La Salette Retreat &
Conference Center
WELCOME TO
FAITH AFTER CHRISTENDOM:
CATHOLIC IDENTITY AND PUBLIC WITNESS IN A SECULAR AGE
“Who do people say
that the Son of Man is?” (Mt. 16:13)
Meet leading Catholic voices exploring faith, culture, and public life and reflecting on the challenges of a changing world. Discover how faith can remain credible, meaningful, and alive in a secular age.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Faith After Christendom:
Catholic Identity and Public Public Witness in a Secular Age
The world around us is changing quickly. Christianity is no longer the cultural reference point it once was, and many Catholics are asking what it means to live their faith with confidence, integrity, and hope in today’s society.
Faith After Christendom: Catholic Identity and Public Witness in a Secular Age is a Catholic lecture series created to foster thoughtful conversations about faith, culture, and public life. Through the voices of distinguished Catholic speakers from across the country, the series will explore how we can bear faithful and credible witness to Jesus Christ in an increasingly secular and post-Christian culture.
The entire series is guided by three important questions:
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What kind of faith is possible when Christianity is no longer the default?
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What is the Church called to become in a post-Christian culture?
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How can the Catholic faith remain intellectually credible and deeply meaningful in a secular age?
The first three conferences approach these questions from three different but closely connected perspectives: the identity of the Church, the power of awe and beauty, and the presence of God in human suffering:
Gloria Purvis
When Faith Is No Longer the Default: The Church’s Identity in a Secular Age
Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J.
When Awe and Wonder Break Through: How Astonishment and Beauty Awaken Faith
Matthew DeBoer
Faith Under Fire: Where Is God When It Hurts?
Gloria Purvis
African-American Catholic public scholar, speaker, author, podcaster, and activist in Washington, D.C.
Bro. Guy Consolmagno
American Jesuit brother, planetary scientist, and former director of the Vatican Observatory
Matt DeBoer
Principal of Annunciation Catholic School, struck by a mass shooting during a school Mass on Aug 27, 2025
Gloria Purvis
Saturday, September 12, 2026 - 10:00 a.m.
"When Faith Is No Longer the Default:
The Church's Identity in a Secular Age"
Gloria Purvis is an author, commentator, public scholar, and advocate whose work brings Catholic faith into conversation with some of the most pressing questions of our time. Through her writing, teaching, and extensive media presence, she has become a nationally recognized Catholic voice on human dignity, life issues, religious liberty, racial justice, and reconciliation.
She has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fox News, PBS NewsHour, NPR, Newsweek, Relevant Radio, and Catholic Answers Live. She hosted the international radio program Morning Glory and later hosted and produced The Gloria Purvis Podcast. Her work also includes the Word on Fire Institute video series Racism, Human Dignity, and the Catholic Church. In 2020, Our Sunday Visitor named her Catholic of the Year.
Purvis participated in an exclusive interview with Pope Francis as part of a delegation from America Media and served as a frequent papal news contributor for ABC News Live during the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV. She has served as a lay consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and currently advises its Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation.
She is the inaugural Pastoral Fellow at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and the inaugural Senior Fellow at Georgetown University’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. She also serves as a fellow at the Saint Martin de Porres, O.P. Center for Health and Human Dignity at Providence College and as a member of the Board of Catholic Charities USA. She has received honorary doctorates in humane letters from the University of Portland, Saint Martin’s University, and Salve Regina University.
For our conference series, Gloria Purvis will present "When Faith Is No Longer the Default: The Church's Identity in a Secular Age" to help us reflect on how Catholics can witness to faith with clarity, courage, and fidelity in today’s world.
Bro. Guy Consolmagno SJ.
Saturday, November 7, 2026 - 10:00 a.m.
"When Awe and Wonder Break Through:
How Astonishment and Beauty Awaken Faith."
Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J., is a Jesuit brother and planetary scientist whose remarkable journey has brought together scientific discovery, service, and faith. A native of Detroit, he earned degrees in Earth and Planetary Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a doctorate in Planetary Science from the University of Arizona. He later conducted research and taught at the Harvard College Observatory and MIT.
In 1983, Brother Guy stepped away from academic life to serve with the U.S. Peace Corps, teaching physics and astronomy in Kenya for two years. After returning to the United States, he taught physics at Lafayette College before entering the Society of Jesus in 1989. He took vows as a Jesuit brother in 1991 and continued his studies in philosophy, theology, and physics before being assigned to the Vatican Observatory in 1993.
Brother Guy has served as a visiting scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and has held visiting academic chairs at Saint Joseph’s University, Fordham University, and Le Moyne College. He has also held leadership roles within the Meteoritical Society, the International Astronomical Union, and the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences.
A gifted writer and teacher, he has authored or coauthored numerous books on astronomy and the relationship between faith and science, including Turn Left at Orion, Brother Astronomer, God’s Mechanics, and Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? Since 2004, he has also written a monthly astronomy column for the British Catholic publication The Tablet. Through his work, Brother Guy invites people to encounter science not as a threat to faith, but as a path toward wonder, curiosity, and a deeper appreciation of creation.
For our conference series, Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J., will present “When Awe and Wonder Break Through: How Astonishment and Beauty Awaken Faith,” helping us reflect on how the beauty of the universe can open the human heart to God and renew our sense of faith, mystery, and praise.
Matt (Matthew) DeBoer
Saturday, January 9, 2027 - 10:00 a.m.
"Faith Under Fire:
Where Is God When It Hurts?"
Matt DeBoer is a Catholic school leader whose life and vocation have been deeply shaped by Catholic education. Formed in Jesuit education at Creighton University, where he studied history and theology, and later at the University of Notre Dame, where he earned a Master’s degree in Educational Administration and Leadership, Matt has served Catholic schools with faith, courage, and a deep commitment to forming young people as peacemakers.
His leadership began in post-Katrina New Orleans at The Good Shepherd School and continued at St. Therese Catholic Academy in Seattle, where he served as principal for eight years.
He now serves as principal of Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, guiding the community through healing and recovery after the tragic school shooting of August 27, 2025, which took the lives of Harper Moyski and Fletcher Merkel. In the face of grief, Matt has called his community to live the African proverb, “When you pray, move your feet,” inviting faith to become action, hope, and courageous witness.
For our conference series, Matthew DeBoer will present “Faith Under Fire: Where Is God When It Hurts?” Drawing from his experience as a Catholic school leader guiding a community through grief, trauma, and healing, he will help us reflect on how faith can endure when life is marked by suffering.
Upcoming Lectures
When Faith Is No Longer the Default: The Church’s Identity in a Secular Age.Sep 12, 2026, 10:00 AM – 11:50 AMShrine of Our Lady of La Salette, 947 Park St, Attleboro, MA 02703, USA
When Awe and Wonder Break Through: How Astonishment and Beauty Awaken Faith.Nov 07, 2026, 10:00 AM – 11:50 AMShrine of Our Lady of La Salette, 947 Park St, Attleboro, MA 02703, USA
Faith Under Fire: Where Is God When It Hurts?Jan 09, 2027, 10:00 AM – 11:50 AMShrine of Our Lady of La Salette, 947 Park St, Attleboro, MA 02703, USA