In recent years, the Institute has organized a number of general conferences, beginning with its 1989 Inaugural Conference that explored the opportunities offered by the new Institute; others have included:
- April 15, 2009. "Women In The Church: North and South," an interactive videoconference between Boston College and the Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro. Keynote speakers: Patricia Cahill, CEO of Catholic Health Initiatives and Maria del Rosario Saavedra, Social Scientist of CINEP; Research Center for Popular Education in Bogota. Respondents: Maria Clara Bingemer, Associate Professor of Theology at the Pontifical University of Rio de Janeiro and Lisa Sowle Cahill, J. Donald Monan, SJ, Professor of Ethics at the BC Theology Department.
- February 26-28, 2009 "Ethics and Sustainability of the Earth," an international conference on ethics and the physical, natural and social sciences to discuss issues related to sustainability from a faith perspective.
Participants:
Keynote speakers: Jeremy Jackson, professor in the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California-San Diego; Dianne Dumanoski, Science Editor of the Boston Globe; and Laurie Zoloth, director of Center for Bioethics, Science and Society and professor of medical humanities & bioethics and religion at Northwestern University.
Boston College faculty members: Canisius Prof. T. Frank Kennedy, SJ, director of the Jesuit Institute and organizer of the conference, Founders Professor of Theology James Keenan, SJ, Assoc. Prof. Gail Kineke, chair of the Geology and Geophysics Department, Prof. Juliet Schor (Sociology), Assoc. Prof. Laura Hake (Biology), Geology and Geophysics faculty Asst. Prof. Amy Frappier, Assoc. Prof. Alan Kafka and Asst. Prof. Noah Snyder.
Visiting scholars giving presentations: Roger S. Gottlieb (Philosophy, Worcester Polytechnic Institute); Michael Northcott (Theology, University of Edinburgh); Jane Bennett (Social Science, Johns Hopkins University); Philip Landrigan, MD (Science, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NY); Sister Pushpa Joseph, (Social Science, University of Madras, India) and Willis Jenkins (Ethics, Yale University); John Hart (Ethics, Boston University); Heather Eaton (Ethics, St. Paul University, Ottawa). - January 14-15, 2005. "Inculturation and the Church in North America."
This conference discussed issues related to: Young Adult Catholics - Gender and Catholic Political Life - Catholics in American Political Culture - The Impact of Women Theologians - The Participation of the Laity - Business Culture and the Church - Sectarian Threats - "A Truly Local Church" - Collective Identity - US Hispanic Marian Devotion - Challenges for the Future.
Participants: John P. Beal (The Catholic University of America), Nancy A. Dallavalle (Fairfield University), MaryAnn Hinsdale (Boston College), Dean R. Hoge (The Catholic University of America), Natalia M. Imperatori-lee (Notre Dame), Mary Johnson (Emmanuel College), David Hollenbach (Boston College), Mark S. Massa (Fordham University), Peter C. Phan (Georgetown University), Francis Sullivan (Boston College), T. Frank Kennedy (Boston College). - "The Jesuits I & II: Cultures, Sciences and the Arts, 1540-1773," which drew scholars from all over the world to further understanding of the interaction between religion and culture that took place in the international Jesuit network during 'the age of discovery' and beyond. This cultural interaction involved such diverse disciplines as painting, music, theater, science, history, mathematics, architecture and cartography. The University of Toronto Press has published the proceedings of the conference, in two volumes.
