'To the Heights': Seton Hall Students Connect Faith, Identity and Dialogue at National Catholic Studies Conference

In the heart of Center Valley, Pennsylvania, on October 19, 2025, Seton Hall University students brought insight, courage and original scholarship to "To the Heights": Catholic Studies Conference at DeSales University, presenting research that bridged the Catholic intellectual tradition with contemporary questions of culture and identity. Sponsored by the Salesian Honors Program, the gathering drew emerging scholars from across the country.

The day opened with Abigail Mathew, a biology major whose paper, “A Guide to Cultivating Happiness in the Modern World,” introduced the audience to St. Thomas Aquinas as a guide for the twenty-first century. Rejecting quick-fix notions of pleasure, Mathew argued that authentic happiness is grounded in the intellect’s pursuit of the ultimate good — an account that redirects the moral imagination from fleeting gratification to enduring fulfillment in truth and virtue. Her clear exposition and practical applications modeled how classical thought can shape modern life.

Adriano La Bruno, an undergraduate research scholar in Seton Hall’s Department of Biological Sciences, offered “Saints and the Spirituals: Embracing Catholic Wisdom to Bridge Differences and Cultivate a Better Future.” La Bruno advanced a compelling framework for “cultural faith identities,” focusing on the Balkans and on communities whose religious belonging is carried as heritage more than as institutional practice. “As an Albanian-Italian whose heritage intertwines Islam and Catholicism, I have never comfortably identified with either faith due to the legacies of religious imposition that left generations of Albanians adrift in an abyss of fractured identity,” he reflected. “This pathology of faith — unique to what I define as the Spirituals, those whose faith functions as an expression of culture rather than institutional doctrine, remains largely unexplored in religious, anthropological and sociological academia. As a Spiritual, biological researcher and descendant of Ahmet Gashi — academic and creator of the ethnic map of Albania — I am honored to have spoken at this conference and to use my voice to advocate for tolerance and foster dialogue between science, faith and culture.” His remarks sparked sustained conversation about pluralism, identity and interdisciplinary method — exactly the kind of debate the conference was designed to encourage.

Kayhlynn Dickey, a theology major and Catholic Studies minor, explored “Mind, Heart and Spirit: A Framework of Complementarity Among the Catholic University, Catholic Studies and Campus Ministry.” Dickey articulated how intellectual formation, pastoral care and spiritual practice intersect to form students as whole persons. By mapping this complementarity, she showed how academic inquiry and ecclesial life can mutually elevate one another, yielding a campus culture where rigorous study and lived faith reinforce rather than compete with each other.

Nancy Kajo, president and founder of Seton Hall’s Albanian Student Organization and a Catholic Studies and Political Science double major, presented “Hospitality on Campus: Catholic Intellectual Tradition and the Life of Student Organizations.” Kajo traced how student-led initiatives, when rooted in the Catholic humanistic vision of the person, can become laboratories of responsibility and interreligious dialogue. “Presenting at this conference reaffirmed the power of student organizations not simply as clubs but as living classrooms of encounter,” she said. “The Catholic intellectual tradition calls us to be leaders of culture, building bridges across identity and belief, and this conference was a testament to what that mission looks like in action.”

Also attending was John Shubeck, a Catholic Studies and Philosophy double major whose participation highlighted the program’s commitment to undergraduate research and peer mentorship.

The group was accompanied by Alan Wright, a seasoned adjunct faculty member in Catholic Studies, whose guidance helped the students shape their ideas for a national audience.

“The excellence on display at DeSales made me proud of our students and of Seton Hall’s Catholic Studies Program,” said Ines Murzaku, Ph.D., professor of religion and director of the Catholic Studies Program. “They did not just summarize the tradition — they extended it. From Aquinas on happiness to new models of cultural belonging and concrete practices of campus hospitality, our students showed what the Catholic intellectual tradition looks like when it becomes a living conversation. They are not only learning the story; they are helping to write its next chapter.”

The conference made clear that Seton Hall students are not only students of the tradition but contributors to it, advancing research that is both faithful and forward-looking. Their work exemplifies the University’s Catholic mission to integrate faith and reason in the service of the common good, and it points to a future in which dialogue across differences is not merely tolerated but cultivated as a hallmark of Catholic higher education.

Categories: Faith and Service