nicola Center's passion for research and engagement with the moral and intellectual tradition of the Church. Mission fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis to one incoming student in both Notre Dame Law School and the PhD program in the College of Arts and Letters with a proven track record of academic excellence and enthusiasm for the unique mission of the University.
Acclaimed legal philosopher and constitutional and political theorist Robert P. George will receive the University of Notre Dame’s 2023 Evangelium Vitae Medal—the nation’s most important award for heroes of the pro-life movement—at a celebration hosted by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture on April 29, 2023.
George is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Professor of Politics at Princeton University and the founding director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions.
The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture welcomed two new staffers to the office in mid-August. Brooke Tranten and Phil Tran join the team to support and further develop the Center's student formation, culture of life, and academic research pillars.…
O. Carter Snead, director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, has extensively discussed the Supreme Court's case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the leak that preceded the final decision, and the wider questions about human flourishing that underlie so much of the public debate about abortion. Here is a comprehensive catalog of his scholarship, writing, interviews, and media mentions on these topics (list updated 10 August 2022)…
Statement from O. Carter Snead, professor of law at Notre Dame Law School, concurrent professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, and director of Notre Dame’s de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture:
“In today’s historic decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization…
The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture congratulates the 103 student Sorin Fellows who completed their studies at Notre Dame, Saint Mary's College, and Holy Cross College in 2022. In all, 68 undergraduates and 35 graduate and professional Sorin Fellows participated in commencement ceremonies earlier this month.…
A new article in the New York Times has recommended O. Carter Snead’s book What It Means to Be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics…
The University of Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture presented the 11th annual Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal to Dr. John T. Bruchalski, founder of Tepeyac OB/GYN, one of the largest pro-life clinics in the United States, at a Mass and dinner attended by more than 450 guests and friends on April 23, 2022.
More than 700 students, faculty, administrators, alumni and friends gathered on a seasonably cold day at the University of Notre Dame for a Day for Life on Jan. 21 to bear joyful witness to the inalienable and equal dignity of every member of the human family, born and unborn.
The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture is pleased to welcome David Younger to the staff as its new Student Formation Program Manager, where he will oversee the more than 300 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students affiliated with the dCEC through its highly successful Sorin Fellows Program…
The St. Thomas More Society of the Diocese of Dallas honored O. Carter Snead, professor of law at Notre Dame Law School and director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, at its annual Red Mass on October 9, 2021. The Society’s Red Mass invokes the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the securing of justice, and is celebrated each Fall to mark the beginning of the new legal term for the Texas courts.…
The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame will present the 2022 Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal to Dr. John T. Bruchalski, MD, founder of Tepeyac OB/GYN, one of the largest pro-life clinics in the nation, at a celebration on April 23. (Dinner registration is closed, as we are at capacity.)…
O. Carter Snead, professor of law and director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, was cited in a landmark dissent…
July 29, 2021 – O. Carter Snead, professor of law at Notre Dame Law School and director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, has filed (with Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law, emerita, Harvard University) an amici curiae…
O. Carter Snead, professor of law at Notre Dame Law School and director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, will receive the 2021 Expanded Reason Award in Research for his book What It Means to Be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics…
Center Director O. Carter Snead's latest book, What It Means to be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics…
de Nicola Center director O. Carter Snead joined leading pro-life Catholic scholars on a statement regarding the moral acceptability of receiving the currently-available COVID-19 vaccines…
January 27, 2021 – The University of Notre Dame's de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture has released a video entitled "March On, Notre Dame!" that highlights the University's commitment to building a culture of life, both on-campus and in the wider public square. Released to coincide with the virtual March for Life on January 29, the video and transcript are available now at ethicscenter.nd.edu/MarchOnND…
The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame will present a virtual conference January 12–14, 2021, “We Belong to Each Other,” featuring livestreamed presentations by Archbishop José H. Gomez, poet Dana Gioia, historian Elizabeth Lev, philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, author Yuval Levin, public health expert Monique Chireau Wubbenhorst, and many others.…
The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame will present the 2021 Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal to Vicki Thorn, founder of the post-abortion healing ministry Project Rachel and executive director of the National Office of Post-Abortion Reconciliation and Healing, at a celebration on April 24.
“Vicki Thorn’s work is a living witness to the unconditional love and mercy that lies at the heart of the Culture of Life,” said O. Carter Snead, the director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. “We originally wanted to honor Vicki this past April at a gala celebration gathered with hundreds of friends and champions of life, but the pandemic and associated safety protocols necessitated a postponement. We look forward to presenting her with the Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal in 2021.”
Inspired by Pope Francis's observation that Christians "cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life," the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture will host a webinar discussion on racism and the culture of life on July 28 at 8:00 p.m. (EDT). The discussion is co-hosted by the College of Arts and Letters…
It is with a heavy heart that the de Nicola Center announces the cancellation of our 2020 Fall Conference, originally scheduled to take place November 12–14 at the University of Notre Dame.
In light of the ongoing pandemic, the University has taken a number of precautions…
The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture will present the 2020 Notre Dame Vita Institute, its annual intellectual formation program for pro-life leaders, as a series of five free webinars the week of June 15–19, 2020.
The Center's annual Vita Institute brings together leaders in the national and international pro-life movement for a week each summer at Notre Dame for an intensive interdisciplinary training program that extends and deepens their breadth and depth of understanding of the subjects most essential to building a culture of life, including biology, philosophy, law, theology, and social sciences. This year’s online webinar series will allow a wider audience to sample the exceptional teaching of the traditional on-campus event.…
The following essay was shared with the Notre Dame Law School faculty by G. Marcus Cole, the Joseph A. Matson Dean and Professor of Law. We are proud to publish it with his permission:
I am George Floyd. Except, I can breathe. And I can do something.
– G. Marcus Cole
Over the past several days, I have received numerous messages of care and support from friends, neighbors, and acquaintances, each of whom simply wanted to express their concern for how I might be feeling in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. For many, I am perhaps one of the only African-American men in their social or business circles. Others, especially those who know me well, are cognizant of my own personal experiences with racial violence. Their expressions of love and support are rooted in the fact that the circumstances surrounding the deaths of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery are strikingly similar to my own accounts of an attack on my father over fifty years ago, one I witnessed as a little boy. What my friends may not know, but surely suspect, is that each report of racial violence at the hands of a police officer or group of men brings to the surface the vivid memories of that terrible night.
The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture salutes the more than 100 student Sorin Fellows who completed their studies at Notre Dame, Saint Mary's College, and Holy Cross College in 2020. In all, 75 undergraduates and 28 graduate and professional school Sorin Fellows joined their classmates in virtual commencement ceremonies earlier this month.…
On January 24, more than 800 students, faculty, staff, and graduate students from the University of Notre Dame, Holy Cross College, and St. Mary’s College will participate in the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., now in its 47th year. Thanks to generous underwriting by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, in partnership with the Notre Dame Right to Life student club, the university consistently sends one of the largest single contingents to participate in the event, year after year.…
Sir Roger Scruton by Pete Helme
The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture mourns the death of philosopher Sir Roger Scruton, who died of complications of cancer on January 12, 2020. Sir Roger was one of the foremost contemporary writers on aesthetics and political philosophy, penning works on philosophy, art, music, politics, literature, culture, sexuality, conservativism, and religion; he also wrote novels, two operas, and a television series entitled Why Beauty Matters…
In 2019, the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture celebrated its twentieth year of sharing the richness of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition both on campus and in the public square. It was truly a banner year, beginning with the announcement on January 8 that Tony and Christie de Nicola had made a transformative gift of $10 million to endow the dCEC's work…
