Scholars, artists, students gather to reflect on Catholic imagination

At its 24th annual Fall Conference, the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture (dCEC) reflected on the Catholic imagination and the modern world. The conference, which took place from October 31 to November 2, drew 1,238 scholars, artists, and students, making it the Center’s largest yet. It featured more than 175 speakers, performances, and discussions, all centered around and showcasing Catholic culture. The Fall Conference is not only the dCEC’s largest annual event, but it has also grown to become Notre Dame’s largest interdisciplinary conference. 

The conference’s theme, “Ever Ancient, Ever New: On Catholic Imagination,” aligns closely with the work of the dCEC’s new director, Jennifer Newsome Martin, John J. Cavanagh Associate Professor in the Program of Liberal Studies. In an interview with the Rover, Martin said that although the theme was chosen before her tenure began, it was a “providential accident” to line up so closely with her areas of research, including “imagination, aesthetics, religion, literature, [and] creativity.”

Martin continued, “Reflection on Catholic culture and imagination, and this orientation to the capaciousness of all the goods of the world, is really important in reminding us that we serve an infinite God.”

The dCEC partnered with the biennial Catholic Imagination Conference, which was first hosted at the University of Southern California in 2015. Dana Gioia, founder of the Catholic Imagination Conference, recipient of the 2010 Laetare Medal, and former California Poet Laureate, delivered the Josef Pieper Keynote on Thursday, October 31. 

His talk emphasized the beauty and individuality of good writing. After giving his story of becoming a Catholic writer, Gioia recited seven poems. Isaac Michael, a senior at Benedictine College, called the talk a “perfect introduction to the conference.” He told the Rover, “[Gioia] showed, by his example, the lasting relevance and beauty of true poetry and our world’s need for it.”

Plenary events also included a Friday keynote address by Judith Wolfe of the University of St. Andrews and a closing roundtable discussion between Martin and three Catholic poets and authors. Wolfe’s talk, titled “The Theological Imagination,” encouraged listeners to actively use imagination to elevate their understanding of the self and the faith. She remarked, “when we use metaphor, we may be closer to talking about the real world” than when we do not. 

Martin praised Wolfe’s address, saying, “The way that she began that lecture with images, and then with poetry… and the way she thinks of it all the way up to and cresting in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. I thought that was a really beautiful way to pull all of these things together in a really organic manner.”

A unique aspect of this year’s Fall Conference was the many performances that took place, owing to the theme of creativity. Conference attendees were welcomed to not only intellectualize about Catholic culture, but enter into it through film screenings, poetry recitations, and musical performances. 

One such performance was given by Isaac Parlin, a Catholic pianist pursuing a Master of Music in piano performance at The Juilliard School. In conversation with Nicholas Chong, Associate Professor of Musicology at Rutgers University, Parlin discussed the life and work of Franz Liszt. According to the presentation, Liszt was a devoted Catholic composer and performer in the 19th century whose faith heavily influenced his compositions. 

In addition to his talk, which illuminated the historical and theological background of Liszt’s repertoire, Parlin performed five Liszt compositions on the piano. 

Levi Wojtalik, a seminarian of the Diocese of Indianapolis, told the Rover, “I appreciated the theological reflections that [Parlin] gave because I don’t think I would have understood those pieces without them. He gave a vision into Liszt’s spirituality in writing these pieces that often we miss—especially on the Sursum Corda piece,” which included dissonance but an eventual return to God at the melodious close. “That’s what it means to lift up your hearts, to come back to God,” said Wojtalik.

Another unique feature of the 2024 Fall Conference is that it took place over the Feasts of All Saints and All Souls. Martin remarked, “[These holidays] invoked a great cloud of witnesses to be part of this community—the living and the dead.” She further remarked that attendees benefitted from “not just thinking with them from the past, but also thinking with the people we’ve lost … trying to articulate the fundamental beauty and mystery of divine life.”

In one of the conference’s colloquia sessions, Elizabeth Lev, professor of Christian art and architecture at Duquesne University’s Rome campus, and Thomas Williams, professor at St. John’s University, spoke on a similar topic. Their talk, entitled “Death in the Catholic Imagination,” provided a survey of the history of Catholic depictions of death as represented in art. Attendee Isaac Michael told the Rover, “The talk gave me a fascinating new window into the role of death as the fundamental hinge of Christianity and humanity as a whole.”

Martin told the Rover that she received at least six emails from conference participants, poets and non-poets alike, who were so inspired by the events of the conference that they wrote a poem themselves. She commented, “It was so inspiring. It just bubbled over, and they created something else beautiful.”

A full list of events and recordings of conference keynotes can be found on the dCEC website.

The dCEC is also welcoming proposals for next year’s Fall Conference, which will be themed “Living Tradition.”

Caleb Vaughan is a sophomore chemical engineering major. His rejected proposal for this year’s conference addressed the stunning Catholic imagination hidden in the Costco guys. He can be reached at cvaugha2@nd.edu. 

Photo Credit: de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture Instagram

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