2022: And It Was Very Good
'And It Was Very Good': On Creation
Fall Conference | November 10–12, 2022 | University of Notre Dame
In the created world, Pope Francis writes, we are able to perceive "a grammar written by the hand of God" (Lumen Fidei). If creation is a language, what can we discern regarding the creator? The de Nicola Center's 22nd annual Fall Conference will explore the many facets of the created world and the act of creation, including questions of cosmology, teleology, natural ends, natural law, the Imago Dei, creaturely status, ecology, stewardship, cocreation, recreation, redemption, and more.
The de Nicola Center's annual Fall Conference brings together the world’s leading Catholic thinkers, as well as those from other traditions, in fruitful discourse and exchange on the most pressing and vexed questions of ethics, culture, and public policy today. The Fall Conference convenes more than 100 speakers and 800 guests annually for wide-ranging conversations that engage the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition from a variety of disciplinary points of departure, including theology, philosophy, political theory, law, history, economics, and the social sciences, as well as the natural sciences, literature, and the arts.
For the 2022 conference, the de Nicola Center is pleased to partner with Stanford University's "Boundaries of Humanity" project, which seeks to advance dialogue on "human place and purpose in the cosmos, particularly with respect to conceptions of human uniqueness and choices around biotechnological enhancement." Featured speakers include:
Robert Pogue Harrison (Stanford)
"The Thin Blue Line"
Alasdair MacIntyre (de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture)
"The Apparent Oddity of the Universe: How to Account for It?"
Simon Conway Morris (Cambridge)
"Humans and Our Path to Transcendence Or..."
Elizabeth Lev (Duquesne University)
"Creation, Complementarity, and Saint John Paul II in Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling"
Jacqueline Rivers (Harvard University)
in conversation on "Creating the Beloved Community"
Kristin Collier (University of Michigan)
"And It Was Good?: An Analysis of Neural Organoids and Chimeras"
Schedule
Conference sessions will take place on Notre Dame's campus in the McKenna Conference Center and the Morris Inn Ballroom, unless otherwise noted. The detailed schedule is below. Click here to read/download the PDF of the conference program. Download the ND Mobile app to view the full schedule including colloquium panel titles, speaker bios, and paper abstracts (see details below).
| Thursday, November 10 | |
| 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. | Registration Desk Open | McKenna Hall, 2nd Floor |
| 1:30-2:45 p.m. | Colloquia Session 1 (click here for info on presenters and paper titles) |
| 3:15-4:30 p.m. | Colloquia Session 2 (click here for info on presenters and paper titles) |
| 5:15 p.m. | Mass | Basilica of the Sacred Heart |
| 8 p.m. |
Opening Plenary Keynote and Reception |
| Friday, November 11 | |
| 8-9:00 a.m. |
Notre Dame Law School Information Breakfast |
| 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. | Registration Desk Open | McKenna Hall, 2nd Floor |
| 9-10:15 a.m. | Colloquia Session 1 (click here for info on presenters and paper titles) |
| 10:45 a.m.-12 p.m. | Colloquia Session 2 (click here for info on presenters and paper titles) |
| 12 p.m. | Lunch | South Dining Hall – West Wing |
| 1:30 p.m. |
Plenary Keynote |
| 3:15-4:30 p.m. |
Featured Presentations McKenna 205/206/207 | "Creating the Beloved Community" McKenna 215/216 | "And It Was Good?: An Analysis of Neural Organoids and Chimeras" Morris Inn Private Dining Rooms | "Myth and Modernity: What Lewis Has to Teach Secular Society" |
| 5:15 p.m. | Mass | Basilica of the Sacred Heart |
| 6:15 p.m. | Dinner | South Dining Hall – West Wing |
| 8 p.m. |
Plenary Keynote and Reception |
| Saturday, November 12 | |
| 9-10:15 a.m. | Colloquia Session 1 (click here for info on presenters and paper titles) |
| 10:45 a.m.-12 p.m. | Colloquia Session 2 (click here for info on presenters and paper titles) |
| 12 p.m. | Lunch | South Dining Hall – West Wing |
| 1:30-2:45 p.m. |
Featured Presentations McKenna 205/206/207 | "Growing Up: Progress, Play and Biotechnologies of Maturation" McKenna 215/216 | "Contemplative Realism" Morris Inn Private Dining Rooms | "Creation and Incarnation" |
| 3:15-4:30 p.m. |
Featured Presentations McKenna 205/206/207 | "Laudato Si’ and the Ecological Art of Georges Rouault" McKenna 215/216 | "Creation or Coincidence: Is There a Cosmic Plan?" Morris Inn Private Dining Rooms | "Do This In Memory of Me: Intersections in the Theology and Psychology of Memory" Trauma, Embodiment, and the Healing of Memory St. Augustine and the Healing of Memory Autobiographical Memory as a Potential Means for Cultivating Virtue Chair: Michael Waddell (Saint Mary’s College) |
| 5:00 p.m. |
Sunday Vigil Mass | Basilica of the Sacred Heart Celebrant: Fr. John Paul Kimes (de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture) |
| 6 p.m. | Dinner | South Dining Hall – West Wing |
| 8 p.m. |
Closing Plenary Keynote and Reception |
| 10:30 p.m. | Young Adult Reception | Rohr's Bistro, Morris Inn (conference name badge required for entry) |
Fall Conference Mobile App
Download the free “Notre Dame Mobile” app to your smartphone (iPhone and Android) to access the updated conference agenda, presentation abstracts, campus map with walking directions, and more. Visit https://m.nd.edu/notredame/download_nd_mobile/index on your phone’s browser to download, or go directly to your phone’s app store and search “Notre Dame Mobile.” Once you’ve installed the app, choose the “Guest” persona and find the “dCEC Fall Conference” icon.
Registration
Registration is now closed.
Lodging
Conference hotel blocks are available at the Morris Inn on campus ($139/night), as well as at the Fairfield Inn just south of campus ($149/night), within easy walking distance of the McKenna Conference Center. Reserve a room using the links below or by referencing the "dCEC Fall Conference." Conference rate is available until October 10.
Additional lodging may be available at the Embassy Suites and the Inn at St. Mary's, bothin within an easy distance of campus.
Student Lodging: Dormitory-style lodging is available for students and student groups at the Sacred Heart Parish Center on campus ($30/night). Email Christina Maciejczyk for reservations and reference the de Nicola Center Fall Conference (cmaciej1@nd.edu).
Transportation
Notre Dame is located in the Eastern time zone, 90 miles east of Chicago (Central time). Transportation to and from Notre Dame is available via South Bend International Airport, five miles from Notre Dame's campus; if you plan on flying into Chicago airports, please note that there is no longer a shuttle bus between the Chicago airports and South Bend. Additional transportation options between Chicago and South Bend include the South Shore Train Line and Greyhound Bus Line.
Campus Map, Parking, and Dining
An interactive map of campus, including guest parking lots, may be found here.
A complete list of on-campus restaurants may be found here. Please note that most fast-casual options on campus make use of contactless ordering via the Grubhub app or kiosks near the restaurant. Additional dining options are available just south of campus in Eddy Street Commons.
Past Conferences
Find information regarding past conferences and lecture videos at the links below.
- 2021 (Fall): I Have Called You by Name
- 2021 (Winter): We Belong to Each Other
- 2019: I Have Called You Friends
- 2018: Higher Powers
- 2017: Through Every Human Heart
- 2016: You Are Beauty
- 2015: For Freedom Set Free
- 2014: Responding to the Cry of the Poor
- 2013: The Body and Human Identity
- 2012: Exploring the Many Facets of Justice
- 2011: Radical Emancipation
- 2010: Younger Than Sin
- 2009: The Summons of Freedom
- 2008: The Family
- 2007: Dialogue of Cultures
- 2006: Modernity
- 2005: Joy in the Truth
- 2004: Epiphanies of Beauty
- 2003: Formation and Renewal
- 2002: From Death to Life
- 2001: A Culture of Life
- 2000: A Culture of Death