Aug. 24, 2026
Contact Rick Kyte at 608-796-3704 or rlkyte@viterbo.edu
LA CROSSE, Wis. – The Very Reverend Samuel A. Martin, Diocese of La Crosse Vicar General and Vicar for Clergy, will open the Religion, Society, and Civility series at 6 p.m. Monday Sept. 14 in the Viterbo University Nursing Center Collins Auditorium 196.
The Religion, Society, and Civility series is presented by the Tri Campus Civility and Civil Discourse Initiative and the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University. It is free and open to the public. Events in the four-part series will be delivered in an hour-long format, beginning with a 30-minute presentation followed by a moderated discussion of the same length.
The complete schedule:
- Monday, Sept. 14: The Very Reverend Samuel A. Martin, Diocese of La Crosse Vicar General and Vicar for Clergy
- Monday, Sept. 28: Rev. Felix Javier Malpeca, Bishop of the La Crosse Area Synod of the ELCA
- Monday, Oct. 12: Linda DeGarmo, former City Clerk of Chaseburg and Cancer Action Network board member and Glenn Hoff, former Farmer Outreach and Event Coordinator for Organic Valley
- Monday, Oct. 26: Dr. Jeff Thompson, former CEO of Gundersen Health System
“This series of lectures is intended to involve the audience in a conversation about how to improve civility in our communities,” said Rick Kyte, director of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership.
Civility isn’t just being polite, it consists of the social norms—including compassion, tolerance, and respect for the dignity of all human beings—that together undergird citizenship and make a healthy society possible.
Today, 250 years after our nation’s founding, we are facing a crisis of civility. Many have lost confidence in our core institutions, there is growing disregard for the rule of law, and social trust is at an all-time low. Politics, which ought to be an arena for working through our differences, has instead become the chief source of division, in the nation, in communities, and even in families.
Historically, the norms of civility were promulgated through the teachings and practices of religious communities. But in the U.S. that process is complicated by two factors: people are becoming increasingly secular and live in a pluralistic society in which those who claim a religious identity have ties to many different, and sometimes incompatible, traditions. How can we restore civility to our lives, and what is the role of religion in that restoration?
No tickets are necessary for Religion, Society, and Civility series events, but seating is limited. For a full schedule of D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership events, visit www.viterbo.edu/ethics.
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