On the evening of February 28, 2022, students, alumni, faculty, staff, and guests gathered at the Columbus School of Law for the annual Brendan F. Brown Lecture Series entitled, "A Light Unseen: A History of Catholic Legal Education," presented by John H. Breen, Georgia Reithal, Professor of Law at Loyola University of Chicago Law School, and Lee Strang, John W. Stoepler Professor of Law & Values at the University of Toledo College of Law.

The audience was welcomed with opening remarks from Catholic Law Dean Stephen Payne, who introduced the evening’s guest speakers. Dean Payne began his address by speaking about the lecture series' namesake, Brendan F. Brown, the sixth dean of Catholic Law. He remarked in particular on Brown as a scholar of the natural law and his interest in what it meant to be a Catholic law school—encouraging discussion of this question (although unsuccessfully) among other Catholic law schools. As Dean Payne introduced the evening’s guest speakers, he noted, “I hope their lecture will generate ideas among members of our community that will be fruitful for our school in answering the question Dean Brown posed so many years ago, and Professors Breen and Strang helpfully pose again, which is ‘what does it mean to be a Catholic law school?’”

Professors Breen and Strang’s lecture was based on research for their forthcoming book—also titled, A Light Unseen: A History of Catholic Legal Education—which sets forth a comprehensive history of Catholic legal education in the United States. They provided a brief overview of this history and then turned to focus on their proposal of what Catholic law schools today must do if they wish to be true to their professed identity, namely, provide a legal education structured by an anthropology of the human person drawn from the Catholic intellectual tradition.

During their 45-minute lecture, Professors Breen and Strang touched up four key points. They started with a brief overview of the research they conducted before providing a summary of the arc of Catholicism and the Catholic legal education in the United States, setting out the standard rationales originally used in justifying Catholic legal education. As they turned to the modern era, they challenged the viability of those previously held justifications and concluded with a prescriptive blueprint for authentic Catholic legal education moving forward. Professors Breen and Strang then welcomed questions and comments from the audience, welcoming the opportunity to delve deeper into some of the nuances of their project.

After the conclusion of the lecture, guests were invited to the Louise H. Keelty and James K. Keelty, Jr. Atrium for a reception and a chance to speak with Professors Breen and Strang.

Below is a recording of the February 28 program.