The Fall 2026 course in the Institute’s ongoing Continuing Education Series will be “Christ and the Nations: National Identity and Christian Faith in America and France ” It will be held on Wednesday evenings, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., from September 9 to December 2, 2026.

While quite often our political discourse has focused on the relationship between the Church and state, this course aims to consider the Church and the nation. In recent years, the nation has reemerged as a locus of political life and reflection. For some, this is simply a return to what is natural and proper, where we are bound to each other by time, place, and concrete relationships. For others, it raises the specter of wars that killed millions and of a cultural chauvinism that humanity was supposed to have overcome.

The course aims to respond to this heated contemporary question, by considering the nature of the nation and how it might (or might not) exist in a dynamic relation to the Church. Rather than consider the question abstractly, we will look at our own contemporary situation in America and draw inspiration from the debates that took place in early 20th century France. The class will thus be, at once, contemporary, historical, and philosophical and pursue a number of other questions related to our central theme: What is a nation? Is it a deeper reality than the state or simply made by the state? What is a people? Is a nation identifiable with a form of government? What sort of autonomy does a nation have vis-a-vis the Church? How is the Church itself mediated by place and culture? What is the relationship between patriotism and holiness?

The course will be taught in person and offered online simultaneously. The in-person class meetings will be in McGivney Hall Room 006 on The Catholic University of America’s campus.

The class fee is $150. To register, please complete the online registration form. Payment can be submitted via check, cash, or credit card. To submit a credit card payment, please click here.

This course can be taken toward renewal requirements for VCEA licensure. Numerous high schools in the Archdiocese of Washington accept the course for CEU credits.

If you have questions, please contact [email protected] or call 202.526.3799.