In such a culture, in such a Church, in such a time, what is the Catholic writer to do? Isolated, alienated, discredited, ignored, how can he or she survive, let alone prosper? Aren’t things too far gone to change?

Over a decade ago, Dana Gioia, Former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, posed these challenging questions in his sobering essay “The Catholic Writer Today.” Despite being the largest religious and cultural group in the United States, “Catholicism,” Gioia claimed, “currently enjoys almost no positive influence in the American fine arts—not in literature, music, sculpture, or painting.” The intervening years have seen a Catholic president, a Catholic convert vice president, and an American pope, but has there been a comparable resurgence of Catholic American art in Gioia’s estimation?

On September 3, the Collegium Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture will virtually host Dana Gioia and interlocutor Bernardo Aparicio García, Founder and Publisher of Dappled Things, for “The Catholic Writer Today: A 10-Year Retrospective Interview.” Have the novelists, short story writers, poets, and painters whose works have graced the pages of publications like Dappled Things, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, done anything to alter Gioia’s thoughts about the irrelevance of American Catholic artists? Join us to hear whether Gioia’s dire diagnosis still holds true or whether Catholic American fine arts are experiencing a new birth of beauty.

Date: Wednesday, September 3 (7:00pm)

Location: Virtual via Zoom

To register, click the button below. Questions? Please contact Quinn Moore (qmoore@collegiuminstitute.org).