American political life is characterized by hyper-partisanship and polarization. Each election cycle seems to sharpen divisions and deepen political idolatry, while leaving most of us exasperated and exhausted. Yet, the Catholic Church encourages us to participate in politics. Pope Francis expresses the Church’s conviction that politics is “a lofty vocation and one of the highest forms of charity, inasmuch as it seeks the common good” (EV, 205). This series explores the Church’s call to participate in political life and the complexities, challenges, and possibilities therein: What is politics? How do Catholics balance the call to participation without making an idol of politics? Is our call to participate exhausted by our duty to vote? What is the mission of Catholics in the public square? What constitutes the public square? How can the Eucharist transform our understanding of politics? Can we envision a world where charity, not political ideology, guides all our actions and decisions? Featured panelists will include: Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt, professor of theology at Loyola University Maryland and a deacon of the Archdiocese of Baltimore; Kathleen Buckley Domingo, executive director of the California Catholic Conference; and Theresa MacArt, assistant professor of politics and public service at Holy Cross College.  Click here to register. Originally published at mcgrath.nd.edu.

Join the Liturgical Choir of the Notre Dame Children's Choir the second and third Mondays of the month in-person or online for a prayerful Vespers service.  https://youtube.com/live/AL5eIKYB9lI?feature=shareNotre Dame Children's Liturgical ChoirOriginally published at sma.nd.edu.

More than a year after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip continues, violence in the West Bank mounts, Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon are engaged in escalating confrontation, and Israel and Iran are on the brink of war. This panel will address ongoing dynamics of the Israel/Palestine conflict and its consequences for the broader Middle East. This event is open to Notre Dame faculty, staff and students. Notre Dame IDs will be required for entrance to this event, and backpacks and large bags will be checked.   Panelists: Asher Kaufman, John M. Regan, Jr. director of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies; professor of history and peace studiesLisa Schirch, Richard G. Starmann, Sr. professor of the practice of peace studies  Atalia Omer, professor of religion, conflict and peace studies  Laurie Nathan, professor of the practice of mediation; Mediation Program director  Banafsheh Keynoush, Kroc Institute visiting research fellowDaniel Bannoura, Ph.D. student in the Department of Theology           Originally published at kroc.nd.edu.

Michael Haneke's most notorious provocation, Funny Games spares no detail in its depiction of the agony of a bourgeois family held captive at their vacation home by a pair of white-gloved young men. In a series of escalating "games," the sadistic duo subject their victims to physical and psychological torture over the course of a night. A home-invasion thriller in which the genre's threat of bloodshed is made stomach-churningly real, the film ratchets up shocks even as its executioners interrupt the action to address the audience, drawing queasy attention to the way that cinema milks pleasure from pain and stokes our appetite for atrocity. With this controversial treatise on violence and entertainment, Haneke issued a summation of his cinematic philosophy, implicating his audience in a spectacle of unbearable cruelty. GET TICKETS!  

Join us for GIS Day at Notre Dame — a symposium that combines workshops, presentations, and more to demonstrate the power of geospatial technologies. GIS Day Schedule “What in the World is GIS?” 12:00pm – 1:00pm Presenter: Matthew Sisk, Professor of the Practice, Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society GIS is a system of hardware and software for the storage, retrieval, mapping, and analysis of geographic data. It provides a system for organizing spatial and related information into a single analytical framework and is used in various academic and industry settings for understanding spatial relationships. This workshop will address the question, "What is GIS?", provide examples, and present an overview of campus GIS resources. “Getting Started with ArcGIS Online” 1:00pm – 2:00pm Presenter: Jacob Swisher, Graduate Student, Department of History Learn how to make maps using ArcGIS Online and incorporate Geographic Information Systems (GIS) into your research. This workshop provides an introduction to basic tools and workflows in ESRI’s ArcGIS Online platform. ArcGIS Online is a browser-based GIS platform that allows users to create, visualize, and manipulate spatial data. Whether you are interested in working with larger datasets or creating maps to add to a class project or senior thesis, ArcGIS Online offers an excellent workspace for researchers who are beginning to work with GIS. Experienced GIS users may also find ArcGIS Online to be a useful space for hosting data for collaborative projects and communicating research findings to public audiences. This workshop is designed with the novice GIS user in mind. After participating in this workshop, you will be able to:Gather, manage, and display spatial data in ArcGIS Online. Use the filters tool to answer questions with spatial data. Create data visualizations using the styles tool.PLEASE NOTE:If you do not already have access to the campus GIS network, you will receive an invitation before the workshop. Please follow the email instructions to activate your account prior to the workshop. Participants are expected to bring a computer to the session.Break 2:00pm – 2:15pm Lightning Talks 2:15pm – 3:30pm Tyler Wolford, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Medieval Institute“Paper Walls: GIS and the Byzantine Boundary Description (Periorismos)” Liang Cai, Associate Professor, Department of History“Geographic Mobility of Elites: Identity Construction Before Qin's Unification of China (ca. 390-221 BCE)” Daniel Tadmon, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology“Limits to Helping in a Helping Profession: The Spatial-Social Context of Psychiatrist Opt-Out from Public Insurance” Katie Walden, Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of American StudiesJake Swisher, Graduate Student, Department of History“Placing History” Hannah R. Spero, Graduate Student, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth SciencesAman Tejaswi, Graduate Student, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth SciencesAndrew B. Kennedy, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth SciencesJoannes Westerink, Joseph and Nona Ahearn Professor of Computational Engineering and Science“Reconstructing Boulder Transport on Rocky Coastlines Using GIS Tools and Field Data: A Case Study on Inishmaan, Ireland” GIS Day Reception 3:30pm – 4:00pm Join us for GIS Day treats and coffee.

How did an event once considered the greatest of all political dangers come to be seen as a solution to all social problems?Join the Transnational France Research Cluster, supported by the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, to welcome Dan Edelstein, William H. Bonsall Professor of French at Stanford University. He will be delivering a fascinating talk and leading a discussion on "Revolution: The History of an Idea." About the speakerDan Edelstein is a scholar specializing in eighteenth-century France, with a focus on literature, history, political thought, and digital humanities. He earned a Ph.D. in French from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004, following a Licence ès lettres in French, English, and Latin from the Université de Genève in 1999, and a Maturité scientifique from Collège Calvin in Geneva in 1993. Edelstein’s most recent book, On the Spirit of Rights (University of Chicago Press), traces the evolution of natural and human rights from the wars of religion to the revolutionary period. An earlier iteration of this research appeared in the Journal of Modern History, while a more theoretical exploration can be found in Humanity. A synopsis of the initial arguments was published in Critical Analysis of Law.At Stanford University, Edelstein teaches courses covering the literature, philosophy, history, culture, and politics of the Enlightenment; nineteenth-century novels; the French Revolution; early-modern political thought; and French intellectual culture, including a popular course titled “Coffee & Cigarettes.” Edelstein is a regular instructor in Education as Self-Fashioning, a first-year program focused on liberal education, and directs the Stanford Summer Humanities Institute, a program for high school juniors and seniors. Additionally, Edelstein teaches and co-directs, with Debra Satz, Stanford's Humanities Core program. A highly regarded educator, Edelstein has received Stanford’s highest teaching honor, the Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching (2006), as well as the Dean's Distinguished Teaching Award (2011).Originally published at nanovic.nd.edu.