November 28, 2025 // Diocese

De Nicola Conference at Notre Dame Discusses ‘Living Tradition’

Ken Hallenius

Alasdair MacIntyre, emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, gives the plenary lecture at the university’s de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture’s 2019 fall conference Nov. 8, 2019. The de Nicola Center, where MacIntyre was a permanent senior distinguished research fellow, confirmed MacIntyre’s death at age 96 on May 21, 2025, in a May 23 announcement. (OSV News photo/Matt Cashore, courtesy of University of Notre Dame)

The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture’s 25th annual fall conference was an “extraordinary, fertile ground for real and deep conversation,” according to JD Flynn, editor of The Pillar. More than 1,100 guests gathered at the University of Notre Dame on November 13-15 for the conference, which considered the idea of “living tradition” in theology, philosophy, law, creative arts, architecture, and education.

The de Nicola Center’s fall conference brings together the world’s leading Catholic thinkers, as well as those from other traditions, in fruitful discourse and exchange on the most pressing and vexed questions of ethics, culture, and public policy. Since the first conference in 2000, this annual event has become the most important academic forum for wide-ranging conversations that engage the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition from a variety of disciplinary points of departure.

The opening keynote address was presented by Philippe Villeneuve, the French architect who oversaw the five-year project to rebuild the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris following a tragic fire in 2019. His lecture traced the history of the iconic building’s design, modifications over the centuries, and the challenges faced in restoring the structure to its pre-fire state.

“If we open the door to the issue of translation, we step into the dramatic center of the mystery of salvation itself.”

Bishop Daniel Flores

As Villeneuve shared extensive photos from inside the restored roof, he spoke passionately about the enduring effect of the rebuilding project. “When I walk inside, I can’t imagine that there was a fire that destroyed it all. You can even smell the wood like before, and after several years, this odor, this mélange, will be even more than it is today.”

Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, celebrated Mass for conference attendees in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and delivered the Friday evening keynote lecture. His talk was a theological reflection on the work of translating the word of God.

“If we open the door to the issue of translation,” the bishop said, “we step into the dramatic center of the mystery of salvation itself.”

The incarnation of Jesus is the most important translation in history, Bishop Flores said.

“Theologically speaking, the first ‘translatus’ that should occupy us is the movement of the Son/Word from His place to ours.” Referring to the prologue of the Gospel of John, he said, “We could say, ‘The Word translated Himself and dwelt among us.’”

The closing keynote talk by Zena Hitz, author and tutor at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, explored the shifting understandings of prudence in the Western intellectual tradition. Drawing upon Scripture, literature, and philosophical writings spanning 25 centuries, her presentation highlighted examples of practical wisdom, including in the stories of the Biblical patriarchs. “Abraham is our father in faith, but he is also a canny operator,” she said. “And his abilities to be a canny operator drive stories.”

In addition to panels presenting more than 100 papers drawn from nearly 400 submissions, conference sessions featured invited speakers including art historian Elizabeth Lev speaking on the painter Caravaggio, Dominican Father Paul Lawlor on archeological discoveries beneath the Basilica of San Clemente in Rome, Jennifer Frey of the University of Tulsa on the tradition of liberal education, and Cyril O’Regan of Notre Dame on the intellectual heritage shared between St. John Henry Newman and Alasdair MacIntyre.