**REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT IS CLOSED.**  

George Weigel, Michael Novak, and Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, in conjunction with the Catholic Studies Program of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, invite you to apply to become a member of The John Paul II Fellowship by participating in this course.

For many years, with the encouragement of the late Pope John Paul II, these three Catholic scholars and commentators have offered a summer course on Catholic faith and culture issues in Krakow, Poland. A network of capable Catholic leaders has arisen from this formation, and is now prepared to bring the Church’s message to a larger audience, in the context of John Paul's call for a new evangelization of contemporary society.

As The John Paul II Fellowship, this group will offer an eight-week course, to be introduced by George Weigel and given by eight “leaders of the new evangelization,” centered around the language of human dignity that we all learned to cherish in the example and teachings of Pope John Paul II. The most urgent business of the new evangelization is to cultivate this common language, a language that is able to communicate the Church’s message across different fields of culture and throughout society. By learning this language together -- through common prayer, intellectual exploration, and social-cultural activities -- participants become part of a community that is dedicated to bringing out the Church’s message to contemporary society in an accessible and universal way.

The course will be given on eight Thursday evenings, from February 16 through April 6, 2006, from 6-9 pm, at St. Mary’s Church in Old Town Alexandria. Each evening of the course will begin with vespers, move to lecture and discussion, and end with a simple Lenten supper.

Twenty-five participants are being sought for this inaugural course, with the possibility of including more in another session in the fall. The cost of attending the eight-week course is $40. The John Paul II Fellowship is open to all men and women of goodwill. Non-Catholics are encouraged to apply.

If you are interested in applying, please send your resume, a letter explaining your interest in attending, and two references, to Steve White at swhite@eppc.org.

February 16: Ever Johnson, Research Associate, Catholic Studies Program, Ethics and Public Policy Center, on Christian Humanism vs. Secular Relativism: Competing Worldviews in Western Society.

February 23: Phillip Muñoz, Assistant Professor of Politics, Tufts University, on Church and State in a Free Society

March 2: Joseph Capizzi, Associate Professor of Theology, Catholic University of America and Fellow, The Culture of Life Foundation, on The Church and the Moral-Cultural Foundation of Society.

March 9: Anthony Picarello, President, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, on The State and the Legal-Political Structure of Society.

March 16: Deirdre McQuade, Director of Information and Planning, Pro-Life Secretariat, USCCB, on The Human Person -- Foundation of the Political Community.

March 23: Patrick Kelly, Senior Advisor to the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, U.S. Department of State, on The Market and the Economic Extension of Freedom.

March 30: Jeanne Heffernan, Associate Professor of Humanities, Villanova University, on Creation and How We Must Employ It for the Common Good.

April 6: Soren Johnson, Director of Communications, Diocese of Arlington, on The New Evangelization and the Universal Call to Holiness.