The Thomistic Institute

This lecture was given on January 17th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.

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

About the Speakers:

Thomas Hibbs is currently J. Newton Rayzor Sr. Professor of Philosophy at Baylor where he is also Dean Emeritus, having served for 16 years as the inaugural Dean of the Honors College. At Baylor he was also the inaugural director of Baylor in Washington, D.C. where he currently runs a summer program on Religion and Social Life. He has served as department chair at Boston College and as president of the University of Dallas.

Hibbs has published more than thirty scholarly articles, the most recent of which is “Aquinas and Black Natural Law.” He has published eight books, the most recent of which is Theology of Creation: Ecology, Art, and Laudato Si’ (University of Notre Dame Press, 2023). He has also published two books on film and philosophy and one book on art. He has published more than 100 reviews and discussion articles on film, theater, art, and higher education in a variety of venues including First Things, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Wall Street Journal, and National Review. He writes regularly for The Dallas Morning News.

Hibbs’ lectures have been protested by nihilists at Boston University and by communists in Palermo, Sicily.

This lecture was given on January 17th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.

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

About the Speakers:

Thomas Hibbs is currently J. Newton Rayzor Sr. Professor of Philosophy at Baylor where he is also Dean Emeritus, having served for 16 years as the inaugural Dean of the Honors College. At Baylor he was also the inaugural director of Baylor in Washington, D.C. where he currently runs a summer program on Religion and Social Life. He has served as department chair at Boston College and as president of the University of Dallas.

Hibbs has published more than thirty scholarly articles, the most recent of which is “Aquinas and Black Natural Law.” He has published eight books, the most recent of which is Theology of Creation: Ecology, Art, and Laudato Si’ (University of Notre Dame Press, 2023). He has also published two books on film and philosophy and one book on art. He has published more than 100 reviews and discussion articles on film, theater, art, and higher education in a variety of venues including First Things, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Wall Street Journal, and National Review. He writes regularly for The Dallas Morning News.

Hibbs’ lectures have been protested by nihilists at Boston University and by communists in Palermo, Sicily.

This lecture was given on March 14th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.

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

About the Speakers:

Fr. Gabriel O’Donnell, O.P., entered the Order of Preachers in 1963 and was ordained a priest in 1970. He is a professor and spiritual director at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, MD. He previously taught at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC; St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, PA; and the Angelicum in Rome. He serves as the vice-postulator for the canonization of Blessed Michael J. McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, and Venerable Rose Hawthorne, O.P., the foundress of the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne.

Dr. Carl Vennerstrom argues that the capital vices are best understood as a path of disordered desires that Christ exposes and heals, with pride standing at the root and humility as the chief remedy.

This lecture was given on March 14th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.

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

About the Speakers:

Dr. Vennerstrom specializes in eastern patristic theology. Of particular interest are monasticism, scriptural interpretation, and the writings of Evagrius of Pontus. He earned his PhD in Early Christian Studies at the Catholic University of America and teaches courses in church history, theology, and Greek at the Augustine Institute Graduate School in St. Louis, Missouri.

Keywords: Charity, Humility, Monastic Tradition, Pride, Salvation, Temptation, Virtue, Vice

Fr. Gabriel O’Donnell argues that the Christian life is not mainly about rule-following or behavior modification, but about becoming a whole, Godward person through self-knowledge, acceptance, and relationship with Christ.

This lecture was given on March 14th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.

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

About the Speakers:

Fr. O’Donnell grew up in Syracuse, New York. After two years as a student at Providence College, he entered the Order of Preachers in 1963 and was ordained a priest in 1970. In 1971 he earned an MA in Liturgical Studies from the University of Notre Dame, and in 1980 earned an STD degree in the area of Liturgical Spiritual Theology from the Pontifical Faculty for Spirituality, the Teresianum, in Rome. He has previously taught at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, St. Charles Seminary in Philadelphia, PA and the Angelicum in Rome. In addition to teaching, he currently serves as a vice-postulator for the cause for sainthood of Father Michael J. McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus, and as vice-postulator for the cause of Rose Hawthorne, founder of the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, NY. He previously survived as postulator for the cause of canonization of Father Paul of Graymoor, which has also been submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome. With Robin Mass, Ph.D., Fr. O’Donnell is the author of Spiritual Traditions for the Contemporary Church and has contributed to A Love That Never Ends: A Key to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Keywords: Acceptance, Aquinas, Christian Life, Christ, Desert Tradition, Godwardness, Holiness, Self-Knowledge, Virtue, Vulnerability