In 2001-2002, the Catholic Studies Project began a Junior Fellows Program to bring promising young Catholic scholars to Washington for a year’s work on a specific and urgent project, under the supervision of George Weigel.

The Center’s first Junior Fellow in Catholic Studies is Dr. Jeanne Heffernan, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a member of the faculty of Pepperdine University in California. Dr. Heffernan is working on a book tentatively entitled With Love for the World: A Primer on Catholic Moral and Social Teaching – an accessible introduction to the Catholic view of the human person and human freedom that will enable lay Catholics in business, the professions, and government to apply the Church’s teaching in those venues. In addition to this work and a nationwide lecture schedule, Dr. Heffernan also leads a monthly seminar of young Catholic scholars and professionals in the Washington area. In the 2002-2003 academic year, she will assume directorship of Pepperdine’s Washington Program, while working out of the Ethics and Public Policy Center as an Adjunct Scholar – which provides the Center with another opportunity to shape an important educational initiative.