Drawing from Thomas Aquinas' theological vision and contemporary experience, this Nov. 10 lecture explores mercy as both divine gift and human vocation, examining who preferential love for the vulnerable reveals authentic human flourishing in an achievement-obsessed culture. Though the governing metaphor of "mountains on the ocean floor," the lecture reveals how modern culture trains us to navigate on the surface of human experience, missing profound dignity hidden in every person's depth. Dr. Miguel J. Romero, ThD. is an Associate Professor at St. Louis University in the Department of Health Ethics He earned his B.A. from Colorado College, his M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary, his Th.M. from Duke University, and his Th.D. from Duke University in 2012. From 2012-2016 Romero was a postdoctoral research fellow and theology instructor at the University of Notre Dame. Romero’s research interests include moral theology, Catholic social teaching, philosophical and theological accounts of disability and mental illness, and the theology of Thomas Aquinas. His written work includes:“Disability, Catholic Questions, and the Quandaries of Biomedicine and Secular Society,” National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Summer 2020): 277-310, “Mercy, Mental Illness, and the Moral Significance of Christian History: The Story of Fr. Juan Gilabert-Jofre, O.de.M.,” Journal of Disability & Religion, Vol. 22, No. 2 (May 2018), and “The Goodness and Beauty of Our Fragile Flesh: Moral Theologians and Our Engagement with Disability,” Journal of Moral Theology: Engaging Disability, Vol. 6, Special Issue 2 (2017): 206-25. Miguel is married to Dr. Heather Romero, a geriatric neuropsychologist and Alzheimer’s Disease researcher. Miguel and Heather have four children
