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On March 20-21, Villanova will host “Catholic Social Teaching on War and Peace: Pacem in Terris 40 Years Later,” which is sponsored by the Office for Mission Effectiveness in conjunction with the Ellacuria Research Award. The conference encourages Villanova faculty to explore the topic of establishing universal peace in truth, justice, charity and liberty. The award is named after the philosopher and theologian Ignacio Ellacuria.

The first speaker will be Dr. Charles. E Curran whose lecture is titled “The Teaching and Methodology of Pacem in Terris.” He is an Elizabeth Scurlock University Professor of Human Values, and also teaches at Southern Methodist University. His teaching specialties and research interests include fundamental moral theology, social ethics, the role of the Church as a moral and political actor in society, and Catholic moral theology.

The second speaker will be Dr. R. Scott Appleby, and his lecture is titled “In Truth, Justice, Charity, and Liberty: Contesting Pacem in Terris in Our Time.” He is the director of the Charles and Margaret Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame. In his career as a religious historian, Appleby has been devoted to teaching and research in three related areas: the history and contemporary life of the American Catholic Church; the emergence and growth of religious extremists- “fundamentalisms” and “modernisms” –on a global level in the 20th century; and the relationship between the public role of religious communities in the United States and their faith life and inner vitality.

The third speaker will be Sister Amata Miller, I.M.H., Ph.D., and her lecture is titled “Pacem in Terris and Economic Rights.” She is a visiting professor of economics at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn., where she is involved in helping to implement the institution’s strategic plan which aims, among its goals to “re-imagine women’s education.” Sister Amata is also helping to develop one of the college’s four Centers of Excellence, the Center on Women, Economic Justice and Public Policy. She teaches the capstone course, required for all graduates, “Global Search for Justice,” and a new course offered by the Center, “Building Just Communities.”

The fourth speaker will be Dr. George J. Borjas, and his speech is titled “Pacem in Terris and the Problem of Immigration.” He is the Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Borjas’s research on the economic impact of immigration is widely perceived as playing a central role in the debate over immigration policy in the United States and abroad. Business Week and The Wall Street Journal, in a front-page feature article, have called him “America’s leading immigration economist.”

The fifth speaker will be International lecturer and author Megan McKenna and her speech is titled “The Biblical Roots of Catholic Social Teaching in Peace.” She works with indigenous groups in base Christian communities and with justice and peace groups as well as parishes, dioceses and religious communities. McKenna has been on the United States National Board of Pax Christi and conducts parish mission, retreats and workshops.

The sixth and final speaker will be Dr. Maura A. Ryan, and her lecture is titled “A Catholic Feminist Response to Pacem in Terris.” Dr. Ryan is an associate professor of Christian ethics in the department of theology at Notre Dame. Her primary interests are in the areas of bioethics and health policy, feminist ethics, and fundamental moral theology. Her articles have appeared in the Hastings Center Report, The Journal of Philosophy and Medicine, and Ethics and Behavior.