A Season of Culture: Duffy Fellows Spotlight

Several years ago, the Center on Religion and Culture received a generous bequest from a longtime friend of Fordham University, James Duffy. His gift allowed us to create the Duffy Fellows Program. Under this initiative, a select group of Fordham students or recent graduates receive funding each academic year to develop creative projects exploring the relationship between faith, religion, or spirituality and public life. 

The 2022-2023 Duffy Fellows accomplished this mission in exciting and inspiring ways. 

The COVID-19 pandemic simultaneously reinvigorated the labor movement and exacerbated worker inequalities in American society. Through the framework of the Catholic Church’s often overlooked body of social teachings, Anna Nowalk (FCLC ‘23) examined the state of workers in her original, multi-episode podcast, All Who Labor. Nowalk interviewed a series of scholars, activists, writers, and religious figures to understand what shape a just and moral economy might take. Season Two is now in the works.   

Since the beginning of recorded history, humankind has looked to art—whether it be drawings on a cave wall or a Renaissance painting in a museum–to explore and understand the nature of the divine. Partnering with Openings Artist Collective, Triona Delumpa (FCRH ‘22) curated an ambitious installation showcasing the faith of young adults—Vessel: A Spiritual Art Experience, at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle. The show opened on Saturday, May 6, 2023, with a wonderful evening of music, dance, fashion, poetry, and, of course, art. Vessel runs through Wednesday, June 14. Make sure to put it on your cultural calendar. 

Haunted and sometimes wounded by their upbringing and heritage, Catholic or formerly Catholic artists have mined a distinct sensibility—the Catholic imagination—to create enduring and moving paintings, songs, films, and novels. But what exactly is the Catholic imagination? Henry Sullivan (FCRH ‘24) attempts to answer that question by talking with thinkers, artists, journalists, and clergy in his short documentary, Questions on the Catholic Imagination(s). This film is a work in progress. Keep an eye out for the next cut.   

During the warmer months, many of us find our minds hungry for culture in all its varieties. The respective work of this year’s Duffy Fellows will certainly satisfy that particular craving.

David Goodwin

David Goodwin is an urban historian, author, and Assistant Director of the Center on Religion and Culture.