In a time when Christian assumptions about the world are rapidly evaporating, how do we continue to be in the world, but not of it, especially as we pursue excellence in our professional lives? How do we live out our calling to work out our salvation, and to help others to work out theirs, in the specialized work we do in service to the earthly city—in medicine, law, journalism, the military, social work, business, and other fields? To what degree are Catholic professionals called not only to live up to the ideals and principles of their professions, but also to rethink those very ideals and principles and thus to reform the professions? Guided by the reflections of noted Catholic professionals in various fields, the 2024 convention of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, Catholics in Professional Life, will investigate how Catholics can survive and thrive as we earn our daily bread and leaven our workplaces with the Gospel and our Catholic faith.
Come explore these questions with accomplished Catholic professionals.
All sessions will take place at the Busch School of Business, located in Maloney Hall, on the campus of The Catholic University of America. Masses Saturday morning, Saturday evening, and Sunday morning will be celebrated at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, also located on the Catholic University campus.
1:00 p.m. – Mass, Maloney Hall Chapel
2:30 – 3:45 p.m. – Plenary Address I: Archbishop Timothy Broglio
4:00 – 5:15 p.m. – Panel I: The Catholic Lawyer
Paul Clement
Michael Moreland: “Friendship and the Life of Law”
5:30 – 6:45 p.m. – Dinner
7:00 p.m. – 8:15 p.m. – Panel II: The Catholic Businessperson
Andreas Widmer
Rob Hays
8:00 – 8:45 a.m. – Breakfast
9:00 – 10:15 a.m. – Plenary II: The Eucharist and the Work of Human Hands: The Sacred Task of the Lay Professions
Deborah Savage
10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. – Panel III: The Catholic Physician
Natalie King
Faith Daggs
12:00 – 1:15 p.m. – Lunch
1:30 – 3:00 p.m. – Contributed Papers
3:15 – 4:30 p.m. – Plenary III: Challenges of Education and Formation
Robert G. Kennedy
5:00 p.m. – Mass
6:00 p.m. – Reception followed by Awards Banquet
7:30 a.m. – Mass
8:15 a.m. – Breakfast
9:30 – 10:45 a.m. – Panel IV: The Catholic Journalist
John J Miller
Timothy P. Carney
11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. – Panel V: The Catholic Soldier and Law Enforcement Officer
Kevin Mullaney
J. Michael Waller
Archbishop Broglio is the Archbishop for the Military Services, USA, and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). He holds a Doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome.
Title: What is the Profit in Gaining the Whole World?
The address is envisioned as a brief opening reflection with Mt. 16:26 as a departure point, to consider the mission of Catholics as leaven in the world and to remind all that life is a pilgrimage with a goal beyond this world. Has acceptance diminished the impact of a Catholic worldview on society and the willingness of the believer to risk “acceptance”? The charge to be a witness (martyr) determines the use of freedom in all walks of life. Examples will be drawn from the military, Laborem Exercens, and the writings of St. Paul.
Mr. Clement has argued over 100 cases before the United States Supreme Court. He is a Distinguished Lecturer in Law at the Georgetown University Law Center. He also serves as a Senior Fellow of the Law Center’s Supreme Court Institute.
Title: Faith in Practice
Abstract: By most conventional measures, Catholics have been remarkably successful in the practice of law. Over half the Supreme Court is made up of Catholic lawyers, and Catholic lawyers are thriving in other high-profile posts in the profession. In many ways, this is unsurprising, as close attention to text, hierarchical authorities, and reasoning within a specialized framework are common features of both Catholicism and the law. At the same time, some Catholic teaching is antithetical to the prevailing views of the legal establishment, and there is always the potential for the ethics of the profession to come into conflict with the demands of the faith. While there is no ready formula for navigating these challenges, the ongoing fight for religious liberty is a critical component.
Mr. Moreland is University Professor of Law and Religion and Director of the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy at Villanova University. His teaching and research focus on law and religion, torts, bioethics, and constitutional law.
Title: Friendship and the Life of the Law
Abstract: St. Thomas Aquinas claims that the primary purpose of law is to create friendship. Building on this insight, I will explore the centrality of friendship to a Catholic understand of the vocation of a lawyer, including friendship as a condition for discourse, the relationship between friendship and the common good, the place of civic friendship in a political community, and friendship with God as the end of human life.
A former Swiss Guard, Mr. Widmer is now an Associate Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship at The Catholic University of America’s Busch School of Business. His books explore the intersection of leadership, entrepreneurship, and spirituality.
Title: To Work Is to Create; To Create Is to Be Human
Abstract: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) often misjudges business, seeing it as something that needs to be balanced with charitable acts. But business isn’t about damage control; it’s about unleashing human creativity. Work is our way of transforming ideas into reality, not just for profit but for human flourishing. When we excel in our work, we don’t just produce more—we become more. We elevate ourselves and those around us, creating a ripple effect of growth and fulfillment. And yes, this excellence is rewarded with prosperity, embodying the American Dream. Business, at its core, is about creating value, fostering growth, and reaping well-deserved rewards.
Mr. Hays is the former president and chief executive officer of Ashford Hospitality Trust, a publicly-traded hotel ownership company with 100 hotels across the United States. He is currently a board member and investor at ExoStat Medical. He is the chairman of the board of the Aquinas Institute for Catholic Life at Princeton University, the chairman of the board of the Ethics & Public Policy Center based in Washington, D.C., and a member of the synod preparatory commission for the Catholic Diocese of Dallas.
Title: Business as a Field of Mission
Abstract: Few people today find time to attend those groups and organizations (churches, synagogues, fraternal organizations, social clubs, service groups, etc.) that have provided crucial cultural, moral, and spiritual formation for generations. But people still go to their workplaces. As a result, businesses and their corporate cultures are uniquely positioned in the modern world to play a pivotal role in the future of the New Evangelization and the in formation of human excellence. Which means that we need to be encouraging and training the next generation of business leaders 1) to live a proper unity of life, 2) to see their workplaces as a mission field, and 3) to steep them in the virtues, the Scriptures, and Catholic Social Doctrine. While business leaders always need to respect the personal freedom of individuals, they need to lead boldly so that their companies live the Gospel faithfully.
Dr. Savage is currently a Professor of Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville. She is a recognized scholar of the work of John Paul II.
Title: The Eucharist and the Work of Human Hands: The Sacred Task of the Lay Professions
Abstract: That the mission of the laity is to transform the temporal order has been an explicit teaching of the Church since Pope St. Paul VI promulgated the Second Vatican Council’s decree On the Apostolate of the Laity (Apostolicam Actuositatem) in 1965. Pope St. John Paul II’s own 1988 Apostolic Exhortation on the Vocation of the Laity, Christifideles laici, both affirmed this teaching and gave it new life. Both documents declare that all Christians are baptized into the three-fold office of Christ as Priest, Prophet, and King, tasking them with the great responsibility of advancing God’s plan for the world. The laity discover their vocation in the world; this is their mission field, the place where they live out their baptismal promises. And this is all to the good. But what are the practical implications of this teaching? What is the “sacred task” at the heart of every profession? What is the meaning of human work?
Dr. Natalie King is a palliative medicine physician who cares for patients with serious illness and those nearing the end of life. She writes and speaks nationally, educating about and advocating for human dignity in serious illness and end-of-life care. Dr. King has partnered with the USCCB to improve education for Catholic laity about palliative care, and she has organized a forum for the Catholic Medical Association on end-of-life issues. She works at Intermountain Health in Ogden, Utah.
Title: The Catholic Physician and end-of-life Care
Abstract: In this presentation, a palliative medicine physician will speak of the joy she finds in living her professional vocation as a Catholic doctor. She will share her experiences of caring for patients and their families who are going through serious illness and helping them find meaning in difficult times. She will speak about challenges in the current cultural environment and share about issues including palliative care and hospice, physician assisted suicide and euthanasia, and how the Catholic Church teachings help impart light, beauty, and dignity at the end-of-life.
Dr. Robert G. Kennedy is a professor and former chair in the Department of Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas (MN), where he was previously a professor in the Department of Management and chair of the faculty of the Opus College of Business.
Title: Challenges in the Education and Formation of Catholic Professionals
Abstract: The developed world in which we live is, in large part, the work of professionals in a variety of fields. At no time in history have so many occupations become professional and so at no time in history has the education and formation of professionals been so critically important to society. The true professional is not simply someone who earns a living in some field of practice but is instead a person capable of making sound judgments about important matters in conditions of uncertainty. Educating professionals, then, cannot simply be training them in the skills of the field but must also be concerned with instilling a true vision of human dignity as well as the traits of character that professionals require to serve the common goods of their communities. Catholics who aspire to be professionals must know and have confidence in the vision of the person offered by their tradition as well as the courage to navigate the stormy waters of education and practice.
Mr. Miller is director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College as well as a writer and podcaster for National Review. He is the founder and executive director of The College Fix. His books include Reading Around: Journalism on Authors, Artists, and Ideas and The Polygamist King: A True Story of Murder, Lust, and Exotic Faith in America.
Title: Faith and a Free Press
Abstract: John J. Miller converted to Catholicism as a young journalist in Washington, D.C., and since then has spent more than 25 years as a writer and podcaster for National Review. Today he is director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College in Michigan as well as the founder and executive director of The College Fix. He will describe his initial reluctance to write about faith as well as his growing comfort with the topic, which is now a regular feature of his work, even when it isn’t obvious. He will also discuss the three most important traits of any journalist: curiosity, humility, and service. And he will talk about the need for an independent Catholic press and why Catholics should support it.
Tim Carney is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the senior columnist at the Washington Examiner. He is the author of four books, most recently Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder than It Needs to Be. He and his wife Katie raise six children in Northern Virginia.
Title: The Catholic Journalist as a Seeker and a Beacon
Abstract: The most important traits for journalists in any circumstance may be a voracious curiosity and a love for truth. In today’s political and journalistic scene, a Catholic journalist has another duty: To courageously and publicly stand for his beliefs against the prevailing trends. Tim Carney learned journalism working for Bob Novak, a famously dogged and curmudgeonly columnist for five decades—and a convert to the faith. Discussing Novak’s experiences, struggles, triumphs, and virtues, Carney will lay out an image of a young Catholic journalist who stands up for the faith and constantly seeks the truth. Specifically, Carney will discuss the importance of public figures such as journalists loudly and clearly living as Catholics, rather than consigning their faith to the shadows.
Mr. Mullaney is the Dave and Amy Dawson Director of the Center for Leadership Research and Assessment at the United States Naval Academy. His teaching and research focus on leadership development and the psychological foundations of character.
Title: Catholic Military Officership
Abstract: This discussion will consider military officership as a profession and explore how Catholic values inform both the general requirements of leadership and developing others as well as the specifically martial aspects of the profession, to include killing and suffering profound trauma. This discussion will investigate the Great Commandment as a model for how (military) leaders inhabit hierarchies and consider the relationship between just war and the psychological experience of war.
J. Michael Waller is Senior Analyst for Strategy at the Center for Security Policy. His academic and professional areas of concentration are foreign propaganda, political warfare, psychological warfare, and subversion.
Title: The Attack on Christian Values in American Law Enforcement, Security, and Intelligence
Abstract: Catholic values are under attack throughout our country’s federal law enforcement, investigative, security, and intelligence communities. This attack is intentional and strategic in design. It has been driven from the top through a series of aggressively implemented presidential executive orders, internal regulations, and personnel hiring and promotion policies for well over a decade. The instrument has been critical theory, a cultural assault to take over institutions and destroy the values that underpin them. What we have seen in public society has metastasized in the FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, Secret Service, and more.
Mary Rice Hasson, J.D., is the Kate O’Beirne Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., where she co-founded and directs the Person and Identity Project. An attorney and policy expert, Mary has been a three-time keynote speaker for the Holy See at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and serves as a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family, Life and Youth and the Committee on Religious Liberty. Mary, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Notre Dame Law School, is married to Seamus Hasson and they are the parents of seven grown children and grandparents of seven.
Msgr. Swetland is the President of Donnelly College in Kansas City, Kansas. He earlier served as the Vice President for Catholic Identity and Director of Pre-Theology at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD, where he also held the Archbishop Flynn Chair of Christian Ethics.
Dr. Faith Daggs is president of the American Academy of FertilityCare Professionals. Dr. Daggs graduated with Honors from The Catholic University of America with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and from Georgetown University School of Medicine with a Doctorate of Medicine. She remained at Georgetown University Medical Center to complete residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Daggs has practiced Medical and Surgical NaProTECHNOLOGY for two decades in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. She is currently seeing OB/GYN patients via telehealth with MyCatholicDoctor, PLLC, providing Medical NaProTECHNOLOGY. She also practices inpatient care as an OB/GYN Hospitalist in North Carolina and South Carolina.
Dr. Daggs is married to Paul, her husband of almost 30 years, and is the mother of ten children, ages 12 to 28 (only one girl!).
Title: A Day in the Life of a Catholic Woman OB/GYN
Abstract: Women physicians are an immense asset to the medical community, but they face unique challenges as they hope to integrate their personal and professional lives – challenges that may be magnified even more for women leaders in medicine. A woman’s essential duty is to be “the heart of the family and the soul of the home” but our very nature also equips us to bring a unique set of gifts to the organizations we lead and the patients we serve.
Courtyard Washington DC / US Capitol
1325 2nd Street NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-898-400
This hotel is near the NoMa-Gallaudet University Metro station, just two stops from the Brookland-Catholic University Metro station. All convention sessions will take place at the Busch School of Business on the campus of The Catholic University of America.
