Catholic Studies

As an integral part of the Ethics and Public Policy Center for more than thirty years, the Catholic Studies program explores the many connections between Catholicism and public life and seeks to clarify and deepen knowledge of modern Catholic social thought. We serve as a prominent reference point for government officials, members of Congress, and journalists seeking to understand the social doctrine of the Catholic Church and its application to public policy questions. We argue for the robust moral and cultural foundations needed to sustain a society that is both free and virtuous.

EPPC Distinguished Senior Fellow George Weigel, who holds the William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies, is one of America’s leading public intellectuals and one of the most prominent Catholic thinkers in the world. His annual William E. Simon lecture provides a prominent forum for his work and has spawned influential essays, articles, and books.

EPPC’s Catholic Studies program runs the Tertio Millennio Seminar on the Free Society, an annual summer seminar on Catholic social teaching and the thought of Pope John Paul II.

EPPC Kate O’Beirne Fellow Mary Rice Hasson also directs EPPC’s Catholic Women’s Forum, which helps shape conversations in the Church and in the culture—about marriage and family, gender and sexuality, the role of women, religious liberty, and the dignity of human life—through expert commentary, presentations, scholarly articles, and in national and international conferences.

Other scholars affiliated with the Catholic Studies Program are EPPC Senior Fellow Francis X. Maier, EPPC Fellow Stephen P. White, EPPC Cardinal Francis George Fellow Mary FioRito, and EPPC Postdoctoral Fellow Gabrielle Girgis.

Please direct all inquiries about the Catholic Studies Program to:

Ella Ramsay
Catholic Studies Program Coordinator
202-715-3496
[email protected]

Program Publications

View all

Radiant in the Gulag and Elsewhere

George Weigel

And no woman of our Catholic moment embodied this Christocentric fidelity—opening doors to Christ, accompanying him to Calvary, living in the joy of the Resurrection—more than Sr. Nijolė Sadūnaitė.

Articles

Syndicated Column / April 17, 2024

When Ideology and Blasphemy Meet

George Weigel

In light of this most recent statement of Russian genocidal purpose, calls for “peace” negotiations in Ukraine serve no purpose except to foul the global information space further.

Articles

Syndicated Column / April 10, 2024

Creation and the Order of Love

Stephen P. White

When we cooperate with the order of Creation, we grow and become more like the one who created us.

Articles

The Catholic Thing / April 4, 2024

Baseball and Rumors of Angels

George Weigel

For baseball is a “signal of transcendence”—a window into the supernatural—in several ways.

Articles

Syndicated Column / April 4, 2024

Easter, Creation, and Holiness

George Weigel

Throughout the Lenten itinerary of conversion we have lived for six weeks, the Church has asked us to reflect on God’s thirst for us.

Articles

Syndicated Column / March 27, 2024

Notes on the Man from Kerioth

Francis X. Maier

The Church, like any human institution, is comprised of people. And each of those people, including ourselves, is a sinner, from plumber to pope, with the sin of greed high on the popularity list.

Articles

The Catholic Thing / March 27, 2024

Following the Jewish Jesus

George Weigel

Over the past 1,800 years, other deviant Christian thinkers have tried to “take the Jewish out of Jesus,” so to speak.

Articles

Syndicated Column / March 20, 2024