“The cornerstone of the civilization of love is recognition of the value of the human person and, concretely, of all human beings.” – Pope St. John Paul II

This article originally appeared in the Feb. 9, 2025 issue of the Messenger, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Covington, and is posted with permission.

Twenty years after the death of Pope St. John Paul II, Thomas More University is hosting a slate of programs for its students, alumni, and the community as it reflects on Pope St. John Paul II’s life, teachings and momentous impact on the life of the Church.

The 26-year pontificate of Pope St. John Paul II makes him a figure that looms large in the minds and hearts of millennial and older Catholics. However, many of Thomas More’s students were yet to be born when he died on April 2, 2005, making him less known to students than his successors, explains Thomas More University Interim Chair of Theology Caitlin Shaughnessy Dwyer.

“Pope St. John Paul II’s story is incredible and inspiring. This is an exciting moment to share that story with the next generation that may not be as familiar with him,” Dwyer says.

The first program, “Pope St. John Paul II and Religious Liberty,” presented by the Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III ’67 Institute for Religious Liberty (IRL) on Feb. 12, featured renowned Catholic intellectual George Weigel and was moderated by Monsignor William Cleves. Weigel is the author of a two-part biography on Pope St. John Paul II, Witness to Hope” (1999), and its sequel, “The End and the Beginning” (2010). 

A second event by the IRL for the community occurs on March 31 and will feature Paul Kengor, Ph.D., executive director for the Institute for Faith and Freedom at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. Kengor’s event explores why Pope St. John Paul II has become widely regarded as “the Great,” through a presentation entitled “John Paul the Great: Seven Things Every Catholic Should Know.” This free event is being held in the Wilbert L. Ziegler ’53 Auditorium in Thomas More’s new Academic Center, with additional details available at thomasmore.edu/religiousliberty.

“We have hosted Dr. Kengor before on two different occasions as we have pursued topics related to religious liberty on a regional level. His institute is one of the few in the country that grapples with the same issues as our IRL. We are excited to have him back on this special occasion honoring Pope St. John Paul II on the 20^th anniversary of his death,” says Raymond G. Hebert, Ph.D., executive director of the IRL and dean of the college emeritus.  “Probably his most famous book was the New York Times bestseller featuring Pope St. John Paul II’s special relationship with American President Ronald Reagan in the opposition to Soviet communism.”

The Center for Faith, Mission and Catholic Education, in partnership with the University’s theology department, expands on the themes of the IRL’s events through several other programs focused on Pope St. John Paul II to be held throughout the spring.  

“At Thomas More, we have a large number of non-Catholic Christians on campus,” says Hannah Keegan, director of the Center. “I thought it would be beautiful to have an event that explored John Paul II’s document on ecumenism, Ut Unum Sint (That They May Be One). The goal is to foster dialogue and unity among Christians on campus. Christ can be known to others by our unity, and the more we live that unity, the more we glorify God.”

Keegan is planning the event on ecumenism for April 24 at 7pm in Ziegler Auditorium. Bishop John Iffert will present on the theme in a dialogue with Nathan Smith, director of ecumenism at Glenmary Home Missioners as well as Joshua Lenon, pastor at a non-denominational church in Cincinnati.

Several other events will reflect on Pope St. John Paul II’s impact on the arts, including a lunchtime discussion led by Thomas More theatre director, Phillip Webster, for Thomas More faculty and staff, and a night of pizza and singing for students. “I have always been struck by Fyodor Dostoevsky’s quote that “Beauty will save the world.” John Paul II had a great sensitivity to beauty and the understanding that beauty attracts the human heart and draws people to the Truth. Not everyone is going to read an encyclical, but beauty can be an invitation to a deeper understanding,” Keegan says.

Looking ahead, the Center for Faith, Mission and Catholic Education will build on this series on Pope St. John Paul II through an examination of the impact of Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’, as this spring marks 10 years since its publication.

“Pope Francis’ encyclical doesn’t use the word ‘sustainability,’ instead it uses the phrase ‘integral ecology.’ With this series of events, we are trying to walk through the different implications of ‘integral ecology’, which ultimately refers to the interconnectedness of all of reality. This is something that Pope St. John Paul II also understood deeply and articulated in his own ways,” says Keegan.

“This vision of integral ecology is that everything implicates everything else. So, the way that you spend money implicates not just your family, but also society at large, the way you prepare a meal or educate your children has implications that go beyond that dinner or that lesson. . . The goal is to have a series where we unpack what integral ecology means and all of the areas where it’s relevant – in sustainability initiatives, but also in other areas of our lives.”

The first of these events was held the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 25 in Ziegler Auditorium, featuring a presentation by Dr. Leah Bayens, director of the Berry Center Farm and Forest Institute. “It’s an interesting example of an organization taking all of the factors of reality into consideration: the dignity of work, the dignity of the person, the dignity of their labor, the intrinsic goodness of the earth, the right use of land, what money is for, how to take care of the family of the person who is working,” Keegan says. The Berry Center event, was entitled “Fostering Land-Based Cultures: Putting First Things First for Livelihood.”

“Pope Francis has a different accent than Pope St. John Paul II in the way he communicates the Truth, but we’re able to observe many elements of John Paul II’s teaching in Francis’ various encyclicals and I hope to highlight that continuity of thought present in the life of the Church,” Keegan says.

To learn more about the Center for Faith, Mission and Catholic Education at Thomas More University, and stay updated about future events hosted by the Center, click HERE.