Dr. Russell Hittinger will be the speaker at the Second Annual Hanifen Center Diocesan Forum, scheduled for February 8, 2012. The event will be at St. Mary’s Cathedral beginning at 7:15 pm.

The Diocesan Forum is an annual event where noted Catholic scholars and speakers present ideas relevant to Catholic religious and social thought. This is a partnership with the Paul Frederick Sheffer Fund for Roman Catholic Studies at Colorado College; which awards grants to students and faculty for travel and study, provides library materials, funds internships with Roman Catholic agencies of community service, and supports visiting lecturers. For more information on the Sheffer Fund, go to www.coloradocollege.edu/dept/re/Sheffer_Fund_for_Roman_Catholic_Studies.asp.

Dr. Hittinger’s presentation at St. Mary’s Cathedral is titled: “What St. Benedict Taught the Dark Ages…His and Ours.” The next evening, he will present, “Pope John XXIII’s Vision of Moral Order: Pacem in Terris 50 Years Later” at Colorado College at 7:30 pm in Gaylord Hall in the Worner Campus Center.

Since 1996, Dr. Hittinger has held the William K. Warren Chair of Catholic Studies at the University of Tulsa, where he is also a Research Professor in the School of Law. He specializes in issues of philosophy, theology and law. From 2002 – 2005 he was the Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion. He has taught at Fordham University and at the Catholic University of America, and has been a Visiting Professor at Princeton University, New York University, and Charles University in Prague.

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Professor Hittinger as an ordinarius in the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. He is one of only two lay academics in the world to serve on two Pontifical academies.

His books and articles include Thomas Aquinas and the Rule of Law, The First Grace: Re-Discovering Natural Law in a Post-Christian Age, and Law and Human Nature: Teachings of Modern Christianity. His new book, Paper Wars: The Papacy and the Modern State will be published this year.

For information on the Diocesan Forum, call 719-866-6443.