On April 8, readers and friends of the magazine gathered for the nineteenth annual Commonweal Lecture at Fairfield University. This year’s speaker was Ross Douthat, a New York Times columnist and host of the Interesting Times podcast. 

“The purpose of the Commonweal Lecture series,” said editor Matthew Boudway, “is an extension of the magazine’s purpose—to feature some of the best current Catholic thinking about politics and culture, and to promote open and rigorous debate within the American Catholic Church.”

The topic of the lecture was the Catholic Church’s place in the landscape of U.S. politics and culture at this important moment. 

“This landscape has changed dramatically since this lecture series began, especially in the past decade,” Boudway said, drawing special attention new discourse about artificial intelligence and the anti-Christ. “Here to help us make sense of the new landscape is Ross Douthat. The impressive breadth and variety of his interests, the lucidity and incisiveness of his writing, and his openness to debate make him a natural fit for this series.”

In the nineteen years since the inaugural Commonweal Lecture at Fairfield, the series has featured speakers such as poet Christian Wiman, theologians Vincent Miller, Cathleen Kaveny, and Paul Lakeland, and Commonweal contributors including editor Dominic Preziosi and contributing editor Rand Richards Cooper. 

Nancy Dallavalle, the director of the Center for Catholic Studies and associate professor religious studies at Fairfield, organized the event.