Jean Duchesne to speak at Saint Meinrad’s Thomas Lecture

Jean Duchesne will present the annual Thomas Lecture on Philosophy and Theology at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad, IN. The lecture will be held on Thursday, March 26, 2026, at 7 p.m. Central Time in St. Bede Theater. This year’s lecture is titled “The Bumpy Ride of 20th-Century French Catholicism.”

In his lecture, Duchesne will explore the challenges and developments faced by the Catholic Church in France during the 20th century. He will examine how new spiritual movements, renewed attention to Scripture, and influential Catholic thinkers helped shape the Church’s response to social change and informed the work of the Second Vatican Council. He will also reflect on why these theological and spiritual advances did not prevent widespread secularization in Western Europe and what this history reveals about current challenges facing the Church.

Duchesne is emeritus superior chair professor of English at Condorcet College in Paris and Sainte-Marie in Neuilly. Born in 1944 and educated in Paris, he graduated from the École Normale Supérieure de Saint-Cloud in 1970 after teaching at Stanford University in California. His academic work has emphasized the relationship between theology and the humanities, an approach that shaped his scholarly and editorial career.

In 1974, Duchesne helped launch the French edition of the International Catholic Review Communio and served as its managing editor for 10 years; he remains a board member. He later worked as an editor at Le Centurion, a publishing house of Bayard, and served as private editorial and cultural adviser to Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger, the late archbishop of Paris, who named him his literary executor. Duchesne has also served as president of the National Union of Humanities Professors in Scientific Colleges and is a co-founder of the Faith and Culture Observatory of the French bishops’ conference. The author of 15 books, he writes a weekly column for aleteia.org and has received national and papal honors.

The Thomas Lecture is made possible by an endowment established in honor of the late George and Mary Thomas and the late Fr. Kieran Conley, OSB. The lecture provides an opportunity for students and faculty at Saint Meinrad to explore issues in philosophy and theology.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Parking is available at the St. Bede, Guest House, and student parking lots. Saint Meinrad operates on Central Time. For more information, call Krista Hall at 812-357-6501 during business hours.