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 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, and EPPC Cardinal Francis George Fellow Mary FioRito.

Please direct all inquiries about the Catholic Studies Program to:

Helen Schlueter
Catholic Studies Program Coordinator
[email protected]

Program Publications

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In Praise of Imperfect Heroes

Stephen P. White

am in Poland, as I am every July, for the Tertio Millennio Seminar, a three-week meeting on Catholic social teaching…

Articles

The Catholic Thing / July 9, 2026

Remembering Robert Wilken

George Weigel

Robert Louis Wilken—radical Christian disciple, devoted husband and father, distinguished patristics scholar, elegant writer, serious baseball guy—died on June 6,…

Articles

Catholic World Report / July 8, 2026

Keeping a Republic: A 250th Birthday Meditation

George Weigel

As we mark the national semiquincentennial on July 4, we might well reflect on Benjamin Franklin’s answer to Elizabeth Willing…

Articles

Our Hunger for the Right Things

Francis X. Maier

The historian Henry Adams once described politics as “the systematic organization of hatreds,” and that’s often where we seem to…

Articles

The Catholic Thing / July 1, 2026

Becoming Relics

Stephen P. White

As you surely know, not least because it has been mentioned repeatedly in these pages, the bishops of the United…

Articles

The Catholic Thing / June 25, 2026

In praise of the Supremes

George Weigel

Article III of the Constitution, which establishes the Supreme Court, is the shortest of the three articles that define the…

Articles

Catholic World Report / June 24, 2026

A Brief Note on Consequences

Francis X. Maier

On a cool October evening some years back, a young woman – let’s call her Jenny, age 18 – checked…

Articles

The Catholic Thing / June 17, 2026