Upcoming Events

Pope Leo XIV recently reminded us in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas that Catholic Social Teaching (CST) is “not a handbook of principles and norms to be applied, but a process of shared discernment” (no. 27). It is a living tradition “that safeguards and interprets humanity’s vocation to a fully and just life” (no. 3). In our workshop, we will explore how we live this tradition by giving an account of our hope (1 Pet.3: 15) to Christian and non-Christian alike.

About our speaker: William O’Neill, S.J. is a Resident Scholar in the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education and the Markkula Center at Santa Clara University. He previously served as professor emeritus of social ethics at SCU's Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley and a visiting professor of Hekima University College in Nairobi. He received his STL from the Jesuit School of Theology and his Ph.D. from Yale University. His writings include The Ethics of Our Climate: Hermeneutics and Ethical Theory (Georgetown Univ. Press), Reimagining Human Rights: Religion and the Common Good (Georgetown Univ. Press); Catholic Social Teaching: A User’s Guide (Orbis); and book chapters and journal articles addressing questions of human rights, social reconciliation, restorative justice, refugee and immigration policy, race and mass incarceration, ecological ethics and the Church and public reason. Since 2019, he has been a member of the Mission and Identity team of the Jesuit Refugee Service while serving in the Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya, the Adjumani Settlements in Uganda, and the Maban refugee camps in South Sudan.

Interested in attending? Register here.   

This session is part of the Markey Center's monthly workshop series: Faith Meets World: The Radical Call of Catholic Social Teaching. Workshops are interactive and include opportunities for conversation and reflection. All are welcome!

The hopes and push factors propelling migrant women, together with gender-specific threats they face, challenge simplistic slogans about immigration today. Their experiences and those who accompany them witness to the signs of the times, the value and limitations of Catholic social teaching principles for countering injustice and inhospitality, and ways forward marked by hope, resistance, and structural change.

About our speaker - Dr. Kristin Heyer holds the Joseph Chair in Theology at Boston College. She earned a B.A. from Brown University and a Ph.D. in theological ethics from Boston College. Prior to returning to BC as a faculty member, she taught at Loyola Marymount University and Santa Clara University. Her scholarship and teaching focus on topics such as moral agency, migration, social inequality, and modern Catholic social teaching.

Dr. Heyer authored the award-winning books Kinship Across Borders: A Christian Ethic of Immigration and Prophetic and Public: The Social Witness of U.S. Catholicism , as well as dozens of articles and book chapters. She is co-editor of six books, including Christianity and the Law of Migration.

Professor Heyer is a recent past-president of the Catholic Theological Society of America, the principal association of Catholic theologians in North America and the largest professional society of theologians in the world. Her work has global reach. She serves as a co-chair of Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church, an international network of scholars and practitioners in the field of theological ethics. She has lectured widely in the United States, Europe, Mexico, and India on topics such as immigration, the common good tradition, Catholic social movements, and feminist ethics.

Interested in attending? Register here.

This event will be livestreamed for those unable to attend in person.

On May 15, 2026, Pope Leo XIV issued the newest document of Catholic Social Teaching (CST): Magnifica Humanitas. Subtitled "On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence," it brings CST to bear on some of the biggest moral, political, and technological questions facing humanity today--and, especially, Silicon Valley. This workshop will offer a comprehensive overview of the text and context of Magnifica Humanitas, and invite participants into more focused discernment about their own relationship to the technologies that are rapidly transforming our world.

About our speaker: Nicholas Hayes-Mota is a social ethicist and public theologian. Working within the Catholic tradition, his primary research explores the role of religion in democratic public life, the ethics of democratic citizenship, and the possibility of a "politics of the common good" in today's highly pluralistic and often contentious societies. Additional research interests include the theology and history of community organizing, Catholic social thought and practice, Latin American and U.S. Hispanic-Latine theology, contemporary virtue ethics (in particular, the virtue of prudence), democratic theory, and, most recently, AI ethics.

Prof. Hayes-Mota holds an AB, summa cum laude, from Harvard College (2008), an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School (2014), and a Ph.D. in theology from Boston College (2024), where he was awarded the Donald and Hélène White Prize for Best Dissertation in the Humanities. Before coming to Santa Clara in 2024, he was Assistant Director of the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy at Boston College. His scholarship and teaching is also informed by his 15 years of experience as a practitioner and teacher of community organizing. From the organizing tradition and the Catholic social tradition, Prof Hayes-Mota draws a deep commitment to cultivating the moral and political agency of others, and fostering a healthier civic life within the U.S. and beyond it.

Interested in Attending? Register here.

This session is part of the Markey Center's monthly workshop series: Faith Meets World: The Radical Call of Catholic Social Teaching. Workshops are interactive and include opportunities for conversation and reflection. All are welcome!

Pope Leo XIV recently reminded us in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas that Catholic Social Teaching (CST) is “not a handbook of principles and norms to be applied, but a process of shared discernment” (no. 27). It is a living tradition “that safeguards and interprets humanity’s vocation to a fully and just life” (no. 3). In our workshop, we will explore how we live this tradition by giving an account of our hope (1 Pet.3: 15) to Christian and non-Christian alike.

About our speaker: William O’Neill, S.J. is a Resident Scholar in the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education and the Markkula Center at Santa Clara University. He previously served as professor emeritus of social ethics at SCU's Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley and a visiting professor of Hekima University College in Nairobi. He received his STL from the Jesuit School of Theology and his Ph.D. from Yale University. His writings include The Ethics of Our Climate: Hermeneutics and Ethical Theory (Georgetown Univ. Press), Reimagining Human Rights: Religion and the Common Good (Georgetown Univ. Press); Catholic Social Teaching: A User’s Guide (Orbis); and book chapters and journal articles addressing questions of human rights, social reconciliation, restorative justice, refugee and immigration policy, race and mass incarceration, ecological ethics and the Church and public reason. Since 2019, he has been a member of the Mission and Identity team of the Jesuit Refugee Service while serving in the Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya, the Adjumani Settlements in Uganda, and the Maban refugee camps in South Sudan.

Interested in Attending? Register here.

In partnership with Villa Maria Del Mar Retreat Center, this session is an "encore presentation" of the Markey Center's monthly workshop series: Faith Meets World: The Radical Call of Catholic Social Teaching. Workshops are interactive and include opportunities for conversation and reflection. We are excited to bring the show on the road to Santa Cruz! All are welcome! Space is limited, so please register to reserve a spot. Hope you'll join us. 

Descriptions of individual sessions, along with speaker bios and registration links will be made available below (on the Markey Center Upcoming Programs page).