Center on Religion and Culture

Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture (CRC) is looking forward to hosting a new slate of in-person and online events for Fall 2023.

Stay tuned for details on the CRC’s 2023 schedule of programs and follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter) for updates. You can also sign up for news and event invitations at [email protected].

In the meantime, you can check out our YouTube channel for curated videos of all our events from the past year.

Thank you for your support for Fordham and the CRC and remember to follow best practices to stay healthy, for yourselves and for others.

David Gibson
Director, Fordham Center on Religion and Culture

About the CRC

CRC Speaker at the Podium for the Pope Reform Event

At a time when religion’s role in American life is both praised and contested, Fordham’s Center on Religion and Culture (CRC) explores the complex relationship between faith and contemporary life.

Through public events and conversations with experts and artists, scholars and faith leaders, the CRC seeks to engage and elevate the public dialogue about religion and culture, the mind and the soul, inclusion and identity, politics, and the arts.

Check out our Events Page for more information about past and future programming.

View CRC Events

News and Updates

Fordham at the Met Opera: ‘Coursework Come to Life’

This year, more than 500 Fordham students, faculty, alumni, and staff attended performances at the world-famous Metropolitan Opera—located one block away from the University’s Lincoln Center campus—at no cost to attendees. “Students taking classes across the broad range of our undergraduate curriculum—from music, theater, and media to political science, theology, and more—saw their coursework come [...]

Read The Full Story

Eleven Fordham Students Head to Rome for Pope’s Synod on Synodality

Ten Fordham undergraduates and one graduate student arrived in Rome on Saturday to observe Pope Francis’ historic Synod on Synodality and participate in related events. The gathering was convened by the pope so that representatives from all areas of the church, from cardinals to lay people, could focus on synodality–the process of working together on [...]

Read The Full Story

Pope Decries Climate Deniers, Says World May Be Near Breaking Point

Fordham experts weigh in on Laudate Deum, a new apostolic exhortation on climate change. Increasing extreme weather conditions like record-high temperatures and devastating droughts are undoubtedly the result of “unchecked human intervention on nature,” Pope Francis declared in a letter published today expanding on his 2015 Laudato Si’ encyclical. Since that publication, he said, “I [...]

Read The Full Story

Ahead of Dead Man Walking Opera, Sister Helen Prejean Speaks at Fordham Event

Despite the presence of a Grammy Award-winner and a world-famous composer, it was a Catholic nun who drew the most applause when she arrived at St. Paul the Apostle Church. But Sister Helen Prejean is not your typical nun. Her bestselling memoir, Dead Man Walking, and later its Academy Award-winning film adaptation, are the basis [...]

Read The Full Story

In Self-Produced Documentary, Student Explores New Angle on Catholicism

In a documentary that features a prominent cast of religious figures and artists, student Henry Sullivan is exploring how Catholics creatively imagine their faith. “People traditionally view Catholic art as enchanting, with statues, stained glass windows, and beautiful cathedrals. But there are other ways for Catholics to imagine their faith through art,” said Sullivan, a [...]

Read The Full Story

Women Want Inclusion, Feel Hopeful After Talk with Top Vatican Nun

“In the church, women are still second-class citizens, but I have hope,” said Jackie Baligian, who started a women’s ministry in her parish to give women a platform. Baligian was drawn to Sister Nathalie Becquart’s talk, “Women and Youth: The Driving Force of Synodality,” at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle along with about [...]

Read The Full Story

Ukrainian ‘Chaplain in Combat’ Speaks on Atrocities of the War

During a whirlwind visit to Fordham, the chief chaplain of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church spoke of the cruelty and inhumanity he has witnessed in his mission and why the world needs to take note. “Things are happening at a scale which I could not imagine,” said Andriy Zelinskyy, S.J., during a short visit from the [...]

Read The Full Story

Speech Acts Panel Explores Forgiveness, Mercy, Justice in Public Discourse

How can mercy, justice, and forgiveness play a role in our public discourse? Can religious teachings help us address the intolerance and “othering” that takes place in society? These were some of the questions that panelists tried to answer at “The Quality of Mercy: Justice, Forgiveness, and Public Discourse” virtual event on March 10. The [...]

Read The Full Story

In New Documentary, Paradoxes of the Shakers Emerge

The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Coming, a utopian, ecstatic religious movement best known as the Shakers, often gets conflated with the Amish. But unlike the Amish, the Shakers, who thrived during the 18th and 19th centuries, embraced technological advances and actively engaged with the outside world. On Thursday, Nov. 4, at 6 [...]

Read The Full Story

Yearlong Series to Address Free Speech

Freedom of speech and expression, two bedrock principles of American life, will be the subject of a new series at Fordham this year. Speech Acts, which kicks off this week, will bring together high-profile speakers such as George Stephanopoulos and Nikole Hannah-Jones for eight panels and lectures to address an issue that has become increasingly [...]

Read The Full Story

From St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Conversion to Bernstein’s MASS: A Theme of Breaking and Reimagining

In September 1971, when Leonard Bernstein’s MASS debuted, the United States was facing a time of crisis and reckoning. The piece had been commissioned by Jackie Kennedy, the wife of the late President John F. Kennedy, as a way to commemorate her murdered husband, but it also followed the assassinations of his brother Robert Kennedy [...]

Read The Full Story