Catholic Research Programs at BC

Events

Boston College Libraries is collaborating to arrange events, both virtual and on campus, to support research and collegiality within the scholarly community. Additional programs, including a conference, are also forthcoming. To learn more or collaborate on an event, please email librariescatholicresearch@bc.edu.

Catholic Studies Writing Groups

Beginning with the 2025-2026 academic year, Boston College Libraries is organizing cohorts of scholars committed to meeting virtually each month and to reading a work in progress on Catholic Studies. These works are drafts of either conference papers, articles, chapters, or book proposals. 

Scholarly Roundtables

The first in a series of scholarly roundtable discussions, bringing together scholars and archivists, took place in the spring of 2025. Hosted at Boston College Libraries, these events provide informal settings for invited researchers and archivists to share works in progress, to identify needs of the scholarly community, and to foster collaboration between individuals and institutions. The next roundtable is scheduled for spring 2026. 

Participants have included representatives from the American Catholic Historical Association, American Catholic Studies, Boston College’s History department, the Catholic Historical Research Center, the Center for the Study of Global Catholicism at St. Louis University, and University Libraries at the Catholic University of America. 

Lectures and Book Panels

Boston College Libraries regularly joins with on-campus partners to organize discussions on recent research and publications in Catholic Studies. These lectures, discussions, and book panels provide opportunities for the Boston College community to engage with and learn from the field’s leading scholars. A sampling of past events include:

  • Book panel: Discussion of “For I have Sinned: The Rise and Fall of Catholic Confession in America,” by James O’Toole, featuring comments by James Keenan, SJ, Boston College, and Leslie Tentler, professor emerita at the Catholic University of America, and co-sponsored by the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life (2025)
  • Invited lecture: David Collins, SJ, Georgetown University, “The Jesuits in the US: A Concise History … Concisely!,” co-sponsored by the Center for Ignatian Spirituality (2024)
  • Invited lecture: Kathleen Sprows Cummings, University of Notre Dame, Dean’s Colloquium – “Monumental Questions: Catholicism, Gender, and the American Public Landscape,” co-sponsored by the Dean’s Office at the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences (2023)
  • Invited lecture: Seth Meehan, Boston College, “My Time with ‘The Providential Man’: Observations on John McElroy, S.J., Founder of Boston College,” co-sponsored by the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life (2023)
  • Book panel: “Writing Boston College’s History: A Conversation with James O’Toole,” featuring comments by Gregory Kalscheur, SJ, Dean of the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, and Margaret McGuinness, professor emerita at La Salle University, and co-sponsored by the History Department, the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, and the Office of the University Historian (2023)