Conscience First, and to the Pope Afterwards - Prof. Lewis Ayres

Fr. David Goodill expounds Aquinas's treatment of conscience in Summa theologiae I-II, q.19, arguing that conscience is the inner act of the will and that, even when erring, it binds the agent, such that right formation of conscience through virtue, law, and grace is essential.This lecture was given on July 24th, 2026, at Stonyhurst College.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Fr. David is Dean of Degrees, Lector, Fellow, and Provincial Bursar. He studied Philosophy in Cambridge and Manchester before entering the Dominican Order. He has a doctorate in Moral Theology from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and maintains interests in both Moral Philosophy and Moral Theology. He was Prior of Oxford, and has served Blackfriars Hall and Studium as Hall Bursar, Vice-Regent, Senior Tutor and Acting Regent. He is a visiting lecturer in moral theology at St Joseph’s University, Macau.Publications: ‘Original Sense: Augustine and Wittgenstein on Religion and Origins’ in Augustine and Wittgenstein (2018); ‘Elizabeth Anscombe on Just War’ in The Moral Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe (2016); Nature as Guide: Wittgenstein and the Renewal of Moral Theology (CUA Press, 2022).Keywords: Aquinas, Conscience, Erring Conscience, Grace, Intention, Moral Species, Object Of The Act, Prudence, Summa Theologiae, Virtue

Prof. Lewis Ayres presents Newman's account of conscience as, not a private inner voice, but the echo of God's voice within the human being, that although refracted by sin and therefore requiring long formation in humility and obedience, is an entry into true fraternity.This lecture was given on July 24th, 2026, at Stonyhurst College.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Lewis was born in the UK, and studied Classics at St Andrews in Scotland, and Theology at Oxford. He has taught in the UK, in Ireland and in the US. He is currently Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology at Durham University in the UK, and McDonald Agape Chair in Early Christian Theology at the Angelicum University in Rome. He is interested in two main areas of Catholic thought: early Christian thought (on Christ, on the Trinity and on Biblical Interpretation), and modern Catholic thought (especially the idea of development in doctrine, the idea of Tradition, The second Vatican Council, Biblical Interpretation). He and his wife (Medi Ann Volpe) co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology.Keywords: Conscience, False Conscience, Gladstone, Humility, Letter To The Duke Of Norfolk, Newman, Papal Infallibility, Ratzinger, True Conscience, Voice Of God

Prof. Lewis Ayres draws on Newman's Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent and Essay on the Development of Doctrine to argue that conscience must be educated through a long process of moral and doctrinal formation, and that the young Ratzinger draws the same connections between consceince and the community and worship of the Church.This lecture was given on July 25th, 2026, at Stonyhurst College.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Lewis was born in the UK, and studied Classics at St Andrews in Scotland, and Theology at Oxford. He has taught in the UK, in Ireland and in the US. He is currently Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology at Durham University in the UK, and McDonald Agape Chair in Early Christian Theology at the Angelicum University in Rome. He is interested in two main areas of Catholic thought: early Christian thought (on Christ, on the Trinity and on Biblical Interpretation), and modern Catholic thought (especially the idea of development in doctrine, the idea of Tradition, The second Vatican Council, Biblical Interpretation). He and his wife (Medi Ann Volpe) co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology.Keywords: Callista, Conscience, Development Of Doctrine, Dogmatic Principle, Eucharist, Formation Of Conscience, Grammar Of Assent, Lectio Divina, Newman, Ratzinger

Prof. Medi Volpe argues that conscience is formed through the imagination, which is nurtured and filled by stories, so that discerning right action is less a matter of weighing propositions than of recognizing one's part in a larger story.This lecture was given on July 25th, 2026, at Stonyhurst College.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Medi Ann Volpe is a Catholic moral theologian and mother of four children, including a daughter with Down Syndrome. She is the Director of Research at Wesley House, Cambridge and teaches theology and ethics at Durham University (UK) . Her first book, Rethinking Christian Identity (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), brings contemporary theological themes into conversation with voices from the classical Christian tradition. More recently, her work has explored the intersection of ecclesiology and spiritual formation, with a special interest in discipleship and Christian identity of children as well as people with intellectual disabilities. She has published in journals and handbooks, including the International Journal of Systematic Theology, Modern Theology, and the Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology (which she co-edited with Lewis Ayres). She also serves on the board of the Journal of Disability and Religion. For the last several years, Volpe has been writing and speaking about the kind of Church we must be if we are truly to honour the weaker members. Her current book project (Living as the Body of Christ) considers ecclesiology from the perspective of disability.Keywords: Aquinas, Conscience, Frodo Baggins, Imagination, Lord Of The Rings, MacIntyre, Magnificat, Newman, Storytelling Animal, The Great Tale

Prof. Medi Volpe argues that conscience is not an abstract faculty but an everyday moral sense that must be awakened and nurtured, and that grace works through ordinary channels — stories, scripture, friends, and even our failures — to form us, little by little, into people who listen and obey.This lecture was given on July 26th, 2026, at Stonyhurst College.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Medi Ann Volpe is a Catholic moral theologian and mother of four children, including a daughter with Down Syndrome. She is the Director of Research at Wesley House, Cambridge and teaches theology and ethics at Durham University (UK) . Her first book, Rethinking Christian Identity (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), brings contemporary theological themes into conversation with voices from the classical Christian tradition. More recently, her work has explored the intersection of ecclesiology and spiritual formation, with a special interest in discipleship and Christian identity of children as well as people with intellectual disabilities. She has published in journals and handbooks, including the International Journal of Systematic Theology, Modern Theology, and the Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology (which she co-edited with Lewis Ayres). She also serves on the board of the Journal of Disability and Religion. For the last several years, Volpe has been writing and speaking about the kind of Church we must be if we are truly to honour the weaker members. Her current book project (Living as the Body of Christ) considers ecclesiology from the perspective of disability.Keywords: Aquinas, Conscience, Grace, Lord Of The Rings, Maximilian Kolbe, Moral Awakening, Newman, Pippin, Saruman, Tolkien

Fr. Chris Gault, O.P. lays out Aquinas's epistemology of moderate realism, in which all knowledge begins with the senses and the agent intellect abstracts universal forms from phantasms, and defends it against skepticism, ancient and modern, including the claim that artificial intelligence cannot truly know.This lecture was given on July 18th, 2026, at Glencomeragh House.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Fr. Chris Vincent Gault, OP, was born and raised in Belfast in the north of Ireland, where he studied medicine at Queen's University Belfast. Qualifying as a doctor in 2013, he began to train as an emergency physician, before leaving medicine after 3 years to enter the Irish Province of the Order of Preachers. Ordained as a Dominican priest in July 2024, and after having completed his studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome, he was assigned to the convent of St. Mary of the Isles in Cork, where he now resides and ministers, particularly to the youth and young adults of that city.Keywords: Agent Intellect, Aquinas, Blindsight, Chinese Room Argument, Epistemology, Moderate Realism, Phantasm, Sensory Experience, Universals, Visual Agnosia

Fr. Ambrose Little, O.P. argues that the natural human desire to know, though it draws the mind toward the contemplation of God, can only reach its fulfillment when purified and redirected by grace and the theological virtues, so that every discipline of study becomes a path of sanctity.This lecture was given on June 26th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.Support the Thomistic Institute Campus Chapter Program here: truth.thomisticinstitute.org/podAbout the Speaker:Fr. Ambrose Little is the director of the Thomistic Institute.  He is originally from Connecticut and entered the Dominican Order in 2007 and was ordained a priest in 2013. Before entering the Dominican Order, he graduated from The Catholic University of America with a BA in philosophy. After ordination, he completed a Licentiate in Philosophy at The Catholic University of America and then taught for two years at Providence College. After completing his Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Virginia in the summer of 2021, he started teaching at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception. He specializes in the philosophies of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, with an emphasis on their study of nature and the soul. He also studies topics at the intersection between philosophy and science.Keywords: Aquinas, Aristotle, Contemplation Of God, Desire To Know, Grace, Infused Virtues, Miraculous Catch, Sanctity, Socrates, Theological Virtues

Prof. Erik Dempsey explains St. Thomas Aquinas’s account of justification as God’s free gift of grace, which heals sin, moves human freedom, and forms believers in faith working through charity.This lecture was given on March 21st, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Professor Erik Dempsey an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Departments of Government, Classics, and Religious Studies, and is the Assistant Director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas. He has taught at the University of Texas at Austin for over ten years, during which time he has offered classes in the history of political philosophy, on the Bible and its interpreters, on American political thought, on classical philosophy and literature, and others. His favorite classes to teach are Jerusalem and Athens, a class comparing the political, moral, and theological ideas of the Hebrew Bible to Aristotle's, and the Question of Relativism, a class on what he considers the central quandary of our time. He writes primarily about Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, and he is currently studying John Locke's commentaries on St. Paul's epistles. Last but not least, he is an Eagle Scout.Keywords: Baptism, Charity, Faith and Works, Grace, Holy Spirit, Incarnation, Justification, Merit, Original Sin, St. Thomas Aquinas

Sr. Maria Frassati Jakupcak shows how Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure exposes the limits of abstract knowledge and reveals why some truths can only be known through love, experience, and particular relationship.This lecture was given on April 11th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Sr. Maria Frassati Jakupcak is a member of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist and an Assistant Professor of English at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. Her dissertation was on player-dramatists present in William Shakespeare's plays, though she has published on Tolkien and Belloc as well. In addition to her academic work, her devotional writing regularly appears in Magnificat.Keywords: Abstract Knowledge, Aquinas, Connaturality, Love, Measure For Measure, Particulars, Shakespeare, Theater, Truth, Universals

Fr. Jordan Zajac takes Shakespeare’s most morally charged characters and Aquinas’s deepest insights on love, hatred, and prudence to show why holiness sometimes means not just loving the good, but fiercely refusing what corrupts it.This lecture was given on April 10th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Fr. Jordan is from New Bedford, MA and graduated from Providence College in 2004, majoring in English and minoring in Political Science. He went on for an MA at the University of Virginia and a PhD at The University of Massachusetts-Amherst. It was during doctoral studies that he discovered a calling to religious life and the priesthood. Upon completion of his PhD in 2013, he entered the Order of Preachers. After studying Philosophy and Theology at the Dominican House of Studies (Washington, DC), he served as associate chaplain at PC (2019-2020) and was ordained a priest here on campus in May, 2020. He has taught in the English Department since August, 2020.Keywords: Aquinas, Charity, Cordelia, Hate, Holy Hatred, King Lear, Prince Hal, Prudence, Shakespeare, Virtue