For generations, Christianity was woven naturally into everyday life. Today, the world has changed. The Church is moving within a different social and cultural landscape that represents, at the same time, both a challenge and a great opportunity of new evangelization.

That is why the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette and La Salette Retreat and Conference Center are launching a new seven-part lecture series titled "Faith After Christendom: Catholic Identity and Public Witness in a Secular Age."

Simple but urgent question: What kind of faith is possible when Christianity is no longer the cultural default?

Today, the Church cannot simply assume that people understand why faith matters.

Faith today must intentionally be understood, freely chosen, lived, and communicated in ways that are both faithful to the Gospel and intelligible to the world around us.

This means learning how to speak about faith with greater clarity, humility, confidence, and depth.

The series will explore questions that many Catholics are already asking: How does the Church remain credible in a skeptical culture? How do we speak about God to people who may not share our religious vocabulary? How can believers witness publicly without becoming defensive or combative? What does Christian hope look like in a society marked by anxiety, division, and uncertainty? And how can the Church form disciples whose faith is more than inherited custom?

The series opens on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. in the Welcome Center with nationally known Catholic speaker and commentator Gloria Purvis.

Gloria Purvis is a nationally recognized author, commentator, public scholar, and advocate who brings Catholic faith into conversation with today's most pressing issues, including human dignity, life, religious liberty, racial justice, and reconciliation.

She has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fox News, PBS NewsHour, NPR, and ABC News Live, and hosted both Morning Glory and The Gloria Purvis Podcast. Her work includes the Word on Fire Institute series "Racism, Human Dignity, and the Catholic Church." In 2020, Our Sunday Visitor named her Catholic of the Year.

Purvis interviewed Pope Francis with an America Media delegation and served as a papal news contributor during the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV. A consultant and advisor to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, she holds fellowships at the University of Notre Dame, Georgetown University, and Providence College, and serves on the Board of Catholic Charities USA. She has received honorary doctorates from the University of Portland, St. Martin's University, and Salve Regina University.

Her presentation, "When Faith Is No Longer the Default: The Church's Identity in a Secular Age," will examine what it means for Catholics to live faithfully when the culture around them no longer automatically supports Christian belief. Purvis will invite participants to consider not simply how the Church can survive cultural change, but how Catholics can become more thoughtful, courageous, and credible witnesses to the Gospel.

For more information and to register, visit www.lasaletteretreatcenter.org/lasalettelectures.

For more programs offered by the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette, visit lasaletteattleboroshrine.org.