Pope Benedict's Encyclical Deus Caritas Est

In Spring 2007, the Office of the President sponsored a campus-wide essay contest focusing on Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Deus Caritas Est. Three categories of competition existed, including Graduate Students, Junior/Senior, and Freshman/Sophomore. Nineteen undergraduate and graduate students submitted essays that reflected on aspects of the encyclical that interested them. Some students chose to explain the relevance of the encyclical's teaching to a professional or scholarly expertise; while others drew parallels between the encyclical and their personal experiences. Other avenues included theological or philosophical terms about the text and the various sources cited by Pope Benedict, ranging from the Bible to classical and patristic works to ecclesiastical documents of various kinds.

The submitted essays were judged by a committee of faculty representatives. The following essays were selected as winners and honored for their inspiring exploration of Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical:

Graduate students:
Patrick Mahaney Clark, Love's Descending Ascent: Divinization in Deus Caritas Est

Junior/Senior:
Philip Carl Smith, On the Love of Music

Freshman/Sophomore:
Megan J. Schlichte, "Tainted Love" in Othello, The Sorrows of Young Werther, and Today

In addition, the following essays were selected as runners-up in the respective categories.

Graduate students:
Sam Cahill, From Eros to Agape: Pilgrimage in Deus Caritas Est and Jane Barker's Galesia Trilogies;
Kathryn Di Pietro, A Tremendous Service

Junior/Senior:
Nicholas Houpt, Justice and Love in Deus Caritas Est

Freshman/Sophomore:
Katherine Schilling, The Prophet Hosea and Deus Caritas Est

Texts of the winning and runner-up essays can be found by clicking on the name of each essay above. In addition, the texts of all submitted essays are available on the Essay Competition page.

Special gratitude is extended to Prof. Sabine G. MacCormack, the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Chair in Arts and Letters, for her dedication and vision of this initiative. In addition, the efforts of the faculty judges and all students who submitted essays are appreciated very much and are viewed as representative of the intellectual commitment to matters of faith and spirituality at Notre Dame.