Conference panel: The Catholic Law School

Yesterday, I moderated a panel discussion, "The Catholic Law School", at the "Joy in the Truth:  The Catholic University in the New Millennium" conference, sponsored by the Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture.  Interesting papers were presented by Michael Kenney (Ave Maria), Kevin Lee (Ave Maria), and John Breen (Loyola-Chicago).  And, the discussion was enriched greatly by the attendance and lively participation of a number of engaged Notre Dame Law School students.

Breen's paper, "A Critical Look at Jesuit Legal Education," has been discussed here at MOJ before (here, here, here, and here).  He insists, in a nutshell, that it is not enough for a law school that purports to be Catholic, or "Jesuit", to gesture vaguely toward "heritage" or "social justice" or "clinical programs"; a Catholic law school must engage the Catholic intellectual tradition, and work to give students reasons why they should care about social justice and clinical programs.

Relatedly, but perhaps even more provocatively, Kevin Lee argued that authentically Catholic legal education must be explicitly and non-superficially theological.  It is not enough, he suggests, to explore the Catholic Social Teaching tradition, to engage the law-and-religion debate, or to run public policy through the ethical-analysis gauntlet.  Instead, a Catholic law school must investigate, and deploy deeply Christian theological notions of community, love, and the lorship of Christ.  (For more, see this post at Lee's "Lex Christi" blog).

Kenney -- who has been a part of the Ave Maria project from the beginning -- shared a very thoughtful reflection about how four of John Paul II's most important works -- Fides et ratio, Evangelium vitae, Veritatis splendor, and Ex corde ecclesiae -- provide a promising foundation for a Catholic law school's mission and curriculum.

The Notre Dame Law School students in attendance added a lot to the panel, challenging us all to think hard about how, if at all, what happens in the classrooms of Catholic Law Schools is, and should be, different from what happens anywhere else.

If any MOJ readers attended the "Joy in the Truth" conference, and have any thoughts to share, please let me know, and I'd post them, as appropriate.

Rick