“This is truly a historic day for Holy Cross as we welcome His Eminence, Gerhard Cardinal Müller to deliver our Fall 2024 Mind and Heart Lecture,” Holy Cross College President Dr. Marco Clark told those who filled the college’s St. Joseph Chapel on Monday, September 23, for one of the college’s twice-annual lectures. Formerly the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (2012 to 2017), and a professor of dogmatics at the University of Munich (1986 to 2002), Cardinal Müller became the bishop of Regensburg, Germany, in 2002 when he was appointed by Pope Francis. After retiring in 2017, Cardinal Müller was appointed by Pope Francis to the Apostolic Signatura. Photos by Adam RaschkaCardinal Gerhard Müller speaks to the audience about theology as a fundamental science during his Mind and Heart Lecture at Holy Cross College on Monday, September 23. In his introduction of Cardinal Müller, Clark also noted his prolific oeuvre of written work, which have covered dogmatic theology, revelation, ecumenism, and the diaconate. His extensive work and experience made him a wonderful choice for speaker, Clark added. Making a stop during his pastoral trip through the United States, Cardinal Müller’s talk at Holy Cross College was also part of the schedule for the University of Notre Dame’s Aquinas at 800 Conference (September 22-25), for which Cardinal Müller celebrated Mass at the university’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Tuesday, September 24. Cardinal Müller also had lunch, upon invitation, with theology students at Holy Cross College ahead of his talk. Students were encouraged to submit discussion questions which the Cardinal addressed during their meal. Sophomore Mataya Watson was grateful to be part of the lunchtime conversation. She told Today’s Catholic, “It was incredible hearing from such a notable figure of the modern Church, and I am so blessed to have sat down in a more personal setting with His Eminence. With knowledge flowing at ease, Cardinal Müller made truths of the Church tangible.” Cardinal Gerhard Müller signs one of his books following his Mind and Heart Lecture at Holy Cross College on Monday, September 23. The Cardinal’s lecture was co-sponsored by the Hortus Foundation, St. Augustine’s Press, and the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. Following the talk, the audience was invited to purchase some of the Cardinal’s books, including his most recent work, “True and False Reform: What it Means to be Catholic,” and to have their books signed. Holy Cross College’s Mind and Heart lecture series began several years ago, as the dream of alumni who wanted to give back to the Holy Cross community. As ongoing benefactors of the series, they wish to remain anonymous. The lectures are always open to the public and Monday’s event drew a large and diverse crowd. “The phrase, ‘mind and heart,’ is unique to the charism of the congregation of Holy Cross and its founder, Blessed Basil Moreau, who famously wrote that the mind must not be cultivated at the expense of the heart,” Clark told the audience in his opening address. “For the better part of two centuries, and here at Holy Cross College, since our founding in 1966, this charism has called us as Holy Cross educators to illuminate the mind, enkindle the heart, and guide the journeys of our students. The fruit of that work is that our students leave here as serious scholars, courageous citizens, virtuous leaders, and hopeful disciples.” The title of Cardinal Müller’s speech for the evening was, “The Significance of Theology for Church and University” or “The Mission of Theology Today.” During his hour-long talk, Cardinal Müller touched on several elements of theology, including that it is a fundamental science in the concert of sciences. Noting that theology should be in dialogue with other sciences, Cardinal Müller said, “Whilst always preserving its own method and the specific formal object and the requirements of the time, theology can receive an increase in challenge from contact with other fields of knowledge, such as history, linguistics, philosophy, and the natural sciences. These sciences often pose new questions directly to academic theology, which is stimulated to further investigation through university exchange.” “University theology is assigned to the universal orientation of reason towards the totality of human knowledge and understanding,” Cardinal Müller also noted, “for theology gets at the fundamental question of ‘who is man?’” “As a rational being, man has always asked himself the question of his origin, his goal, and his destiny” the Cardinal said. “From the experience of his dependence on factors that elude his own imagination and skill, the question of his own humanity is at the same time a question of the existence of God.” “The presence of theology at universities gives countless young people the opportunity to grapple with the essential questions of their existence and, even if they are not theology students, to come into contact with the Church and faith in the Triune God,” Cardinal Müller said further, while arguing that theology is “the driving force behind” evangelization. Quoting from the Pontifical Council for Culture’s letter, “The Presence of the Church at the University and in University Culture 1994,” Cardinal Müller said, “‘The Church is concerned with proclaiming the Gospel to all those at the university who do not yet know it and are ready to accept it freely.’” Holy Cross college alum, Thomas Brophy, attended the lecture with his wife Kate. They were both impressed by the talk. Kate told Today’s Catholic, “We were really moved by the lecture, particularly by the way Cardinal Müller discussed theology as both deductive and logical and scientific, and also as inductive and a practical, lived, and living field. It’s definitely come up in our conversations at home about raising a family in the Church.” Thomas told Today’s Catholic, “It was fantastic to be able to attend a lecture of that caliber from such an important figure in Church life and thinking at Holy Cross. It makes me proud to be an alum.” In her closing remarks for the evening, Dr. Dianne Barlas, the Vice President for Mission and Ministry for Holy Cross College, furthered these thoughts. “The title of this series is rooted in the education philosophy of Blessed Basil Moreau. Moreau’s words are the essential forethought for my remarks: ‘We shall always place education side by side with instruction; the mind will not be cultivated at the expense of the heart. While we prepare useful citizens for society, we shall likewise do our utmost to prepare citizens for heaven.’ Moreau’s words laud the intention and art of education that captures and illuminates a vision for theology’s mission in the Church as both a catalyst for evangelization and a leavening force for restoring human culture as the realization of the ongoing emergence of God’s Kingdom in the contemporary moment. By entertaining this two-fold mission of theology as co-existing with that of the Church, I would like to posit, at least for tonight, that the relationship between the mission of the Church and that of theology can be captured in a more compelling way as the mission of the Church has a theology.” The post Former Vatican Prefect Gives Mind and Heart Lecture at Holy Cross College appeared first on Today's Catholic.