The Center for Social Concerns of the University of Notre Dame will host leading international scholars in the Catholic Social Tradition on campus for a Dear Brothers and Sisters Conference March 24 to 26 (Thursday to Saturday), to consider how 120 years of Catholic social teaching apply to the social issues of our world today. Issues to be discussed at the conference include globalization, immigration, racial justice, the environment and worker rights.
Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace at the Vatican, has been invited to offer the annual Romero Lecture entitled “Archbishop Oscar Romero: Preacher and Teacher,” which will double as a conference keynote at 8 p.m. on March 25 in the McKenna Hall Auditorium. The Cardinal will celebrate Mass at 5:15 p.m. that same evening in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on campus.
Bill Purcell, associate director for Catholic social tradition at the Center and convener of the conference, stated: “We are excited to be at the heart of a dialogue between leaders in higher education, the non-profit sector, and the Church as they seek to develop practices, grounded in our Catholic social tradition, that address the most pressing issues of our time.”
The Dear Brothers and Sisters Conference is being convened by the Center for Social Concerns, the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, the Henkels Lecture Series of the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, as well as 12 other sponsors to foster dialogue between scholars, Church leaders, and practitioners in the church and non-profit sector. The lectures are free and open to all students, faculty and the public.
The Center for Social Concerns of the University of Notre Dame facilitates community-based learning, research and service, informed by the Catholic Social Tradition.
The complete conference schedule is available here.