The Christopher Dawson Centre for Cultural Studies

Following his installation as Archbishop of Hobart on 17 September 2013 the Most Reverend Julian Porteous signaled a determination to advance the Catholic Intellectual Tradition within the Archdiocese and beyond. He took steps to establish the Christopher Dawson Centre for Cultural Studies, in honour of a man who is considered to have been the greatest English-speaking Catholic historian of the twentieth century.

Archbishop Porteous has kindly agreed to be the Patron of the Dawson Centre.

Who was Christopher Dawson?

‘Secularization of culture is seen in its most striking form in the Communist State, where alone as yet the elimination of religion has been carried to its logical conclusion. Nevertheless, the same tendency exists elsewhere; in fact, it permeates the whole outlook of modern civilization. The average man lives more totally in the State than in the past, and even when he is not consciously hostile to religion, he no longer conceives it as a vital activity which must hold its central place in human life and society.’

Christopher Dawson (1889-1970) was brought up an Anglican, converted to Roman Catholicism in 1914, and is principally known for his powerful defence of the vital role of the Christian religion as a major strand of Western culture. The aim of the Centre named after him is ‘to promote awareness of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition and Cultural Patrimony as essential components of human civilization’.