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
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.
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
Education for the Whole Person Lecture Series
Inspiration from Our Marianist Her-Story for a Sustainable, Hope-Filled Future for People and Planet
Sister Leanne Jablonski, F.M.I.
In 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.
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.
About Sister Jablonski
Catholic Imagination, Children’s Literature and Formation
LuElla D’Amico, Ph.D.
D’Amico examines 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.
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.
About D’Amico
2026 Education for the Whole Person
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.
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.
The Catholic Intellectual Tradition for Our World Today Through Law
Richard Garnett, J.D.
Garnett focuses on drawing upon the Catholic intellectual tradition of religious liberty and human dignity, including religious freedom within the First Amendment, particularly emphasizing the autonomy of religious institutions.
The Catholic Intellectual Tradition for Our World Today Through Community
Jonathan Tran, Ph.D.
Tran’s lecture focuses on the need humans have for community and relationships and the forces that seem to be dividing and isolating people.
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.
Rourke’s book, “Ecological Moral Character: A Catholic Model”, was published in January of 2024 as part of the “Moral Traditions” series of books from Georgetown University Press.
The Future of Catholic Intellectual Tradition from a Hispanic Perspective
Victor Carmona, Ph.D.
Carmona grapples with the implications of the Catholic tradition through graduate studies in moral theology and Christian ethics at the University of Notre Dame.
The Future of Catholic Intellectual Tradition from a Marianist Perspective
Timothy Gabrielli, Ph.D.
Gabrielli’s first book, “Confirmation: How a Sacrament of God’s Grace Became All About Us,” offers a history of the theology and practice of Confirmation in the 20th-century United States. His second, “One in Christ: Virgil Michel, Louis-Marie Chauvet, and Mystical Body Theology” revisits mystical body of Christ theology.