Not to Caesar but to Peter: Why the Catholic Church is a Perfect Society
About the Event
Join us for a fireside chat on Will Haun’s forthcoming book, Not to Caesar but to Peter, which argues that the Catholic Church’s traditional claim to be a complete and self-sufficient society offers a firmer foundation for religious liberty than the frameworks of separation, neutrality, and exemption now under strain in American law.
Haun contends that recovering this claim of legal authority would not only strengthen U.S. protections for religious institutions but also correct persistent misunderstandings of the Church. The conversation brings together Haun, Senior Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and serves on the Center’s Advisory Council, Fr. Pius Pietrzyk, O.P., Vicar for Administration for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph, USA, and Mark Rienzi, Catholic Law Professor and President of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The event will be moderated by Center Co-Director Marc DeGirolami. Together they will take up what religious freedom once meant in America, and what it might become if the Church remembers who she is.
Date
Time
Location
- Columbus School of Law, Room 205
Speakers
Speakers
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Fr. Pius Pietrzyk
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Mark RienziPresident of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Professor of Law, Columbus School of LawMark L. Rienzi is a professor at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law. Professor Rienzi teaches constitutional law, religious liberty, torts, and evidence. He has been voted Teacher of the Year three times by the student bar association.
Professor Rienzi’s litigation and research interests focus on the First and Fourteenth Amendments, with an emphasis on free speech and the free exercise of religion. His scholarship on these issues has appeared in a variety of prestigious journals including the Harvard Law Review, Fordham Law Review, Emory Law Journal, Notre Dame Law Review, and George Mason Law Review.
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O.P.
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Will HaunSenior Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious LibertyWilliam J. Haun is Senior Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and a Nonresident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). At Becket, Will litigates nationwide in defense of religious liberty for all faith traditions, particularly before the U.S. Supreme Court and in other federal and state appellate courts nationwide. His litigation includes being a member of the U.S. Supreme Court team that prevailed 9-0 for Catholic Social Services in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, protecting Catholic refugee services in Michigan, protecting the right of religious organizations to advertise their existence in public, and upholding the Catholic Church’s freedom to speak accountably about its clergy. He’s argued in multiple federal appellate courts, federal district courts, and the Supreme Court of Texas.
At AEI, Will writes and researches on constitutionalism and self-government’s prerequisites, especially the role of religion in securing and preserving freedom.
Before joining Becket and AEI, Will practiced appellate and antitrust law at two international law firms—Shearman & Sterling and Hunton & Williams. He also served as a law clerk to Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Judge Claude Hilton of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Will often writes on constitutional law issues, including in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, the Catholic University Law Review, National Affairs, Law & Liberty, National Review Online, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. He has been interviewed in national media, including on CNN, in the New York Times, and in FOX News. He also speaks on these topics, including at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, Princeton University, Georgetown University Law Center, the University of Virginia School of Law, and the University of Chicago Law School.
He received his J.D. from The Catholic University of America, cum laude, where he was a published member of the Law Review. He received his B.A. from American University in political science, cum laude.
Will serves as Board Vice President of an independent, K-8 classical Catholic school, Divine Mercy Academy. He is also a Board of Advisors Member of Benedictine College’s Center for Constitutional Liberty. Will is a Knight of Merit in the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George.
