Eminent and emerging pro-life leaders from around the world gathered on the campus of the University of Notre Dame for a week-long intensive intellectual formation program at the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture's annual Notre Dame Vita Institute, June 9–13, 2025. Participants studied the fundamentals of life issues with leading scholars across a wide range of disciplines, including social science, biology, philosophy, theology, law, neonatology, and reproductive health.

The 33 participants in the 2025 Vita cohort included physicians, international NGO directors, diocesan pro-life staff, family planning counselors, lawyers, medical students, academic researchers, bioethicists, journalists, healthcare system directors, advocates for people with disabilities, and law students. Seventy percent of the cohort were women in leadership and direct service roles, and participants represented six countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, and the United States.

“Since its beginning in 2009, our Notre Dame Vita Institute has featured a world-class faculty, and this year’s program may have been our strongest yet,” said Jennifer Newsome Martin, director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture and the John J. Cavanaugh Professor of the Humanities at the University of Notre Dame. "We were delighted to welcome so many scholars and experts across a variety of disciplines to offer their expertise to our participants—each of them leaders in their own fields, actively working to build and support a culture of life worldwide."

The Notre Dame Vita Institute provides comprehensive, interdisciplinary formation in the many interlocking issues at the heart of building a culture of life, enhancing participants’ expertise and preparing them to be even more effective in their work on behalf of the unborn and their mothers, whether as health care providers, public policymakers, counselors, bioethicists, communicators, or legal scholars.

Participants also gain access to fruitful collaboration and networking opportunities with other pro-life leaders and ministries worldwide. Now in its 16th year, with a network of more than 700 alumni, past Vita Institute participants include the senior leaders of the most high-profile and important pro-life organizations and concerned citizens from across the full spectrum of pro-life vocations. The Vita Institute gives participants opportunities to deepen their intellectual and spiritual lives and to foster lasting relationships with others who share their commitment to the cause for life.

"It was a phenomenal experience from the high caliber faculty presentations, to the well-organized and friendly staff, to the inspiring interactions with participants from diverse backgrounds," said one participant, a bioethicist from Texas. "I am still processing the fountain of information and inspiration that has flowed from Vita. Events such as Vita make a difference in spreading a culture of life and hope."

The faculty at this year's Institute represented a diverse range of fields and institutions, including O. Carter Snead, the Charles E. Rice Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, former director of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, and one of the world’s leading experts on public bioethics, as well as Sherif Girgis (Notre Dame Law School), Stephen Sachs (Harvard Law School), Maureen Condic (Catholic University of America), Francis Beckwith (Baylor University), Dr. Byron Calhoun (Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, West Virginia University), Dr. Monique Chireau Wubbenhorst (de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture), Kathleen Domingo (California Catholic Conference), and Mary O’Callaghan (McGrath Institute for Church Life).

The concluding capstone lecture by director Jennifer Newsome Martin drew upon her work in theological aesthetics to sum up the week with a hopeful conversation about the ability of beauty to convert hearts. She ended with a message of gratitude for the witness that the participants undertake in their work and ministry.

The Notre Dame Vita Institute is presented at no cost to participants and underwritten by the generous benefactors of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. The next session of the Vita Institute will take place on the campus of Notre Dame in June 2026. More information about the Vita Institute program is available here.