Has America’s liberal consensus enriched and empowered a narrow elite—but failed the nation and its people? That will be the focus of a conference to be held October 7-8, 2022, at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

“Restoring a Nation: The Common Good in the American Tradition” will examine how the liberal agenda, with its promises of equal opportunity and an endless array of lifestyle choices, has plunged working- and middle-class people into job and health insecurity and yielded a public square owned and controlled by a narrow elite, said Sohrab Ahmari, conference organizer and publisher of Compact magazine.

“Franciscan University is among the nation’s premier faithfully Catholic universities,” said Ahmari, a visiting fellow at Franciscan University’s Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life. “It also happens to be set in a wider region that has suffered a great deal from de-industrialization and working-class decline. So, what better place to convene this stellar group of scholars, writers, and public intellectuals to recover our nation’s common-good tradition and repurpose its wisdom for the challenges of the 21st century?”

Eleven talks, panel discussions, and keynotes will be given by Ahmari; Helen Andrews, senior editor, The American Conservative; Rachel Bovard, senior director of policy, the Conservative Partnership Institute; John A. Burtka IV, president, Intercollegiate Studies Institute; Patrick J.  Deneen, political science professor, University of Notre Dame; Scott Hahn, theology professor, Franciscan University of Steubenville; Josh Hammer, opinion editor, Newsweek; Hadar Ahiad Hazony, doctoral candidate, University of Notre Dame; writer and political columnist Michael Lind; Gladden Pappin, politics professor, University of Dallas; Darel E. Paul, political science professor, Williams College; Chad Pecknold, political theology professor, The Catholic University of America; R.R. Reno, editor, First Things; Matthew Schmitz, editor, Compact;  Patrick Smith, Semiduplex blog; J.D. Vance, candidate for U.S. Senate, Ohio; Adrian Vermeule, constitutional law professor at Harvard Law School.

Many talks will focus on a way to reverse the decline of America by recovering the forgotten wisdom of our nation’s Western and Christian foundations, said Ahmari. “Our task isn’t to fashion something new—but to recover forgotten wisdom.”

Restoring a Nation is sponsored by the Veritas Center for Ethics in Public Life at Franciscan University in collaboration with the Bonum Commune Foundation.

To register or for more information go to Franciscan.edu/restoring-a-nation.