Principle Speakers

Principal Speakers

Following our Keynote Address by Cardinal Rigali, the heart of our program is embodied in our Principal Speakers. We have assembled a panel of leaders in the design and understanding of Catholic sacred space, whose experience and inspiration will transform the building of Catholic churches as we move firmly into the 21st Century and the Third Millennium.

Our Speakers represent different points of view and different disciplines, with the anticipation that by entering into a vigorous and collegial conversation with them we may all as participants in the symposium and in the design of sacred space across the country use this event to deepen our understanding of what is important and what is possible in creating truly beautiful and reverent places for Catholic worship.

Duncan G. Stroik, AIA
Professor, Notre Dame School of Architecture

Professor Stroik is simultaneously a key figure in architectural education as a professor at the School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame; a practicing architect and founder of Duncan G. Stroik, LLC, a firm responsible for a number of completed Catholic church buildings in the United States; and editor and founder of the biannual journal Sacred Architecture.

In his work as an educator, begun in 1990 at the University of Notre Dame, Prof. Stroik has consistently been an unapologetic proponent of tradition itself as a great teacher. His interest lies in the classical tradition, and the principles of classical architecture and urbanism lie at the foundation of his pedagogy. Please visit his Faculty Profile to learn more about Prof. Stroik’s experience and goals as a professor.

In 1993, Prof. Stroik began his own architectural practice, which focuses on work for the Catholic Church. Prof. Stroik’s church designs are well-known around the world for their beauty and reverential character. They are examples of the possibility in the modern age to worship God together in a place that is dedicated to that purpose, that is beautiful, and that seeks to connect the present with the past. Please visit http://www.stroik.com/ to see the work of Duncan G. Stroik, LLC.

The Sacred Architecture Journal is “a magazine devoted exclusively to issues of church architecture from a Catholic perspective …”. This journal is an invaluable resource for all interested in Catholic sacred architecture. You may learn more here http://www.sacredarchitecture.org/

Craig Hartman, FAIA
Design Partner, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

Mr. Hartman is a Design Partner based in the San Francisco office of the internationally renowned firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, and is was in charge of the design of the newly completed (2008) and much-acclaimed Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland California, which has received over 35 awards for design excellence nationally and internationally. Mr. Hartman’s work, in the United States, Europe, and Asia, covers a very broad range of project types, in all of which he consistently adheres to a rigorous modern vocabulary that acknowledges issues of place involving climate, physical and cultural landscape, and historic precedent.

The Cathedral of Christ the Light resonates as a place of worship and conveys an inclusive statement of welcome and openness as the community's symbolic soul. The glass, wood, and concrete structure ennobles and inspires through the use of light, material, and form. During the dedication ceremony for The Cathedral of Christ the Light in September 2008, the Vatican’s Knighthood for Service to Society (St. Sylvester) was bestowed upon Hartman by Pope Benedictus XVI. Please click here to learn more about this, the newest Catholic Cathedral to be constructed in the United States.

Mr. Hartman joined SOM in 1973 and served as design partner in the firm’s Houston and Washington, D.C. offices before coming to San Francisco, where he has established the West Coast architecture group as one of the region’s premier design practices. Mr. Hartman’s work has been recognized with over 100 awards for design, which, in addition to 8 national AIA Honor Awards, includes two Gold LEED® Certifications and AIA awards for environmental sustainability at Treasure Island and the University of California, Merced. He also received a Federal Design Achievement Award in the 2000 Presidential Design Awards Program. Please click here for more information about Mr. Hartman.

Denis McNamara, M.Arch.H., Ph.D.
Assistant Director, The Liturgical Institute

Dr. Denis McNamara is assistant director and faculty member at the Liturgical Institute of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, a graduate program in Liturgical Studies founded by Cardinal Francis George of Chicago in the year 2000. He holds a BA in the History of Art from Yale University and a PhD in Architectural History from the University of Virginia, where he concentrated his research on the study of ecclesiastical architecture of the 19th and 20th centuries. Please visit the following link to learn more about the Liturgical Institute.

Dr. McNamara makes a specialty of bridging the gap between the Church’s great artistic tradition and the documents of the Second Vatican Council by understanding today's liturgical architecture as sacramental buildings which shows the continuity of the Old Testament temple tradition as well as a foretaste of the heavenly Jerusalem. He has also done groundbreaking research on the sacramental meaning of the classical architectural tradition.

He has served on the Art and Architecture Commission of the Archdiocese of Chicago and works frequently with architects and pastors in church renovations and new design.
He has appeared on Catholic and secular television and radio, and is a frequent presenter in academic as well as parish settings.

Dr. McNamara is the author of numerous articles on art and architecture in Communio, Rite, Chicago Studies, Sacred Architecture, Environment and Art Letter, Assembly, The Priest, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Letter and Spirit, The Classicist and Arris: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.

His book Heavenly City: The Architectural Tradition of Catholic Chicago (Liturgy Training Publications, 2005) appeared on the Catholic Bestseller List and won a Benjamin Franklin Award from the Independent Booksellers Association as well as two first place awards from the Midwest Independent Publishers Association. His book Catholic Church Architecture and the Spirit of the Liturgy (Hillenbrand Books), appeared in late 2009, and he is currently working on a new title, How to Read Churches (Ivy Group, UK).

Leo Nestor, D.M.A.
     Director, Institute of Sacred Music
     Benjamin T. Rome School of Music
     The Catholic University of America

Leo Nestor (B.A., Music-Composition, California State University, East Bay; M.M., D.M.A., Choral Music, University of Southern California), is the Justine Bayard Ward Professor of Music; Director of Choral Activities, Director, Institute of Sacred Music; member of the conducting faculty, and co-operating member of the composition faculty at The Catholic University of America Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, in Washington, DC.

Dr. Nestor conducts the CUA Chamber Choir and University Chorus, teaches undergraduate conducting and guides the formation of graduate students in choral music and musica sacra.

Dr. Nestor is among the four founding members (1984) and serves as advisor (1996) to the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians. In 2001, Dr. Nestor was appointed musical advisor to the Secretariat for Liturgy of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Dr. Nestor has taught at Mt. St. Mary's College, Los Angeles; the University of Wisconsin, Madison; he has served as professor of conducting at St. John's University, Collegeville MN. He has served as artistic advisor, member of the international jury and Comitato d'Onore, conductor of the Coro Internazionale of L'Associazione Internazionale Amici della Musica Sacra in Rome from 1991-1998. Dr. Nestor was music director at Washington's Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception from January of 1984 through July of 2001.

Performances of Professor Nestor's works are frequent throughout the United States; he has been fortunate to have works performed in London as well as Rome; commissions increasingly form a significant part of his output. Larger works have been composed for The Catholic University of America (In the Fullness of Time for chorus, soli and orchestra) and for the papal visits to Los Angeles (People of God in the City of Our God) and St. Louis (Magnificat).

Lord, You Give the Great Commission for chorus, double brass quintet, organ and percussion was commissioned by the Archdiocese of Washington for the April 2008 Apostolic Visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Washington DC; Regina caeli, laetare for chorus, organ and trumpet for the Most Reverend Michael J. Bransfield, Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston; I Sing of a Maiden (2008) for The Catholic University of America Chorus and Symphony Orchestra’s 2008 Christmas concert; and a work for chorus and organ to receive its première performance at the 2010 American Guild of Organists National Convention.

Please visit Dr. Nestor’s page on the CUA web site here: http://music.cua.edu/faculty/leo-nestor.cfm

Extending and Transforming the Tradition of Catholic Sacred Architecture

Introduction

Program

Keynote Speaker

Principal Speakers

Registration

Call for Papers

Design Competition

For Presenters and Attendees

Sponsorship

Tours