From sea to shining sea, the Catholic Church in America has been a formative influence upon–and formatively influenced by–major currents and events in American history. In the 2026-2027 Graduate Fellows Colloquium, "Frontiers of Faith: Catholicism and the American Imagination," we will explore the American Catholic Church’s rich history and often overlooked contributions to the nation’s broader story. We will travel across the country’s regions and from the pre-colonial era until the present as we explore urban and rural Catholicism from New England to New Mexico, the distinct Catholic literary tradition of the American South, Catholicism and the immigrant experience, and the influence on the Church of both the nation’s original Protestantism and its ascendant secularism. We will undertake this study throughout the year as we encounter figures such as St. Junipero Serra, John Carroll, Orestes Brownson, Flannery O’Connor, Willa Cather, Thea Bowman and more. And through this study, as we mark the semiquincentennial of the United States, we will explore the distinctiveness (if any) of American Catholicism within the broader Catholic tradition.
Dates: Monthly on Thursdays, 7:00 - 8:30 PM.
- September 17
- October 22
- November 19
- Spring dates TBA
Location: Fox-Fels Leadership Hall (3814 Walnut St, University City Philadelphia)
To RSVP for the September 17 session of Grad Fellows, fill out the form below. Questions? Please email Joe Perez-Benzo (jperezbenzo@collegiuminstitute.org).