Familiaris Consortio Lecture Series

The Familiaris Consortio Lecture Series is an outreach initiative by Father Gabriel Richard High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Its mission is to bring scholars and accomplished individuals to speak on a variety of issues that directly affect modern family life striving to contribute to the common good. It takes its name from the 1981 Apostolic Exhortation by Pope St. John Paul II which was the fruit of thirty years of philosophical reflection and practical experience on issues regarding the family.

Each spring, we gather together experts and scholars to discuss a topic of importance to Catholics and other Christians. Our 2025 Conference on March 8, was AI: Boon or Doom to Human Flourishing? 

Dr. Jordan Wales and Matthew Harvey Sanders were our featured speakers. Dr. Rusty Chavey of Emmaus Health, and Dr. Marcus Peter, host of Ave Maria in the Afternoon on Ave Maria Radio will moderate the discussion.

Dr. Jordan Wales is the Kuczmarski Professor of Theology at Hillsdale College. His scholarship—appearing in such journals as AI & Society, Augustinian Studies, and the Journal of Moral Theology—focuses on early Christianity as well as contemporary theological questions relating to artificial intelligence. A co-author of the book Encountering Artificial Intelligence: Ethical and Anthropological Investigations (Pickwick, 2024), he is a member of the AI Research Group for the Holy See’s Centre for Digital Culture, under the Dicastery for Culture and Education. He is a fellow of the Centre for Humanity and the Common Good, and of the International Society for Science and Religion. He received his M.T.S. and Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Notre Dame. A British Marshall Scholar, he holds a Diploma in Theology from Linacre College, Oxford; and a M.Sc. in Cognitive Science and Natural Language from the University of Edinburgh. He earned his B.S. in Engineering from Swarthmore College.

Matthew Harvey Sanders started his career as an Infantry Officer in the Canadian Forces until retiring to enter the Catholic seminary studying at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC.

Realizing he was called to marriage he left seminary and returned to Toronto initially working for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and then in the professional consulting industry until being offered a position at the Archdiocese of Toronto helping to rebuild the Office of Spiritual Affairs.

He served as Cardinal Collins’ Special Projects Manager until feeling called to found his company Longbeard.

Today, Longbeard is focused on building AI products to serve the Church’s mission. Magisterium AI, a generative AI product focused on making Church teaching and Catholic insight more accessible, is currently being used in 165 countries. Vulgate is an AI powered library platform powering an historic digitization project with many of the Pontifical universities in Rome. It’s considered to be one, if not the most, advanced library platform in the world leveraging computer vision, natural language processing, and generative AI.

Matthew’s work with Longbeard would lead him to Rome where he worked with numerous Vatican organizations such as the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development helping them to more effectively leverage technology to accomplish their mission.

Matthew was invited by Cardinal Michael Czerny to help lay the technological foundations for the Holy Father’s Migrants and Refugees Section, which the Pope uniquely runs personally.

Matthew is also the CEO of the Humanity 2.0 Foundation based in Washington DC focused on accelerating human flourishing as well as a Venture Advisor at Kluz Ventures and an Executive Mentor at the world’s largest aerospace accelerator out of UCLA called Starburst.

After five years in Rome and two in Malta, Matthew has returned to his home Canada and currently lives and works from Quebec City.

Past Conference Topics

2024

Male and Female He Created Them: Responding to Gender Dysphoria in Truth and Charity

Featuring John Bursch, author of Loving God’s Children: The Church and Gender Ideology, Dr. Paul Hruz, pediatric endocrinologist, and Rev. Sean Kilcawley, nationally recognized speaker on Theology of the Body, Human Love and pornography addiction.

2023

Averse to Adversity: Why Christians should pursue resiliance over avoidance

Featuring Dr. Kristin Collier, Dr. Tom Bishop, and Jennifer Thomm

2022

Divided We Fail: How to regain unity among Catholics

Featuring Fr. John Riccardo, Fr. Charlie Fox, and Patrick Schloss, PhD

2021

Strangers in a Strange Land: Catholics in Contemporary American Culture

Featuring Congressman Daniel Lipinski (D-Illinois), and Dr. Ralph Martin

2020

Wisdom Begins in Wonder:
How Authentic Catholic Educators and Families Can Save the Culture

Featuring Congressman Mary Rice Hasson, Tom Maloney, Superintendent of Schools, Diocese of Lansing, and John M. DeJak, President, Father Gabriel Richard High School

2019

Phoenix from the Ashes:
The Sex Abuse Crisis and the Future of the Catholic Church

Featuring Congressman Prof. Janet E. Smith, Sr. Elizabeth Ann O’Reilly, Theology Chair, Father Gabriel Richard High School, and Dr. Rusty Chavey

2018

Life: Posted! Social Media and Its Impact on the Modern Family

Featuring Ashley Fernandes, MD, PhD, Fr. Todd Koeneigsknect, John M. DeJak, and Dr. Rusty Chavey, MD