Speaking to the consistent and complementary nature of faith and reason in the Catholic tradition, the Very Rev. John Kartje will return to his alma mater as the featured speaker on Wednesday, Sept. 2, in the Bishop Noll auditorium in an event entitled, “Heart Unto Heart.”
The 7 p.m. event, free to the public, is sponsored by the Indiana Knights of Columbus as part of its program focused on evangelization and faith formation, known as Cor, and in partnership with Bishop Noll Institute and the Diocese of Gary.
Father Kartje – as an astrophysicist, biblical scholar and priest – is an inspiring speaker uniquely qualified to address the harmony between faith and science leading to truth and forming a cornerstone of Catholic intellectual and spiritual life. He has served as the rector/president of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary since 2015.
A native of East Chicago who graduated from Bishop Noll in 1983, Father Kartje earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics and a Bachelor of Science in physics in 1987 from the University of Chicago. In 1995, the University’s Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics conferred a Ph.D. degree on Father Kartje.
He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago in 2002. In addition, in 2010 he earned a doctorate in sacred theology from the Catholic University of America’s Department of Biblical Studies.
Father Kartje has served as a faculty member at the seminary and the Institute for Priestly Formation since 2009. He previously served as director and chaplain of the Sheil Catholic Center at Northwestern University from 2009 to 2013, at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Washington, D.C., from 2004 to 2009, and as associate pastor at St. Benedict Parish in Chicago from 2002 to 2004.
For additional information, please contact Mark Novetske, the Director of Evangelization and Faith Formation for the Indiana Knights of Columbus, at (219) 588-6976 or David Mullaney ’84, the Indiana K of C evangelization/COR director for the Diocese of Gary, at (312) 286-9259.
Additional information on the Knights of Columbus COR program can be found by clicking here.