Our Mission

Fons Vitae’s mission is to strengthen the presence of the Catholic intellectual tradition and its cross-disciplinary engagement in the Duke University community and beyond.

Our goal is one of collaboration, complementing the missions of our home and local institutions and initiatives while enriching the academic and spiritual fabric of our community. We desire to harness the rich space for conversation, scientific rigor, and innovative thinking characteristic of Duke as a premier research university. We see this as our contribution to Duke’s history as an institution committed to “eruditio et religio.”

Approach

Fons Vitae hosts public lectures, master classes, seminars, and community events that deepen conversations happening in the Church, the academy, and the wider culture today.

Fons Vitae does not restrict itself to specifically “Catholic topics.” Rather, it is committed to thinking in a Catholic way—to thinking about “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious” (Phil 4:8–9), knowing that “every word of wisdom, every useful thing by whomsoever discovered or planned, ought to be received with a willing and grateful mind” (Leo XIII, Aeterni Patris §31).

Inspired by St. John Henry Newman’s insight that “all knowledge forms one whole,” Fons Vitae has sponsored programs whose topics extend, among others, to artificial intelligence, climate change, education, food insecurity, astrobiology, and economics.

Significance of Name

Drawing inspiration from the Scriptures (cf. Psalm 36:10; John 4:14) and the wider spiritual and theological tradition of the Christian faith, the initiative has assumed the name “Fons Vitae” ("Fountain of Life"). The name signifies our belief that all wisdom, wherever it may be found, is rooted in the fontal and life-giving wisdom of God.

History

Fons Vitae was founded at Duke Divinity School in 2023 by Professors Peter Casarella and Reinhard Hütter to enrich Catholic intellectual life at Duke. Its earliest activities focused on enhancing fellowship among Catholics at Duke Divinity through prayer and shared meals. Now, Fons Vitae is a university-wide effort to dialogue with students and faculty across disciplines using the wisdom and the resources of the Catholic intellectual tradition.

Partners

Fons Vitae is a member of the In Lumine Network and has partnerships with Duke Catholic Center, Ecclesia in America Network, and Trinitarian Ontology.

Founding Vision Statement

Professors Peter Casarella and Reinhard Huetter collaborated to author Fons Vitae's founding vision statement in 2022. It contains a brief history of the inspiration for the initiative and a summary of the many principles that guide its efforts today.