Personalism in the Professions

Our culture is hungry for credible Christian witness, for transformation through beauty, and for ethical education that will lead to true happiness. That’s why we’re bringing you this series: to show how personalism is not just a set of ideas but a commitment to values that transforms the way we live. 

Join us as we examine the complex intersection of values and vocation in conversation with leading professionals in fields such as education, ministry, healthcare, business, and more.

This event will be hosted by Amanda Achtman, Special Programs Advisor for the Hildebrand Project.

Session I – Educator: Reverence for Truth

Wednesday, September 27th 7:00 p.m. ET with Dr. John F. Crosby (Franciscan University of Steubenville) and Dr. Maria Fedoryka (Ave Maria University) 

Dietrich von Hildebrand spoke about reverence as “the mother of all moral life” because “the capacity to grasp values, to affirm them, and to respond to them, is the foundation for realizing the moral values of man.” How can Hildebrand’s account of making the right response to values inform the way we teach and learn?

Accompanying text: “Reverence” chapter from Dietrich von Hildebrand’s book The Art of Living. 

Senior Scholar

John F. Crosby

Franciscan University of Steubenville

Professor Emeritus of Philosophy

Research Areas:

Personalism, John Henry Newman, John Paul II, Dietrich von Hildebrand

Prof. Crosby was himself a student of Dietrich Hildebrand. Besides writing major studies on the thought of John Henry Newman, Max Scheler, and Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II, and making his own contributions to personalist philosophy, Prof. Crosby has devoted his long and distinguished academic career—first at the University of Dallas, then at the International Academy of Philosophy, and currently at Franciscan University of Steubenville—to introducing his students to the intellectual legacy of Hildebrand, and also to making Hildebrand better known in scholarly circles. Prof. Crosby was the translator of the English edition of  Hildebrand’s philosophical masterpiece, The Nature of Love, and he also serves as the General Editor of all our present and future translations of Hildebrand’s works.

Associated Scholar

Maria Fedoryka

Dr. Maria Fedoryka lectures and publishes in both academic and popular fora in the field of the philosophy of love, examining issues spanning from the centrality of love in the being of God, to its role at the center of creation, to its meaning for marriage, family, and sexuality. Having been captivated by the writings of Dietrich von Hildebrand as a teenager and deeply drawn to his phenomenological and personalist philosophy, she pursued her studies under Josef Seifert and John Crosby at the International Academy of Philosophy. Among her scholarly writings are an analysis of Dietrich von Hildebrand’s philosophy of marital intimacy and procreation titled Finis superabundant Operis: Refining an Ancient Cause for Understanding the Spousal Act in the ACPQ, and “‘God is Love’”: Personal Plurality as the Completion of Aristotle’s Notion of Substance and Love as the Absolute Ground of the Divine Being” in the Proceedings of the ACPA. Among her popular publications are the booklet The Special Gift of Women for God, the Family and the World published by the Catholic Truth Society in England. She is currently working on an article comparing Hildebrand’s and Aquinas’s philosophy of affectivity, as well as an article on Hildebrand’s theory of motivation as the key to understanding deliberate moral wrongdoing.

Ave Maria University

Associate Professor

Research Areas:

Philosophy of Love

More about Maria Fedoryka

Select Bibliography

“A Comparison of Aquinas on the Passions and Affectiones and Hildebrand on ‘Genuinely Spiritual Affectivity’”. Paper delivered at Colloquium on the Heart sponsored by the Hildebrand Legacy Project. University of Dallas, February 2020

“Is Moral Evil Only Privation? Another Look”. Paper delivered at The True, the Good, and the Beautiful – and the Encounter with Evil Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Annual Convention. Montreal, Quebec, September 2019

Forthcoming: “Does Gender Matter for Marriage? The Centrality of Masculinity and Femininity to Marriage as Mutual Self-Gift in the Theology of the Body” in Dutch Communio, proceedings of the 5th International Theology of the Body Symposium, Kerkrade: 2019

Book review for Review of Metaphysics of Dietrich von Hildebrand’s Graven Images

“‘God is Love’: Personal Plurality as the Completion of Aristotle’s Notion of Substance and Love as the Absolute Ground of the Divine Being” in Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 2019

“Human Sexuality: The Battle for the Human Soul” in Mary and the Crisis in the Church, ed. Roger Nutt. Sapientia Press: 2019

“Von Hildebrand, Love and Contraception”, in Humana Vitae, 50 Years Later: Embracing God’s Vision for Marriage, Love, and Life, ed. Theresa Notare. CUA Press: 2019

“Only Union Plus Love Equals Fruitfulness: A Personalist Reflects on the Teaching of Humanae Vitae” in Why Humanae Vitae is Still Right, ed. Janet Smith. Ignatius Press: 2018

“Finis Superabundant Operis: Refining an Ancient Cause for Explaining the Conjugal Act” in American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 90, no. 3, 2016, 477-498

The Special Vocation of Women: for God the family and the World, Catholic Truth Society Publications, United Kingdom: 2010

Session II – Ministers: Shepherding and Accompaniment in Grief

Wednesday, October 18th at 7:00 p.m. ET with Fr. Adam Hertzfeld and Fr. Andrew Fryml

“Death offers a striking contrast to all that is ungenuine and unnecessary. It has a solitary and authentic grandeur.” Dietrich von Hildebrand penned these reflections at eighty-six years of age, aware that he was nearing the end of his life. In the face of suffering and death, what basis do we have for hope? How does hope differ from optimism? And, what does it take for us to cultivate a proper attitude toward suffering and death in light of our Christian faith?

Accompanying text: “Christian Hope”, “Christ Transforms Death”, and “Attaining the Christian View of Death” short chapters from Dietrich von Hildebrand’s book Jaws of Death: Gate of Heaven.

Pastor

Fr. Adam Hertzfeld

Father Adam Hertzfeld is pastor of Saint Michael the Archangel Parish in Findlay, Ohio. A 1997 graduate of Franciscan University, he went on to study for the priesthood at the North American College in Rome. He was ordained in 2002. Fr. Adam earned a Doctorate in Moral Theology from the Pontifical Lateran University (Alfonsian Academy) in 2008. He wrote on a theme in the work of Dietrich von Hildebrand regarding affectivity and religious conversion.

Bishop England High School Chaplain

Fr. Andrew Fryml

Born into a Catholic family in South Carolina, Fr. Fryml received the call to the priesthood and entered the seminary at twenty years of age. He studied in New Jersey and Texas and was ordained a Roman Catholic Priest in June 2017. Since then, he has served as a parochial vicar and chaplain of various Catholic high schools and colleges. He has recently begun studies for a Doctorate of Education through the University of St. Thomas.

Session III – Physician: Treating the Patient as Person

Wednesday, November 15th at 7:00 p.m. ET, Physician Speakers TBA

Do doctors have a responsibility to promote the objective good of their patients? We’ve heard the buzzword “patient-centered care”; but what happens when the patient’s good is in conflict with what the patient wants? Join us to go deeper into what it actually means to treat patients as persons.

Accompanying text: Part I, Section II, “The Reality of Value against Its Detractors” from Dietrich von Hildebrand’s Ethics.