“I want to help reinforce Catholic identity from academia,” says this young priest of the Legion of Christ. Father Peter Mullan, LC, has just earned his doctorate from the Universidad Abat Oliba in Barcelona. The thesis, with strong philosophical content, is dedicated to studying how we perceive the world around us: “In philosophy, since Kant, it is questioned whether we truly know things; with Cornelio Fabro, based on scientific experimentation in favor of Thomas Aquinas’s theory, it is argued that we do know things,” Father Peter explains. He is American, from Elkton, Maryland, 38 years old, and tells us that he came to know Regnum Christi and the Legion of Christ thanks to the ECYD and the Legionaries and consecrated members of Regnum Christi who visited his area. During the two years he has been in Barcelona, he has continued his pastoral work with young people from Regnum Christi and Effetá. His new assignment: the Universidad Anáhuac in Mexico, where he will focus on pastoral care for the university community.
I won’t repeat the title of the thesis in this question, but can you explain the content of your research?
Father Peter: The thesis is dedicated to studying how we perceive the world around us. In philosophy, since Immanuel Kant, it is questioned whether we truly know things; with Cornelio Fabro, based on scientific experimentation in favor of Thomas Aquinas’s theory, it is argued that we do know things.
And how did the topic of the thesis come about?
Today, relativism prevails, where everyone has their own version and truth, within their mind and incompatible with others. The thesis aims to show that we can indeed know things, that the greatest talent God has given us is our capacity to know, along with our freedom.
How long did it take you to complete it, and why at the Universidad Abat Oliba CEU in Barcelona?
I started remotely in January 2018, but it was really in September of the same year when I came to Barcelona and was able to study full-time. Two years in total. P. Alain Contat, professor at our Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum in Rome, was the one who motivated me to pursue the doctorate and suggested the Universidad Abat Oliba for its serious Thomistic philosophical approach.
What is the relationship between your thesis and your apostolic mission?
My experience is in the field of our universities, and the thesis aims to help in the area of truth and our capacity to know it. I hope to engage in dialogue with our professors at the academic level based on this thesis. I also want to continue researching in the field of neuroscience and the functioning of our brain.
What is your connection to neuroscience? Have you studied medicine, biotechnology…?
I am interested in neuroscience as a frontier field today in science, and at the crossroads of empirical, psychological, and philosophical sciences. I haven’t studied medicine, but I am learning little by little. I feel that, as Catholics, it is important to be present in this field of sciences, to complete the vision, since it is very easy to reduce the study to brain neurons and lose sight of the non-material, but real presence of the human soul.
Returning to the thesis, how is a doctoral thesis presented virtually? Because the tribunal was not physically present in the room! Who were the members of the tribunal?
The defense was via BlackBoard, but I took advantage of the technology installed at the university to do it from there. The tribunal secretary, Dr. Enrique Martínez García, was present there, along with the thesis director, Martin F. Echavarria. The other four members of the tribunal connected via the platform without any problem. The president was Father Jesús Villagrasa, LC, from Rome, and the other members were Leopoldo Prieto López (Universidad Francisco de Vitoria), Miquel Bastons Prat (Universitat Internacional de Catalunya), and Enrique Moros Claramunt (Universidad de Navarra).
Have you been able to combine the thesis with some apostolate in Barcelona?
Thanks to God, I have been able to have a full ministry, supporting the youth section of Regnum Christi, with Effetá groups, attending to a residence for the sick, and wherever else support was needed locally.
Father Peter, your new destination is Mexico, what will you be doing there? Is it related to your thesis?
I return to the same work I had three years before coming: director of Pastoral at our Universidad Anáhuac México, north campus. I am responsible for evangelization of the 10,000 students and 3,500 administrative staff and faculty, through Masses, retreats, apostolates, and various activities. I will specifically work with the Faculty of Bioethics at the university, on topics of neuroethics, as well as engaging in dialogue with the faculty. I want to help reinforce Catholic identity from the academic sphere.
