STEUBENVILLE, OHIO—The Society of Catholic Social Scientists will address today’s most pressing issues at its 31st annual conference—the largest ever in its over 30-year history—at the Franciscan University of Steubenville October 27-28. Technology’s challenge to human dignity, secularism and the decline of religion, and achieving peace in Ukraine are among the 45 topics to be discussed at 25 sessions, panels, and roundtables.

Dr. Stephen M. Krason, president of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists and professor of political science and legal studies at Franciscan University, noted the importance of bringing a faithful Catholic perspective from accomplished scholars to social science’s most challenging issues.

“The conference promises to be an intellectually stimulating and deepening experience for those who attend,” said Krason. “As with all of the Society’s efforts, it responds to the challenge of Pope Pius XI—for whom the organization’s annual award for Catholic scholarly contributions is named—to build up a truly Catholic social science.”

Topics to be explored during the conference include “The Decline in Religious Faith and How It Can Be Reversed,” “Recent Technology and Catholic Social Thought,” “Cultivating Relationships for Human Flourishing in the 21st Century,” and “Christian Social Science Against the Secular Culture.”

On Friday evening, the 2023 Pope Pius XI Award for Contributions Toward the Building Up of a True Catholic Social Science will be presented to Richard Garnett of Notre Dame Law School.  Garnett teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, criminal law, the First Amendment, and law and religion. He is a leading authority on religious freedom and Church-state relations, and is the founding director of Notre Dame Law School’s Program on Church, State, and Society. The Blessed Frederic Ozanam Award for Catholic Social Action will also be presented to Luis Tellez, president of the Witherspoon Institute and a member of the Advisory Council of the James Madison program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.

Founded in 1992, the Society of Catholic Social Scientists is a scholarly, interdisciplinary organization dedicated to promoting and conducting rigorous social scientific research within the parameters of orthodox Catholic doctrine. It has given Catholic social science scholars a community of mutual support and encouragement as they approach political, social, and economic questions through advanced scholarship while adhering to the natural law and Catholic Church teaching in a world where truth itself is under attack.

For more information and to register, please visit catholicsocialscientists.org.