By Anne E. Lagasse • Posted November 4, 2013

Archbishop Charles Chaput’s Year of Faith Lecture Series has ended, but the audio recordings of each lecture are now available online.

The audio files from the series, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Office for the New Evangelization, appear on the office’s website.

The series drew attention to topics related to Catholic faith and identity including the relationship between science and religion, the correlation between women’s freedom and religious freedom, and a reflection on the new evangelization in the church by Archbishop Chaput.

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Five distinguished Catholic intellectuals, including the archbishop, challenged contemporary notions over the past year regarding Catholic faith and its relationship to the modern world. The lecture titles and links to the audio files include:

* Professor Helen Alvare: Women’s Freedom and Religious Freedom: Collaboration or Clash?
* Professor Brad Gregory: Science vs. Religion: The Compatibility of Catholicism and the Natural Sciences;
* Ross Douthat: Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics;
* Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.: Fire Upon the Earth: A Call to Conversion and a New Evangelization.

“The series is so beneficial for us because it brings us into contact with the truly great Catholic minds of our time and we get the chance to reflect with them on the most important issues affecting us today,” said Meghan Cokeley, director of the Office for New Evangelization. “All except the very first lecture exceeded the room capacity of 225 seats.”

Holy Spirit Radio, WISP 1570 AM based in Doylestown, recorded all the lectures and generously made them available to the archdiocese. Cokeley invites users of the audio files to make a donation to Holy Spirit Radio in gratitude for making the recordings.

Cokeley announced the series would continue with new speakers next year.

“Because of this success and the obvious desire of our people for these kinds of lectures, we decided to continue the series beyond the Year of Faith,” she said.

The 2014 Lecture Series will begin Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014 with author Mary Eberstadt, a researcher at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the Hoover Institution.

Eberstadt will speak about her most recent book, “How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization.” She will propose that an accurate account of the secularization of the West must include an account of the breakdown of the family and how this breakdown has contributed to the loss of faith in the Western world.

Each lecture in the series will be held in the Vianney Hall Auditorium of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Wynnewood, from 7 to 9 p.m.

Links to the audio recordings for the 2013 Year of Faith Lecture Series and information on the upcoming series next year, including a link to register, are on the Office for the New Evangelization’s website.