Reverend Thomas V. Berg, Ph. D.

Biography

Rev. Thomas V. Berg is a Roman Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of New York. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 15, 1965. He was a member of the Legionaries of Christ from 1986 to 2009, and was ordained to the Catholic priesthood on January 1, 2000.  He pursued his B.A. in Spanish Language and Literature at Marquette University (1983-86). He received an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Wesleyan University in 1997, and his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Rome’s Pontifical University Regina Apostolorum in 1999. He was incardinated into the Archdiocese of New York in May of 2014. He has served as Director of Seminarian Admissions from 2013 to 2022. In addition to his current focus on fundamental moral theology, his areas of specialization include natural law theory, medical ethics, and philosophical and theological anthropology. In 1998 he founded the Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person, a Catholic think-tank dedicated to fundamental research on the Western moral tradition. The institute continued under his direction until its eventual dissolution in 2010. He has served by appointment on both the ethics committee of New York’s Empire State Stem Cell Board, and the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law. He has published or been quoted in Crisis Magazine, the National Catholic Register, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post. He has co-edited a volume of essays on the topic of human embryo adoption entitled Human Embryo Adoption: Biotechnology, Marriage, and the Right to Life. He is author of Hurting in the Church: A Way Forward for Wounded Catholics, and co-author, with Dr. Timothy Lock, of Choosing Forgiveness: Unleash the Power of God's Grace.
 
Education
Ph.D., Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, Rome   
Ph.L., Gregorian University, Rome
M.A., Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
Curriculum Vitae

Most Recent Scholarship
Fully Equipped for Every Good Work: A Proposal of Twelve Core Competencies in Ministering to Survivors of Sexual Abuse for Seminary Formation Programs (with Justin M. Anderson and Timothy G. Lock). McGrath Institute for Church Life, University of Notre Dame (forthcoming, fall 2023).
  
"Self-Originating Source of Valid Moral Claims or Witness of Moral Truth? Contemporary Revisionist Accounts of Conscience—An Exploration & Response. Nova et Vetera (forthcoming, 2024).

Most Recent Book
Choosing Forgiveness: Unleash the Power of God’s Grace. Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2022. With Dr. Timothy Lock. (Click Here for Link to Amazon page)

Most Recent Articles in Christian and Secular Press
“What More Can You Do in The Face of the Church’s Sexual Abuse Crisis?” Church Life Journal, April 27, 2023.
“A Self-Examination in Light of the Pillars of Formation,” The Priest, Vol. 77. No. 1 (January), 2020, 25-31.

Recent Conference Presentations 
August 21-22, 2023. St. Louis, MO. Kenrick-Glennon Seminary. Presenter. “Veritatis Splendor and the Pastor’s Task.”
August 8, 2023. Huntington, NY. “Healing the Seminarian to Help Heal the Church” and “Restoring Trust.” Conferences for the seminarians of the Archdiocese of Hartford as part of their annual convocation.
Sept. 23-25, 2021. South Bend, IN, Notre Dame University. Participant. “The Truth Will Make You Free: What Promise Do National Truth and Reconciliation Processes Offer for the Catholic Church’s Response to the Sexual Abuse Crisis?”

Current Projects and Research Interests
I am currently on sabbatical writing a book on the theology of Penance intended to serve also as a handbook for confessors.