Benedictine College’s Fourteenth Annual
Symposium on Transforming Culture
The weekend of March 21-22, 2025
2025 Theme: “Marriage at the Peripheries”
This annual conference is held on the campus of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. The Symposium brings together scholars, business leaders, field professionals and students for a time of fellowship, reflection and dialogue concerning topics integral to the Catholic Faith and its transformative role in our society, culture and business.
2025 Theme: “Marriage at the Peripheries”
Over the course of many years in western civilization, the Christian understanding of marriage has been pushed to the “peripheries.” Marriage has been re-defined and, ultimately, de-defined. Tragically, the loss of the Christian perspective on marriage has and continues to cause great harm. Often those most impacted are those at the “peripheries.” The 2025 Symposium seeks to speak to the gift of the Catholic Church’s teachings on marriage and propose solutions to the challenges facing married couples and families in the contemporary environment.
Call for Abstracts
With this year’s theme we invite scholars and field professionals from any field or discipline to submit proposals for 20-minute colloquium session presentations that explore the complex reality of marriage and family in the world today.
Event Registration
Symposium Registration: $125
Symposium + Business Summit: $150
Discounted registration available for students (graduate/undergraduate) and Benedictine College faculty/staff. Priests and religious can attend at no cost.
If you have any questions, please contact us.
Event Schedule
Friday, March 21, 2025
The Business Summit takes place Friday morning and afternoon, with sessions and speakers focused on applying faithful Catholic principles in the world of business and commerce. After the Business Summit, the Symposium on Transforming Culture begins with check-in and a keynote address Friday evening.
9:00-9:30 a.m.
Check-in for the Business Summit and Continental Breakfast
9:30-9:45 a.m.
Welcome and Opening Comments
9:45-10:45 a.m.
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Paul Mueller, “Virtuous Capitalists and Redeeming Capitalism”
10:45-11:00 a.m.
Break
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Featured Speaker
John Horvat II, “The Core Problem: The Crumbling of our Moral Code”
12:00-1:15 p.m.
Lunch with Students
In the Dining Hall
1:15-1:30 p.m.
Midday Welcome Back and Remarks
1:30-2:30 p.m.
Featured Speaker
Ed Van Buskirk, “The Ten Commandments as a Moral Code for Business”
2:30-2:45 p.m.
Break
2:45-3:45 p.m.
Virtuoso Panel Discussion
Panel Guests TBD. Topic: “What Virtuoso companies and leaders are currently doing to strengthen families.”
3:45-4:00 p.m.
Closing Remarks
4:00-5:00 p.m.
Hospitality Hour
Business Summit Ends
Symposium on Transforming Culture Begins
4:00-5:30 p.m.
Colloquium Session #1
Ferrell Academic Center, Third Floor. Light refreshments provided.
6:00 p.m.
Check-in for the Symposium on Transforming Culture
Murphy Recreation Center
7:30-9:00 p.m.
Keynote #1
9:00 p.m.
Reception
Saturday, March 22, 2025
After the Business Summit and Friday evening’s keynote, the Symposium on Transforming Culture continues on Saturday with multiple speakers and colloquium sessions, ending with Vigil Mass, dinner and closing reception.
A Family Zone is available for parents and children on Saturday in Murphy Recreation Center.
8:30-9:30 a.m.
Keynote #2
9:45-11:00 a.m.
Colloquium Session #2
Ferrell Academic Center
11:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Featured Presenter Sessions
12:30-1:45 p.m.
Lunch
2:00-3:15 p.m.
Keynote #3
3:45-5:00 p.m.
Colloquium Session #3
Ferrell Academic Center
5:15 p.m.
Vigil Mass
6:30-7:30 p.m.
Dinner
7:45-9:00 p.m.
Concluding Keynote
9:00 p.m.
Reception
Speakers & Presenters
Brad Wilcox
University of Virginia
Speaker Bio
Bio coming soon!
Catherine Pakaluk
Catholic University of America
Speaker Bio
Bio coming soon!
JP De Gance
Communio
Speaker Bio
Bio coming soon!
Christopher Kaczor
Loyola Marymount University
Speaker Bio
Bio coming soon!
John Grabowski
Catholic University of America
Speaker Bio
Bio coming soon!
Claire Grabowski
Educator and Marriage Preparation Leader
Speaker Bio
Bio coming soon!
Pia De Solenni
Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation
Speaker Bio
Pia de Solenni is an internationally recognized Catholic theologian and speaker. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and National Catholic Register; she has appeared on CNN, ABC News, and other television programs.
Solenni is an alumna of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum where she earned a Bachelor of Sacred Theology. On November 8, 2001, she received the 2001 Award of the Pontifical Academies for her doctoral work. The award was presented by John Paul II. Dr. de Solenni has served on the Family Research Council.
Solenni has a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.
Tim Carney
American Enterprise Institute
Speaker Bio
Timothy P. Carney is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he works on civil society, family, localism, religion in America, economic competition, and electoral politics. He is concurrently a senior columnist at the Washington Examiner.
Mr. Carney’s forthcoming book, Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder Than It Needs to Be, will be published by HarperCollins in March 2024. He is also the author of Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse (HarperCollins, 2019), which was a Washington Post bestseller; Obamanomics (Regnery Publishing, 2009); and The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money (John Wiley & Sons, 2006), which was awarded the 2008 Culture of Enterprise award by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
In addition to his Washington Examiner columns, Mr. Carney has been published widely, including in the Atlantic, National Review, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. His television appearances include CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and PBS NewsHour.
Mr. Carney has a bachelor’s degree from St. John’s College in Annapolis.
Dr. Paul Mueller
Business Summit Keynote
Speaker Bio
Paul D. Mueller is a senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research as well as a research fellow and associate director of the Religious Liberty in the States project at the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy. He taught economics at The King’s College in New York City. His academic and popular work has appeared in a large variety of publications. Dr. Mueller is also the author of Ten Years Later: Why the Conventional Wisdom about the 2008 Financial Crisis Is Still Wrong.
John Horvat II
Business Summit Featured Speaker
Speaker Bio
John Horvat II is a scholar, researcher, educator, international speaker and author of “Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society – Where We’ve Been, How We Got Here and Where We Need to Go.” His writings have appeared worldwide, including The Wall Street Journal, FOX News, The Christian Post, The Washington Times, ABC News, Crisis Magazine, Life Site News, The Catholic Thing and C-SPAN. For more than three decades he has been researching and writing about the socio-economic and moral crisis in the United States and its consequences.
He is the vice president of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP), head of the TFP Commission for American studies, and a TFP Sedes Sapientiae Institute instructor. Additionally, he is a member of the Association of Christian Economists, The Philadelphia Society, the National Association of Scholars and the Catholic Writers Guild. He lives in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania.
Ed Van Buskirk
Business Summit Featured Speaker
Speaker Bio
Ed Van Buskirk is the Founder and President of If U Love Me, a Catholic apostolate dedicated to teaching the wisdom of the Ten Commandments. He is the author of the book and video course on the Ten Commandments, God’s Recipe for a Wonderful Life and creator of the “God’s Recipe for School and Family,” a program that teaches the Ten Commandments to school children and their families. He speaks nationwide and has been featured at the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocesan Eucharistic Congress. He also has written numerous articles that have appeared in Catholic Exchange.