Conferences

The Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Reilgion, Ethics and Culture, in collaboration with faculty and departments, organizes conferences to delve deeper into topics integral to its mission. Most conferences are open to the college community and the public at large with pre-registration, and some content from past conferences is available here.

Save the Date:

Thursday-Friday, March 22-23, 2012
The Other America: Then and Now — This conference will mark the 50th anniversary of The Other America, a seminal analysis on poverty in the United States by Holy Cross alumnus Michael Harrington '47. Speakers including Harrington's biographer Maurice Isserman, David O'Brien, Thomas Sugrue, Peter Dreier, and Alan Wolfe will explore the impact of Harrington's book during the 1960s and '70s and its influence on the development of Great Society programs. Friday's events will focus on the "other America" of today - including policies to address poverty, mass incarceration, child farm workers, marginalized men, and youth and education - featuring a keynote address by Harvard sociologist William Julius Wilson, and with guest speakers including Annette Lareau, Bruce Western, Timothy Black and Zama Coursen-Neff.
Learn more and watch the videos here.

Past Conferences:

April 1-2, 2011
"Let Justice Roll Down" - A Conference on the Practice and Pedagogy of Organizing in the 21st Century

This conference examines community organizing as a strategy for addressing poverty and inequality in the United States. Leading scholars and practitioners come together to consider how community leadership development can impact local and national policy, and what pedagogical tools are best suited to train a new generation of organizers. The conference seeks to pull together new ideas from scholarship, field organizing work, and policy leaders to best respond to 21st century political, social and economic challenges.

View the conference agenda.
Listen to Mark Warren's keynote speech online | Free iTunes Download

January 27-28, 2011
Framing Mary: The Mother of God in Modern Russian Culture
This working symposium offered in partnership with the Museum of Russian Icons will bring together scholars of Russian literature, religious history and art history to focus on the various ways the iconic image of Mary has been used to frame and shape Russian national, cultural and spiritual self-expression. The symposium will result in a volume on the Mother of God in modern Russia to be edited by Amy Adams, associate professor of Russian literature at Holy Cross, and Vera Shevroz, associate professor of religion at Smith College. Learn more.

December 3, 2010
Religion and Reason in the American Founding
This one-day conference explores the confluence of biblical and enlightenment ideas that the American founders wrestled with to shape American polity and civil society. Jonathan Israel, professor of modern European history at the Institute for Advanced Study and one of the world's leading historians of the Enlightenment, will give the keynote address. Other speakers include: Carla Mulford, associate professor of English at Pennsylvania State University; Vincent Phillip Munoz, associate professor of political science at Notre Dame; and Robert Faulkner, professor of political science at Boston College. Learn more.

March 18-19, 2010
Biological Foundations of Morality? Neuroscience, Evolution and Morality — Conference video available online!
This two-day conference considers the latest developments in neuroscience to approach discussions on morality. How does what we are learning about the brain influence how we ought to think about ethics? Speakers include Michael Gazzaniga, director of the SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind at the University of California Santa Barbara; Patrick Haggard, a researcher at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London; ethicist Robert Kane '60, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, University of Texas at Austin; James Blair, chief of the Unit on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience in the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, National Institute of Mental Health; and others. Learn more.