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'I Have Called You Friends'
2019 Fall Conference | November 7–9, 2019 | University of Notre Dame


The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture hosted our 20th annual Fall Conference, November 7–9, 2019. This year's conference explored the theme of friendship, from its ancient understanding as "the crown of life and the school of virtue" (C.S. Lewis) to the present day. What does it mean to make the good of another one's own, and what might be the implications of losing such an understanding of friendship in the modern world? In the interdisciplinary spirit of the Fall Conference, the dCEC engaged these themes from a wide array of fields of inquiry, including theology, philosophy, political theory, law, history, economics, and the social sciences, as well as the natural sciences, literature, and the arts.

The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture is committed to sharing the richness of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition through teaching, research, and dialogue, at the highest level and across a range of disciplines. Our Fall Conference is the most important academic forum for fruitful discourse and exchange among the world's leading Catholic thinkers and those from other traditions, and is the largest annual interdisciplinary event at Notre Dame. Recent past speakers include Nobel Laureate James Heckman, Alasdair MacIntyre, John Finnis, Mary Ann Glendon, Rémi Brague, Charles Taylor, Michael Sandel, and Jean Bethke Elshtain.

Save the date for our 21st Fall Conference, November 12–14, 2020! Topic TBA.

Conference Details

Schedule

A detailed schedule may be found here [PDF]. Paper abstracts for each colloquia session are linked below.

Thursday, November 7    
  12 p.m. Registration Check-In
Morris Inn Ballroom Hall
  1:30–2:45 p.m. Colloquia Session 1 (Paper abstracts & presenter bios here [PDF])
Morris Inn PDRs and Ballroom
  2:45–3:15 p.m. Break
Morris Inn Ballroom Hall
  3:15–4:30 p.m. Colloquia Session 2 (Paper abstracts & presenter bios here [PDF])
Morris Inn PDRs and Ballroom
  5:15 p.m. Welcome Mass with Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades
Basilica of the Sacred Heart
  8 p.m. Josef Pieper Keynote: "Friendship in Good Times and in Bad: For Building, for Leadership, or for Nothing at All"
Most Rev. Borys Gudziak (Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia)
Morris Inn Ballroom
Watch the livestream here
  9:30 p.m. Welcome Reception
Morris Inn Ballroom Hall and PDRs
Friday, November 8    
  8 a.m. Coffee and Pastries
Mendoza Atrium
  9–10:15 a.m. Colloquia Session 3 (Paper abstracts & presenter bios here [PDF])
Mendoza Auditorium and Classrooms
  10:15–10:45 a.m. Break
Mendoza Atrium
  10:45 a.m.–12 p.m. Colloquia Session 4 (Paper abstracts & presenter bios here [PDF])
Mendoza Auditorium and Classrooms
  12–1:30 p.m. Conference Lunch
Dahnke Ballroom, Duncan Student Center
  1:30–2:45 p.m. Plenary Lecture: "Is Friendship Possible?"
Alasdair MacIntyre (de Nicola Center Senior Distinguished Research Fellow)
Mendoza Auditorium
Watch the livestream here
  2:45–3:15 p.m. Break
Mendoza Atrium
  3:15–4:30 p.m. Invited Sessions:

     FROM ENMITY TO FRIENDSHIP
     John Carr and Kim Daniels (Georgetown University)
     "Working Together to Help Renew a Wounded Church and Divided Nation"
     Michael Baxter (Regis University)
     "Regis Unplugged: Friendship in the Time of Cyberattack"
     Chair: Thomas Hibbs (University of Dallas)

     'A RELATIONSHIP OF MUTUAL GOODWILL'
     Patrizia Giunti (University of Florence)
     "Friendship, Virtue, Policy: A Never-Ending Debate in Light of Cicero's Amicitia"
     Catherine Zuckert (University of Notre Dame)
     "On the Relation between Teacher and Student: Love or Friendship?"
     Chair: Mary Ann Glendon (Harvard Law School)

     "'IF YOU LOVE THOSE WHO LOVE YOU...': THE PROBLEM OF PREFERENCE"
     Gilbert Meilaender (Valparaiso University)
     Chair: Christopher Tollefsen (University of South Carolina)

     Mendoza Auditorium and Classrooms
  5:15 p.m. Mass
Basilica of the Sacred Heart
  6:15–7:45 p.m. Conference Dinner
South Dining Hall
  8 p.m. Plenary Lecture: "To Be Befriended: A Meditation on Friendship and the Disabled"
Stanley Hauerwas (Duke Divinity School)
Morris Inn Ballroom
Watch the livestream here
  9:30 p.m. Reception
Morris Inn Ballroom Hall and PDRs
Saturday, November 9    
  8 a.m. Coffee and Pastries
Mendoza Atrium
  9–10:15 a.m. Colloquia Session 5 (Paper abstracts & presenter bios here [PDF])
Mendoza Auditorium and Classrooms
  10:15–10:45 a.m. Break
Mendoza Atrium
  10:45 a.m.–12 p.m. Colloquia Session 6 (Paper abstracts & presenter bios here [PDF])
Mendoza Auditorium and Classrooms
  12–1:30 p.m. Conference Lunch
Dahnke Ballroom, Duncan Student Center
  1:30–1:45 p.m. Invited Sessions:

     BEAUTY BEHELD IN COMMON: ART AND FRIENDSHIP
     Elizabeth Lev (Duquesne University)
     "The Art of Friendship: The Sacred Conversation"
     Jennifer Donnelly
     "Moldy Relics and Modern Art: Mass, Museums, and Friendship with Objects"
     Chair: Rev. John Paul Kimes (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith)
     Mendoza Auditorium

     BREAKING APART: FRIENDSHIP IN AN AGE OF DIVISION
     John Haldane (Baylor University)
     "Is Civic Friendship Still Possible, and If Not Is Society Dead?"
     John Waters
     "On Losing Nearly All My Friends"
     Chair: James Hankins (Harvard University)
     Mendoza Room 162
  2:45–3:15 p.m. Break
Mendoza Atrium
  3:00 p.m. Film Screening: Metropolitan (1990)
Browning Cinema, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center

Note: Tickets will be available at the registration desk in the Mendoza atrium beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday. Additional tickets will be available at the door of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.
  3:15–4:30 p.m. Invited Sessions:
 
   THE INTIMACY OF FRIENDSHIP, HUMAN AND DIVINE
     Thomas Williams (University of St. Thomas, Rome)
     "Friendship and Other Loves: The Genius of C. S. Lewis"
     Rev. Michael Sherwin, O.P. (University of Fribourg)
     "Friendship with God: The Christian Call to Divine Intimacy"
     Chair:
     Mendoza Auditorium

     "BOOKER T. WASHINGTON: LINCOLNIAN LESSONS IN RACE FRIENDSHIP"
     Diana Schaub (Loyola University Maryland)
     Chair: Ernest Morrell (University of Notre Dame)
     Mendoza Room 162
  5 p.m. Mass
Basilica of the Sacred Heart
  6:15–7:45 p.m. Conference Dinner
South Dining Hall
  8 p.m. Plenary Lecture: "Love and Friendship in the Films of Whit Stillman: A Conversation with the Director"
Chair: James Matthew Wilson (Villanova University)
Morris Inn Ballroom
Watch the livestream here
  9:30 p.m. Closing Reception
Morris Inn Ballroom Hall and PDRs
  10 p.m. Young Adult Reception
Pizza Pi, South Dining Hall

Past Conferences

Find information regarding past conferences and lecture videos at the links below.

Fall Conference Collage