The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, in partnership with the Ratzinger Foundation and the Benedict XVI Institute, is hosting a series of academic panels discussing “Benedict XVI’s Legacy: Unfinished Debates on Faith, Culture, and Politics,” with the first event to be held Wednesday (Nov. 29) at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

The University of Notre Dame is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Servant of God Brother Columba O’Neill, C.S.C., on Nov. 20 (Monday), with a series of events including a novena, a Mass and a spotlight exhibit at the Hesburgh Library.

On Wednesday (Oct. 4), Pope Francis released “Laudate Deum,” an apostolic exhortation on climate change, intended as a follow-up to his 2015 environmental encyclical, “Laudato Si’.” Below, experts from the University of Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters and Keough School of Global Affairs offer their insight into the new document.

Dr. Elvira Parravicini, founding director of the Neonatal Comfort Care Program and associate professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center, will receive the University of Notre Dame’s 2024 Evangelium Vitae Medal — the nation’s most important award for heroes of the pro-life movement — at a Mass and dinner on April 27 at Notre Dame.

University of Notre Dame associate professor of theology David Lantigua, the William W. and Anna Jean Cushwa Co-Director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, anticipates that “Laudate Deum” will be an exhortation calling for a more urgent response to the climate crisis and offering bold proposals to address the accelerated climate change evident in recent events and environmental trends — including the melting of glaciers and ice sheets, hotter and more acidic oceans, rampant wildfires and extreme weather conditions.

The University has received a grant of $1.25 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. to expand the work of the McGrath Institute for Church Life’s Holy Family Initiative for Family Catechesis, which offers parents, caregivers and Church leaders the tools they need to effectively pass on their Catholic faith to the next generation.

Selected works of art from the Crucifix Initiative will be on display in an exhibit on view starting Thursday (Aug. 10) at The History Museum in South Bend, Indiana. Launched in 2019, the initiative seeks to highlight the globalism of Catholicism — and to represent the diversity and internationalism of the University and its community — by building and displaying a collection of crucifixes from around the world.

Carolyn Woo, the retired CEO of Catholic Relief Services and former dean of the Mendoza College of Business, will serve as the keynote speaker at 2023 Commencement Ceremony of the Alliance for Catholic Education on Saturday (July 15).

For the past 20 years, Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s and Holy Cross students of different majors and walks of life have given their summers to empower high school students to ask big questions during one-week summer conferences on Notre Dame’s campus. 

Click for a video profile of Robert P. George The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture presented the 2023 Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal…

American studies and history professor Kathleen Sprows Cummings, who has led the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism for the past 11 years, will step down from the position in June, with Notre Dame historian Darren Dochuk and theologian David Lantigua becoming co-directors. Cummings, the Rev. John A. O'Brien College Professor of History, has been associated with the center for nearly 30 years, starting when she arrived at the University as a doctoral student in history.

Students in Notre Dame’s Master of Divinity program cited a visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe as the emotional highlight of their pilgrimage to Mexico City. Seminarian Johnny Ryan, C.S.C., said getting to experience Mary’s maternal love for everyone was more powerful than he expected even though he was familiar with the story of Mary’s appearance before Juan Diego in a vision in 1531. He brought back prayer cards with the iconic image that thrilled his Latino students at Saint Adalbert…

J.J. Wright wanted to reconceive a project he'd started with the Notre Dame Children's Choir when the annual President's Forum asked the campus to reflect on the clergy sexual abuse crisis. The project was an original composition of the Passion, the Gospel stories leading up to and including Jesus's crucifixion and burial. Wright immediately saw parallels between the religious story and the sexual abuse crisis, ranging from betrayal and cover-up to an unwillingness to stand up for those who are most vulnerable.…

Guests including anti-death penalty advocate Sister Helen Prejean, of “Dead Man Walking” fame, and Bishop Alfred Agyenta of Ghana will deliver remarks during the upcoming Catholic Social Tradition Conference from March 23 to 25 at the University of Notre Dame.

Sister Rosemary Connelly, R.S.M., former executive director of Misericordia and lifelong advocate for individuals with developmental disabilities, will receive the University of Notre Dame’s 2023 Laetare Medal — the oldest and most prestigious honor given to American Catholics — at Notre Dame’s 178th University Commencement Ceremony on May 21 (Sunday).

A March 6 panel discussion, “Global Catholicism: The Past, Present, and Future of the Church,” drew upon Provost John McGreevy’s book “Catholicism: A Global History from the French Revolution to Pope Francis” and featured comments from several experts.

The McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame has received a $1 million implementation grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help establish a three-year program titled Savoring the Mystery: Catholic Preaching in an Age of Disaffiliation. This initiative, based out of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy at the McGrath Institute, proposes a renewal of Roman Catholic preaching.

Citing the important work of previous popes and U.S. Catholic bishops over the past 60 years, Cardinal Robert McElroy, bishop of San Diego, led a discussion on the moral challenges of war and nuclear arms at the University of Notre Dame on Wednesday (March 1).