Embodying Cultures of Life

Experience the Episode

Presented by McGrath Institute for Church Life

What does it truly mean to build a culture of life? This panel moves from the intimacy of the female body to the challenges of the public square, exploring how authentic freedom, radical accompaniment, spiritual courage, and principled policy are essential. Four leading experts offer a multifaceted vision of human dignity.

Thirty years ago, in both Evangelium Vitae and his Letter to Women, Pope John Paul II issued a clear call for the genius of women to be “more fully expressed in the life of society as a whole, as well as in the life of the Church” (Letter to Women 10). Throughout his papacy, in fact, he emphasized women’s “prophetic character,” calling on them to be “witnesses” and “sentinels” — guardians of the sacred gift of life and the order of love (Mulieris Dignitatem 29; Homily at Lourdes 2004).

Meet the Speaker: Leah Libresco Sargeant

Leah Libresco Sargeant is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. She works in family policy in Washington, D.C. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Plough, First Things, and other outlets. She runs Other Feminisms (otherfeminisms.com), a substack community focused on advocating for women as women in a world that treats us as defective men. Her next book, The Dignity of Dependence for Notre Dame University Press, will come out in Fall 2025.

Meet the Speaker: Kathleen Domingo

Kathleen Buckley Domingo serves as Executive Director of the California Catholic Conference. In her role, she lobbies on behalf of the 12 Catholic dioceses in California, representing the bishops of California on issues such as human life and dignity, strong healthy families, racial justice, environmental justice, healthcare access, housing, restorative justice, educational excellence and religious liberty.

Kathleen served for eight years in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as Senior Director of the Office of Life, Justice and Peace. She led OneLife LA, created Respect Life Week, and built the first Caring for the Whole Person diocesan-based program in the nation. Kathleen is a national speaker, writer, and organizer. She regularly shares her insights and resources with dioceses and organizations around the country and internationally. Kathleen holds a B.S. from the University of San Francisco as well as a Certificate from its St. Ignatius Institute. She earned a Master’s degree in Theology from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies in Marriage and Family in Washington, D.C.

Meet the Speaker: Sarah Denny Lori, Ph.D.

Sarah Denny Lorio, Ph.D. is a speaker, podcast host, and part-time ethicist with the National Catholic Bioethics Center. She holds a Ph.D. in Bioethics from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome and an M.A. in Theology from Notre Dame Seminary and Graduate School in New Orleans, LA. Her doctoral research focused on the differing philosophies that affect the practice of women’s health in the United States of America and argued for a “third way” of sex education that teaches young people fertility awareness-based methods both as preventive medicine and as proximate vocation preparation.

Throughout the last 14 years, Dr. Denny Lorio has taught at both the university and high school levels: working as an ethics professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, teaching and coaching young women at Archbishop Chapelle High School, and speaking and leading international trips for college students as a campus minister at Louisiana State University. Trained in two methods of fertility awareness—Creighton Model FertilityCare System (2013) and FEMM (2024)—her passion is to empower women through a deeper knowledge of the great gift and beauty of their bodies and sexuality. In her work, Dr. Denny Lorio consistently seeks to integrate the demands of medicine with the dignity of womanhood and highlights the essential role of human freedom in the education of young women. She is in the process of developing a high school curriculum focusing on these issues as well as creating similar resources for parents. Dr. Denny Lorio currently lives in New Orleans, LA, with her husband, Alex.

Meet the Speaker: Sister Virginia Joy, S.V.

Sister Virginia Joy, S.V., entered the Sisters of Life in 2009. The Sisters of Life are a contemplative active community consecrated to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life. Immersed in Eucharistic prayer within a vibrant community life, the Sisters’ missions include caring for women who are pregnant and in crisis; inviting those suffering after abortion to receive the healing mercy of Jesus; intercessory prayer; retreat works; and fostering a culture of life through evangelization and mission. Sr. Virginia Joy currently serves in Washington DC as the Sisters of Life Director of Services to Women. For many years Sister served in Manhattan as the Director of the Respect Life office for the Archdiocese of New York while living in the communities Holy Respite mission where pregnant women are welcomed to live with them.