Video Library

The Institute for Human Ecology invites you to our Fourth Annual Installment in the Saint Scholastica Series, “Everyday Beauty through the Benedictine Way of Life.”

Join IHE Scholars Margarita Mooney Clayton and David Clayton, experts in the study of beauty, art, and education, as they share their wisdom on encountering beauty through the Benedictine way of life.

About the speakers:

Dr. Margarita Mooney Clayton: Margarita Mooney Clayton is an Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, where she teaches classes such as philosophy of social science; aesthetics and education; and devotion to Mary. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Scala Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is to restore meaning and purpose in America through beauty in education, culture, and worship. Professor Mooney Clayton received her B.A. in Psychology from Yale University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Princeton University. She has also been on the faculty of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Yale University and has taught for the Pepperdine School of Public Policy.

She is the author of The Wounds of Beauty: Seven Dialogues on Art and Education (Cluny Media, 2022), The Love of Learning: Seven Dialogues on the Liberal Arts (Cluny Media, 2021), and Faith Makes Us Live: Surviving and Thriving in the Haitian Diaspora (University of California Press, 2019). She has also written for publications that reach wide audiences both inside and outside academia such as Real Clear Policy, Scientific American, Chronicle of Higher Education, First Things, Public Discourse, Hedgehog Review, National Catholic Register, and Church Life Journal.

Mr. David Clayton: David Clayton is an artist, teacher, and writer based in Princeton, NJ. He serves as Provost and Dean of the Faculty of Sacred Arts at Pontifex University and Artist-in-Residence of the Scala Foundation, a non-profit focused on cultural transformation through beauty in education and liturgy. Born and raised in England, Clayton has an M.A. in Materials Science from Oxford University. He has authored several books, including “The Little Oratory” and “The Way of Beauty.” He studied Byzantine iconography under Aidan Hart, the British master, and classical naturalism and portraiture in Florence, Italy. His art hangs in churches in the US and UK, with notable commissions for the Brompton Oratory in London, Pluscarden Monastery in Scotland and Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire, where he was Artist-in-Residence and Teaching Fellow for seven years. He has also illustrated several books, including Scott Hahn’s “God’s Covenant With You.”

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Has secularization reached its limits? Is science pointing us back toward faith in God? Is there a religious “vibe shift” in Generation Z?

IHE Media Fellow Ross Douthat is joined by Spencer Klavan to discuss their new books on the reasonability of religion, the shifting spiritual landscape of American society, and the promise (and perils) of a new religious era.

IHE Scholar and Professor of Theology Dr. Chad Pecknold will moderate the discussion, grounding the conversation in realities both earthly and divine.

This event is cosponsored by the Catholic Information Center.

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Join The Lamp and the Institute for Human Ecology for an online event in which our panelists discuss “the Catholic vote” in American elections. What role do Catholics play in American elections? And what, if any, influence does the Church’s teaching have on how the majority of Catholics cast their ballots?

Our panelists include Stephen P. White, Executive Director of The Catholic Project, and Matthew Walther, Editor at The Lamp.

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Join the IHE for a conversation with David L. Dusenbury on his book, The Innocence of Pontius Pilate: How the Roman Trial of Jesus Shaped History, moderated by IHE Fellow Steven Waldorf.

The gospels and the first-century historians agree: Jesus was sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate, the Roman imperial prefect in Jerusalem. To this day, Christians of all churches confess that Jesus died ‘under Pontius Pilate.’ But what exactly does that mean? Within decades of Jesus’ death, Christians began suggesting that it was the Judaean authorities who had crucified Jesus — a notion later echoed in the Qur’an. In the third century, one philosopher raised the notion that, although Pilate had condemned Jesus, he had done so justly; this idea survives in one of the main strands of modern New Testament criticism. So what is the truth of the matter? And what is the history of that truth?

David Lloyd Dusenbury reveals Pilate’s ‘innocence’ as not only a neglected theological question, but a recurring theme in the history of European political thought. He argues that Jesus’ interrogation by Pilate, and Augustine of Hippo’s North African sermon on that trial, led to the concept of secularity and the logic of tolerance emerging in early modern Europe. Without the Roman trial of Jesus, and the arguments over Pilate’s innocence, the history of empire — from the first century to the twenty-first — would have been radically different.

Steven Waldorf specializes in political and moral philosophy in the medieval and early modern periods. His current research focuses on how Aquinas and later Scholastic thinkers understood the relationship between man’s natural and supernatural ends and the implications of their views for political philosophy. His research interests also include natural law, the relationship between acquired and infused virtue, and church-state relations in both medieval and contemporary political theory.

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Join the IHE for a virtual event with Michael D. Breidenbach, author of Our Dear-Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America (Harvard University Press, 2021). IHE Scholar Sarah Gustafson will moderate the conversation.

In colonial America, Catholics were presumed dangerous until proven loyal. Yet Catholics went on to sign the Declaration of Independence and helped to finalize the First Amendment to the Constitution. What explains this remarkable transformation? Michael Breidenbach shows how Catholic leaders emphasized their church’s own traditions — rather than Enlightenment liberalism — to secure the religious liberty that enabled their incorporation in American life.

Historians have taught that Catholics responded to charges of disloyalty by denying papal infallibility and the pope’s authority to intervene in civil affairs. Rome staunchly rejected such dissent, but reform-minded Catholics justified their stance by looking to conciliarism, an intellectual tradition rooted in medieval Catholic thought, yet compatible with a republican view of temporal independence and church-state separation. Drawing on new archival material, Breidenbach finds that early American Catholic leaders, including Maryland founder Cecil Calvert and members of the prominent Carroll family, relied on the conciliarist tradition to help institute religious toleration, including the Maryland Toleration Act of 1649.

The critical role of Catholics in establishing American church-state separation enjoins us to revise not only our sense of who the American founders were, but also our understanding of the sources of secularism. Breidenbach argues that church-state separation in America, generally understood as the product of a Protestant-driven Enlightenment, was in key respects derived from Catholic thinking. Our Dear-Bought Liberty therefore offers a dramatic departure from received wisdom, suggesting that religious liberty in America was not bestowed by liberal consensus but partly defined through the ingenuity of a persecuted minority.

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Join the IHE for an event with His Excellency, The Most Reverend Edward K. Braxton, Ph.D., S.T.D., etc., to begin the month of the Souls in Purgatory.

Preceding the address, please join the Bishop for the celebration of Holy Mass at 5:10 p.m. in Saint Vincent de Paul Chapel at Catholic University.

Cosponsored by Catholic University Campus Ministry and the Sister Thea Bowman Recommendations Coordination & Implementation Team.

The address is titled “Does Everyone Go to Heaven? Pastoral and Theological Reflection on The Life of the World to Come.” This challenging topic is one about which many people prefer not to think, but the Catholic Church puts the question of death and the hope of eternal life in the front of our consciousness during the month of November, when we are called to pray for the dead and for ourselves.

Bishop Braxton will examine the prevailing secular, scientific worldview that categorically rejects any possibility of “life after death,” as well as the tension between popular, devotional beliefs about the “afterlife” and the actual teachings of the Catholic Church about Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, and Limbo. The Bishop will examine the argument that, due to its unique nature, language about “the life of the world to come” is neither verifiable nor falsifiable. He will explore the difference between “the immortality of the human soul” and “the resurrection of the body” and explain why the Catholic Funeral Mass is correctly called “The Liturgy of Christian Burial” and not “The Mass of the Resurrection.”

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Join the IHE for a discussion with IHE Scholar W. Bradford Wilcox, author of Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization. This event is cosponsored by Catholic University Campus Ministry, The Catholic Project, and the Center for Law and the Human Person.

Marriage and fertility rates are cratering, hitting lows never seen before in America’s history. This means that a record share of today’s young adults will never marry and never have children, but, paradoxically, marriage and family life matter more than ever in the 21st century. Men, women, and children in married families are much more likely to thrive socially, emotionally, and financially than their peers who do not enjoy the safety and stability of a married family. Dr. Wilcox of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia will reveal what is happening to marriage and family life, why these two institutions are losing ground, and what we can do to revive their fortunes in 21st-century America.

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Join a conversation with Dean Andrew Abela and National Review Editor-at-Large Kathryn Jean Lopez as they discuss Dean Abela's new book, Super Habits: The Universal System for a Successful Life.

For too many of us, life is harder than it needs to be. We have forgotten the ancient system of “super habits” — a specific set of habits for making decisions, managing our emotions, and dealing with other people that fosters lives of greater ease, happiness, and power.

Ancient civilizations relied on these habits to produce some of the greatest achievements in human history. Now, contemporary researchers in psychology, education, and management are rediscovering these habits and empirically demonstrating the power and goodness that they bring to everyday life.

As many self-help gurus will tell you, we are the summation of our daily habits. What has so far been missing is a comprehensive guide to which habits are most valuable to us and how they work together as a system, for the best impact on our lives.

This invaluable book by Dr. Andrew Abela shows how attaining virtue requires not a herculean effort but, rather, steady daily practice, which is accessible to all. He explains how the genius of a thirteenth-century philosopher-monk codified the super habits into a veritable human operating system, one that’s more relevant today than ever.

Abela highlights:

How super habits make life easier — because once something becomes a habit, it takes less effort

Why super habits lead to lasting joy rather than just temporary gratification

The effects of super habits on physical, mental, and emotional health

In a culture that prioritizes short-term fixes over long-term solutions, Super Habits offers a foundational, back-to-basics plan that produces both immediate and enduring results.

Whatever issue you are struggling with right now, whatever challenge you may be facing, there is a super habit to help you overcome it.

Dr. Abela equips readers with the tools needed to embrace the lifelong pursuit of self-improvement to attain a life of greater ease, joy, and strength.

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Join the National Catholic Partnership on Disability and the Institute for Human Ecology at The Catholic University of America for a panel discussion about the intersection of autism, faith, and vocation. This panel will explore how persons with autism can discern and live out their vocations within the Church. Learn from the experiences of self-advocates and their families as they navigate the challenges and opportunities of faith and vocation. Panelists will also share their insights on how the Church can better promote a sense of belonging for persons with autism, and how, in turn, faith communities are enriched by their unique gifts and perspectives.

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