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Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life

March 18, 2026

Faith, Democracy, and the Common Good

Lessons from John Courtney Murray for Our Times

At this timely dialogue in Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart, in a context of prayer, reflection, and conversation, four leading Catholic thinkers and scholars examined the foundations, challenges, and opportunities for a principled relationship between faith and democracy in our current moment.

The United States is struggling to address the erosion of core constitutional freedoms; the uses and abuses of executive, legislative, and judicial power; intense polarization; and even horrific political violence. In this context, some are uncertain or wary of the role of our Catholic faith in our challenged pluralist democracy, while others see an urgent need and opportunity to renew our commitment to the principles at the heart of Catholic social teaching.

Fr. John Courtney Murray, S.J., whose thought changed the course of the Catholic Church’s engagement with modern democracy, proposed a way forward: human dignity, the foundational principle of Catholic social teaching, is best served when people pursue truth and the common good in a free and deliberative way, and when states defend the freedoms necessary for people to do so.

This Dahlgren Dialogue on faith, democracy, and the common good looked back at the contributions of Murray to our understanding of the role of faith in a democracy; looked around at current threats and challenges facing democratic institutions; and looked ahead to the roles and responsibilities of leaders and people of faith to protect, revitalize, and renew our democracy in pursuit of the common good.

Joseph Ferrara, senior vice president and chief of staff at Georgetown University, opened this Dahlgren Dialogue. Rev. Andrew Downing, S.J., director of Ignatian programs, offered the welcome, and Keira Ferrell (SFS’26) offered an opening prayer. Kim Daniels, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, moderated the dialogue. 

Georgetown University’s Dahlgren Dialogues, co-sponsored by the Office of Mission & Ministry and the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, are a series of substantive conversations with experienced leaders in the context of prayerful reflection on current topics at the intersection of faith and public life.​

Resources

View articles, books, and other resources for this dialogue.

Photo credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Participants

Cardinal Robert McElroy

Cardinal Robert McElroy

Cardinal Robert McElroy is the archbishop of Washington and was a participant in the papal conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV. He has degrees from Harvard University, Stanford University, and the Pontifical Gregorian University, and he is the author of The Search for an American Public Theology: The Contribution of John Courtney Murray (1989).

Cathleen Kaveny

Cathleen Kaveny

Cathleen Kaveny is the Darald and Juliet Libby Millennium Professor at Boston College with a joint appointment to the Law School and the Department of Theology. Her scholarship focuses on the relationship between law, religion, and morality. She has authored several books, including Law’s Virtues (2012), A Culture of Engagement (2016), and Prophecy Without Contempt (2016).

Vincent Rougeau

Vincent Rougeau

Vincent Rougeau is the first lay and first Black president of the College of the Holy Cross, and he previously served as dean of the Boston College Law School and as a member of the faculty at Notre Dame Law School. He is the author of Christians in the American Empire: Faith and Citizenship in the New World Order (2008).

Rob Vischer

Rob Vischer

Rob Vischer is the president of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the former dean of the University of St. Thomas School of Law. He is the author of Conscience and the Common Good (2006) and has written on faith, pluralism, and polarization.