The Best Minds...
The Best Ideas.
Welcome to The Culture House Idea Kitchen!
Great ideas are at the very heart of The Culture House. In fact, The Culture House is really an experiment in how to apply the best ideas to the arts and culture world so we can benefit the artists and the community with beauty, truth and goodness.
The Idea Kitchen is our lecture series where we bring in people who have good things to share. The Culture House is a Christian organization, so we look for speakers who bring excellence of thought and help open up reality in its truest form. The events start with a lecture of some kind, a period of Q&A, followed by a nice dessert reception for all.
As far the best minds and the best ideas, you never know whether that comes from the speaker or the audience! So, let’s get cookin’ and find out!
Spring 2026 Event • Sunday, February 28, 2027
AI
with Mariele Courtois
Join for a special presentation and discussion on AI with Mariele Coutrois, the Director of the Center for Technology and Human Dignity and an Assistant Professor of Moral Theology at Benedictine College.
Hosted by: The Culture House
Topic: AI
Speaker: Mariele Courtois
Sunday, February 28, 2027
5:30pm: Lecture, Q&A, followed by dessert reception
The Culture House Stage & Studio at Oak Park Mall (2nd floor, Nordstrom Wing)
Cost: Free to the public - Reservations required
Mariele Courtois
Mariele Courtois is the Director of the Center for Technology and Human Dignity and an Assistant Professor of Moral Theology at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. Her research interests include biomedical ethics, technology ethics, disability theology, and the thought of St. Edith Stein. She earned a Ph.D. with distinction in Moral Theology & Ethics (2022) and a Master of Philosophy in Theology and Religious Studies (2021) from the Catholic University of America. She is a member of the Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education’s AI Research Group and a contributing author of Encountering Artificial Intelligence: Ethical and Anthropological Investigations (2024) and Reclaiming Human Agency in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (2026). She is currently working on a manuscript about the ethics of genetic engineering technologies at the beginning of life.
Link for reservations: