Meet Director Michelle Loris

Welcome to the Center for Catholic Studies

The Center promotes innovative and cutting-edge programming, teaching and scholarship that demonstrate Sacred Heart University’s Mission, inspired by Vatican II, and rooted in the Catholic intellectual tradition as a living, global reality relevant to our lives and the world in which we live. The Center is committed to the study and discussion of Catholic intellectual, social, cultural and artistic thought.

Through its programs and events, the Center carries forth the ongoing conversation of the Catholic intellectual tradition as that tradition addresses the “signs of the times” of our contemporary world and fosters ecumenical and interfaith dialogue that promotes understanding and collaboration.

The Center hosts the Human Journey Colloquia Series, the Bergoglio Lectures and the Heart Challenges Hate Lectures, as well as the Center’s lecture series that focuses on Catholic thought and culture as it intersects with issues and topics in our contemporary world.

The Center invites the University and the larger community to engage in ongoing conversations and events on the rich tradition and development of Catholic thought and culture. The Center has welcomed to campus leading scholars from Loyola-Chicago, Providence, Villanova, Duquesne and other prominent institutions, and our first fellow, journalist Michael Sean Winters of National Catholic Reporter.

We are proud to be one of four Catholic centers hosting the third annual ecclesial gathering of The Way Forward, “Laudata Si’: Protecting Our Common Home, Building Our Common Church,” scheduled for Feb. 22-23 at the University of San Diego.

I am delighted to invite you to participate in the many programs, projects and events sponsored by the Center.

Michelle Loris, Ph.D., Psy.D.