Terrence J. Murphy Institute to host second annual conference April 6-8
About 100 scholars in fields such as law, philosophy, economics and theology will gather this week for the second annual conference of the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public Policy.
The conference, “Prudential Judgment, Public Policy and the Catholic Social Tradition,” will be held April 6-8 at the St. Thomas School of Law.
Formed in 2004, the Terrence J. Murphy Institute is a collaboration between the university’s Center for Catholic Studies and School of Law; it was created to explore the various interactions between law and Catholic thought. This year’s conference examines public policy questions in light of prudence – in the Catholic moral tradition, the virtue that enables a person to reason well about goals to be pursued and means to accomplish them.
The institute is named for the late Monsignor Terrence Murphy, who served the University of St. Thomas for 50 years, including 25 years as its president. Murphy was the university's chancellor when he died in February 2004.
Marquette University political science professor Christopher Wolfe and University of Notre Dame history professor John McGreevy will give plenary addresses at this year’s conference. Wolfe’s address, on April 7, is titled “Prudence and the Catholic Social Tradition – But Whose Prudence?” McGreevy will speak on “How We Pray (and Vote) Today” on April 8.
For more information about the conference, visit the Murphy Institute’s Web site.
