For the second year in a row, Sacred Heart Major Seminary hosted an academic conference Oct. 1-3 to explore important theological questions in today's Church. 

As the Church and wider society grapples with artificial intelligence, technological advancement and deep questions of meaning, the seminary's conference, “What Is Man That You Are Mindful of Him? Human Nature and Person Today” brought together more than 60 theologians, professors, students and guests at Sacred Heart. 

The central theme of this year's conference, posed in the conference program, was the question: “What are we to make of advances in technology and artificial intelligence, which seem to threaten human dignity and thereby give one pause to ask anew: what makes human beings not something to be surpassed to make room for the ‘posthuman,’ but truly the pinnacle of creation, made in imago Dei?”

Scholars from around the country and Sacred Heart faculty presented 30 academic papers throughout the weekend. Keynote talks by Angela Franks, Ph.D., David Schindler, Ph.D., and Michael Waldstein, Ph.D., focused on aspects of personhood, human nature, and the human heart.

Oana Gotia, STD, associate professor of moral theology at Sacred Heart, was a member of the planning committee for the conference. 

“In an increasingly technocratic world, we need to offer a deep analysis of the originality of the human person as an embodied spirit and its irreplaceable value within the order of creation,” Dr. Gotia said. “If we do not have this discussion in academia and in our cultural milieu in general, men and women today are deprived of crucial criteria and guidelines in navigating the emergence of transhumanism and AI, which impact various aspects such as personal relationships and freedoms, health, work, etc.”

The Church must be the one to offer these guidelines, she said. 

“Only in the light of Christ can this discussion bring a fruitful contribution, since ‘Christ fully reveals man to himself,’ as Gaudium et spes 22 stated,” Dr. Gotia said. “Thus, the Church has a crucial mission to offer these guidelines to the post-modern society today, in order to reaffirm the preeminence and the intrinsic dignity of the human person in the created world and in order to remind us of the role of technology as a servant of man.”

Nicole Lancour and Emilie Mears, Ph.D., traveled from Williamsburg, Virginia, to present their paper, “Restoring the Imago Dei in the Modern Human Heart through the work of Flannery O’Connor and Revelation.” Dr. Mears previously taught at the College of William & Mary. Lancour is the co-founder of He Is Goodness, a nonprofit that creates free Bible studies and small group resources.

“Our paper focused on the writing of Flannery O’Connor as a kind of prophetic literature," Lancour said. "Frequently, O'Connor's characters have an interior life that is not integrated with their external relationships. In a moment of violent or grotesque epiphany, they experience a new understanding of themselves and those around them — a moment of grace.”

Lancour said the characters imagined by the 20th century American novelist have a certain parallel to the modern world, which is seeking to rediscover what makes humanity unique in the age of artificial intelligence.

“As we look to the operation and impact of AI in our culture, we connected the experience of O'Connor's characters to contemporary culture and explored them through the language of theology, specifically the integration of the authentically human individual, communion of persons, and algorithmic thinking,” Lancour said.

Lancour said the academic conference at Sacred Heart was her first time visiting Detroit's seminary, a fitting setting for the discussion, she said.

“The faculty, priests, and seminarians were so welcoming and eager to dialogue,” Lancour said. “The beauty of the campus added to the reverence and wonder in our discussions, especially because the conference schedule included time in prayer at Mass in the chapel.”

Marco Stango, Ph.D., associate professor of philosophy at St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry in Rochester, N.Y., learned about the conference from a fellow faculty member. He presented a reflection on the nature of reason in his paper, “The Metaphysics of the Magnanimous: Some Notes for Our Time.” 

In addition to the panel discussions, Dr. Stango enjoyed spending time in fellowship with peers at the conference.

“Being here provides a great opportunity to learn new things and to meet new people who are thinking about the same questions in trying to help the Church,” Dr. Stango said. 

Sacred Heart seminarians sat in on the keynotes and talks when their schedules allowed. Deacon Gregory Rice, a Configuration III seminarian at Sacred Heart with the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT), was grateful to attend several panel discussions, including those by his own professors.

“The academic conferences being hosted at Sacred Heart have been wonder-provoking for me as a student of theology,” Deacon Rice said. “The papers and discussions given by people of faith who have studied deeply in their fields opened my heart and mind to the full depth and richness of studies within faith and philosophy.”

On Oct. 3, Fr. Peter Ryan, SJ, emcee for the conference and a Sacred Heart faculty member, offered a final blessing to attendees before they parted ways.

Like most who took part, Lancour appreciated the discussions, which are part of a patrimony of Catholic thought that has guided the Church through centuries.

“The conference truly was a moment of hope,” Lancour said. “Sacred Heart did an excellent job of weaving together presenters from different disciplines and institutions. There was a clear unity among those present; we recognized that the healing and restoration of the modern human heart happens in the growing in and living out of an ever-increasing understanding of who God is and who He has created us to be.”