Continuing with this year's theme for the Lectures in Catholic Experience, "Solidarity in a Time of Solitudes," Galen Watts, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo and associate director of the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Societal Futures, will lecture on, "The Spiritual Turn and the Challenge of Solidarity." Watts aims to clarify the widely held belief that modern spirituality vastly differs from organized religion. He argues that this spiritual turn, which started in the 1960s, has led to a renewed emphasis of what he refers to as "the religion of the heart."

St. Jerome's vice president academic and dean, Dr. Carol Ann MacGregor, herself a Sociologist of Religion and co-organizer of the Lectures in Catholic Experience emphasizes that "everyone, regardless of their own religious or spiritual beliefs, can benefit from learning more about the impact of contemporary religion and spirituality on individuals and communities and how that has shifted over time. Galen's talk offers an opportunity to replace myths with robust social scientific insights."

The lecture is based on his recent book with Oxford University Press, "The Spiritual Turn: The Religion of the Heart and the Making of Romantic Liberal Modernity," which has received widespread praise in the academic community, including the 2023 Society for the Scientific Study of Religion's Distinguished Book Award and an Honourable Mention for the 2023 Best Book Award from the American Sociological Association's Section on Altruism, Morality and Social Solidarity. Drawing from a cultural sociological perspective, this book combines history, politics, first-hand interviews, fieldwork data, and discourse analysis.

St. Jerome's welcomes Galen Watts to the Notre Dame Chapel on Thursday, September 26th at 7:30 p.m. This free lecture will be live-streamed for people who cannot attend in person. Please register for the event, as space is limited.