Free Event
St. Mary’s University welcomes you to a free, annual lecture series that engages the Catholic Intellectual Tradition — a tradition at the heart of the educational enterprises at St. Mary’s.
About The MacTaggart Catholic Intellectual Tradition Lecture Series
Glenn MacTaggart (J.D. ’79, M.A. ’89), longtime attorney and counsel with Prichard Hawkins Young LLP, and his wife, Karla MacTaggart, gave a major gift to St. Mary’s to create the MacTaggart Catholic Intellectual Tradition Lecture Series Endowment.
The lecture series is a cornerstone of the Center for Catholic Studies which is a result of the University’s Defining Moment Comprehensive Campaign.
2026 Speakers
Literature
LuElla D’Amico, Ph.D.
Thursday, Feb. 19,
at 12:30 p.m.University Center,
Mengler Conference Room
Sustainability
Sister Leanne Jablonski, F.M.I.
Thursday, March 26,
at 12:30 p.m.Sarita Kennedy East Law Library,
Law Alumni Room
History
Deborah Kanter, Ph.D.
Thursday, April 9,
at 12:30 p.m.University Center,
Mengler Conference Room
2026 Lecture Series
Education for the Whole Person
The Spring 2026 lecture series explores Marianist commitments to integral education and formation of the whole person, with particular attention to learning that occurs outside of the classroom.
Catholic Imagination, Children’s Literature and Formation
Featuring — LuElla D’Amico, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, University of the Incarnate WordThursday, Feb. 19, 2026
12:30 p.m.
University Center, Mengler Conference RoomD’Amico will examine how children’s literature and storytelling serve as sites of theological imagination and moral formation, drawing on her new book Wondrous Reading: Encountering the Catholic Faith through Children’s Literature.
About the Speaker
LuElla D’Amico, Ph.D., is Associate Professor at the University of the Incarnate Word. Her scholarly and teaching focus is on early United States literature, children’s literature, Christian women’s writing and girlhood studies.
She has three edited collections on girls’ literature. Her new book, Wondrous Reading: Encountering the Catholic Faith through Children’s Literature, looks at classic and popular children’s books via a Catholic lens. She has written for Church Life Journal, America Magazine, Busted Halo and Current, among other venues.
Inspiration from Our Marianist Her-Story for a Sustainable, Hope-Filled Future for People and Planet
Featuring — Sister Leanne Jablonski, F.M.I.
Director, Marianist Environmental Education Center (Dayton, Ohio)Thursday, March 26, 2026
12:30 p.m.
Sarita Kennedy East Law Library, Law Alumni RoomIn collaboration with Women’s History Month and campus ministry partners, Jablonski reflects on care for creation, ecological education and Marianist approaches to environmental formation and responsibility.
About the Speaker
Sister Leanne Jablonski, F.M.I., is the Director of the Marianist Environmental Education Center in Dayton, Ohio. She is a Marianist Sister, a native of Winnipeg, Canada, a scientist, pastoral minister and educator.
The 100-acre Marianist Environmental Education Center specializes in restoring communities of land and people and focuses on ecological restoration through research and service-learning, bridging the faith and science communities and environmental justice.
History of Catholicism in San Antonio
Featuring — Deborah E. Kanter, Ph.D.
Professor of History Emeritus, Albion CollegeThursday, April 9, 2026
12:30 p.m.
University Center, Mengler Conference RoomDrawing on her book Pioneers of Latino Ministry, Kanter explores the history of Catholic life and ministry in San Antonio, connecting local history to broader questions of faith, identity and formation.
About the Speaker
Deborah E. Kanter, Ph.D., is Professor of History Emeritus at Albion College, where she previously served as the John S. Ludington Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of History. A historian of U.S. Latino and Latin American history, her research focuses on the intersections of migration, religion and community formation.
She is the author of the award-winning Chicago Católico: Making Catholic Parishes Mexican (2020). Her most recent volume, Pioneers of Latino Ministry: Claretians and the Evolving World of Catholic America (2025), examines the missionary roots of Hispanic ministry in San Antonio and the United States.
Parking Information
Event parking is available in Lot V. Click the links to view our interactive campus map with wayfinding capability. Accessibility parking is available in both lots.
Past Lectures
The Catholic Intellectual Tradition for Our World Today Lecture Series
The Catholic Intellectual Tradition for Our World Today Through the Environment
Amanda Baugh, Ph.D.
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Baugh draws on her published book Falling in Love with Nature: The Values of Latinx Catholic Environmentalism (NYU Press, 2024), drawing out some of its religious themes and how they contribute to a better understanding of environmentalism.
About the Speaker
Amanda Baugh, Ph.D., is a scholar of the environmental humanities working at the intersection of religion, race and environmental justice. She is Professor and Associate Chair of Religious Studies and Director of the Masters Program in Sustainability at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). Baugh’s research on overlooked environmental actors stems from conversations with her students at CSUN, a Hispanic-Serving Institution in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley that serves many first-generation college students from working-class, immigrant communities.
The Catholic Intellectual Tradition for Our World Today Through Law
Richard Garnett, J.D.
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
This lecture focused on drawing upon the Catholic intellectual tradition of religious liberty and human dignity. Garnett focuses on religious freedom within the First Amendment, particularly emphasizing the autonomy of religious institutions.
About the Speaker
Richard W. Garnett, J.D., teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, criminal law, the First Amendment, and law and religion. He is a leading authority on questions and debates regarding religious freedom and church-state relations and is the founding director of Notre Dame Law School’s Program on Church, State and Society. Garnett clerked for the late Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court William H. Rehnquist, and for the late Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, Richard S. Arnold. He earned his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from Yale Law School in 1995 and his Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude, from Duke University in 1990. He joined the faculty at the University of Notre Dame in 1999 after practicing law in Washington, D.C., with Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin.
The Catholic Intellectual Tradition for Our World Today Through Community
Jonathan Tran, Ph.D.
Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025
This lecture focused on the need humans have for community and relationships, and the forces that seem to be dividing and isolating people.
About the Speaker
Jonathan Tran, Ph.D., is a Christian theologian based at Baylor University in Waco. He is the Associate Dean for Faculty in the Honors College and Associate Professor for Theology within the Great Texts program. His research focuses on the human life in language, and what that life reveals about God and God’s world. He is the author of Asian Americans and the Spirit of Racial Capitalism.
2025 The Catholic Intellectual Tradition for Our World Today
The Future of Catholic Intellectual Tradition Lecture Series
The Future of Catholic Intellectual Tradition from a Laudato Si’ Perspective
Nancy Rourke, Ph.D.
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
The Future of Catholic Intellectual Tradition from a Hispanic Perspective
Victor Carmona, Ph.D.
Thursday, March 7, 2024
The Future of Catholic Intellectual Tradition from a Marianist Perspective
Timothy Gabrielli, Ph.D.
Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024