The Thomistic Institute

Prof. James Nolan argues that Tocqueville, Weber, and Chesterton offer contrasting foreign views on American secularism, with Tocqueville and Chesterton seeing religion as essential to democracy and predicting its persistence, while Weber views Protestantism as inevitably fueling disenchantment.

This lecture was given on March 23rd, 2026, at New York University.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Professor James L. Nolan, Jr. is the Washington Gladden 1859 Professor of Sociology at Williams College, where he has been teaching since 1996. Professor Nolan’s teaching and research interests fall within the general areas of law and society, culture, technology and social change, and historical comparative sociology. His most recent book, Atomic Doctors: Conscience and Complicity at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age, was published with Harvard University Press in 2020. His previous books include What They Saw in America: Alexis de Tocqueville, Max Weber, G.K. Chesterton, and Sayyid Qutb (2016); Legal Accents, Legal Borrowing: The International Problem-Solving Court Movement (2009); Reinventing Justice: The American Drug Court Movement (2001); and The Therapeutic State: Justifying Government at Century’s End (1998). He is the recipient of several grants and awards including National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships and a Fulbright scholarship. He has held visiting fellowships at Oxford University, Loughborough University, the University of Notre Dame, Catholic University of America, and Nagasaki Junshin Catholic University.

Keywords: American Democracy, Chesterton, Disenchantment, Iron Cage, Protestant Ethic, Religion, Secularization, Second Great Awakening, Tocqueville, Weber

Prof. Giuseppe Pezzini argues that Oscar Wilde's aestheticism and life journey reveal a Catholic imagination, where art confronts suffering and beauty leads to embracing the full reality of pain, culminating in his final reconciliation with faith.

This lecture was given on March 23rd, 2026, at University of Galway.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Prof. Guiseppe Pezzini is an Associate Professor of Latin Language and Literature at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, specializing in Early Latin (3rd–1st c. BC). A linguist and philologist by training, he explores the period's crucial role in shaping Roman-Greek cultural identity, applying expertise in ancient metre, textual criticism, and digital humanities to his research.
His career has included teaching at the University of St Andrews and research fellowships at Magdalen College Oxford and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He studied at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa and earned his D.Phil. from the University of Oxford. From 2010 to 2013, he also served as an Assistant Editor for the Oxford Dictionary of Medieval Latin.
Professor Pezzini's interests extend to the classical ancestry of modern English literature. This is seen in his forthcoming monograph, Tolkien and the Mystery of Literary Creation (Cambridge University Press 2025). Other recent and forthcoming books include volumes on Early Latin (Cambridge 2023), Roman Cultural History (Oxford 2025), and an edition and commentary on Terence's Heauton Timorumenos (forthcoming in the Cambridge ‘Orange Series’).

Keywords: Aestheticism, Beauty, Conversion, De Profundis, Dorian Gray, Suffering, Happy Prince, Prison, Prophecy, Wounded Humanity

Prof. James Felak traces Catholic social teaching from Leo XIII to Francis, showing how the popes defend human dignity, a just wage, solidarity with the poor, subsidiarity, and the balance between rights and duties against both unchecked capitalism and collectivist ideologies.

This lecture was given on March 5th, 2026, at University of Washington.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

James Felak is a Professor of History and current holder of the Newman Center Term Professorship in Catholic Christianity at the University of Washington. He specializes in Catholicism in East Central Europe and has authored two books on Catholic politics in Slovakia, and a book on Pope John Paul II and his visits to his native Poland during and after Communist rule there. This latter work is based on hundreds of pages of papal speeches and sermons, and the records of the Communist government and secret police as they monitored the Pope during his visits. Besides courses on modern Europe, Felak teaches “The History of Christianity” and “Catholic Classics in Historical Context.” The latter course covers the major Catholic writers and thinkers from St. Augustine and St. Benedict through G. K. Chesterton and Flannery O’Connor. Felak is from southwestern Pennsylvania, received his doctorate from Indiana University, and has resided in Seattle since 1989.

Keywords: Catholic Social Teaching, Common Good, Human Dignity, John Paul II, Just Wage, Leo XIII, Rights And Duties, Solidarity, Subsidiarity, Workers

Fr. John Mark Solitario argues that Mary's role in the spiritual life is necessary because she uniquely forms disciples into Christ's life through her graces as new Eve, spiritual mother, and intercessor who draws us to her Son.

This lecture was given on March 20th, 2026, at Vanderbilt University.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Fr. John Mark Solitario is from St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in West Springfield, MA and the eldest of four children. After attending Catholic schools through high school, he earned his bachelor of arts from Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. Desiring to contribute to Catholic education, he was admitted to the PACT (Providence Alliance of Catholic Teachers) Program at Providence College where he completed a Masters of Education and taught high school in Lowell, MA for two years. He credits his growth in the Catholic Faith and inspiration to live it fully to outstanding teachers and role models, among them not a few Dominicans—priests, sisters, and lay. “From the time I met the Order, I aspired to the Dominican ideal of contemplation followed by a generous sharing of the fruits of that encounter with God. I have found this ideal realized and sustained within the fraternal life of the Province of St. Joseph.”

Keywords: Annunciation, Four Causes, Grace, Holy Spirit, Mary, New Eve, Spiritual Life, Spiritual Motherhood, Thomistic, Union With Christ

Dr. Nathaniel Peters argues that Thomas Aquinas teaches marriage is the greatest friendship, uniting spouses in a sacramental bond ordered to mutual virtue, children’s generation and formation, and sharing in God’s fatherhood and Christ's priesthood.

This lecture was given on March 19th, 2026, at Universidad Panamericana.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Nathaniel Peters is the Director of the Morningside Institute. He received his B.A. from Swarthmore College, his M.T.S. from the University of Notre Dame, and his Ph.D. from Boston College. He has published article on many topics on religion and public life, and his first book, The Trinitarian Dimensions of Cistercian Eucharistic Theology, is forthcoming from Catholic University of America Press.

Keywords: Aquinas, Chastity, Children, Fatherhood, Friendship, Marriage, Priesthood, Sacrament, Self-Gift, Virtue