SPIRE: Scholarship in CST | Institute for Social Concerns

YEAR IN REVIEW

SPIRE: SCHOLARSHIP IN CATHOLIC SOCIAL TRADITION

Addressing the Signs of the Times

Through SPIRE: Scholarship in Catholic Social Tradition, the Institute is addressing the most urgent signs of the times—from growing religious nationalism and the national housing crisis to global migration, rising authoritarianism, and threats to democracy—by drawing from the deep resources of Catholic social tradition (CST).

At a time when developed nations are reasserting ethno-religious nationalism, the Institute held a critical intervention with its eighth biennial CST Conference on interdisciplinary responses to religious nationalism. Leading scholars of religious nationalism analyzed what is motivating this trend and surfaced resources within CST to present a compelling alternative rooted in human dignity and Beloved Community.

Amid a push to criminalize homelessness, the Institute published professor of the practice Suzanne Mulligan’s book Dwelling with Dignity: Catholic Social Teaching and Homelessness to examine how CST invites an good, solidarity, and integral human development. The third of five volumes in the Enacting Catholic Social Tradition book series published in partnership with Liturgical Press, Dwelling with Dignity joins prior volumes that explore how CST speaks to issues related to finances and technology and forthcoming volumes that address community organizing and integral ecology.

The Institute curated a new lecture series in the spring, Encounter: Conversations on Catholic Social Tradition, which drew leading national and international CST scholars to reflect on the significance of Pope Francis’s call to create a culture of encounter—especially as it pertains to forced migration. University of San Diego theologian Victor Carmona drew from the prayer “To Have Hope” from the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo to share how he finds hope in his concrete encounters with migrants who risk everything for their families. Likewise, Anna Rowlands, the St. Hilda Professor of Catholic Social Thought & Practice at Durham University, and ethicist Marcus Mescher of Xavier University each drew from their research and encounters to explore dimensions of Francis’s counter-cultural emphasis on encounter with migrants as an expression of the Church’s vocation to cultivate “pilgrims of hope.”

“To have hope is to be a courier of God and courier of men and women of good will, tearing down walls, destroying borders, building bridges.” – Excerpt from “To Have Hope” from the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo

Finally, in the face of major challenges to democracies worldwide, including democratic backsliding and a new rise of authoritarian regimes, the Institute joined the International Research Center for Social and Ethical Issues to organize a conference on CST and Democracy in Salzburg, Austria, through the Global CST Network, which has previously hosted conferences in Rome, London, Jerusalem, Mumbai, and Kylemore Abbey near Galway, Ireland. The Salzburg conference underscored the value of democracy in CST, exploring important statements about democracy in Church documents and—with the idea of synodality—a new move toward participation. Building on Notre Dame Global’s international infrastructure, the Global CST Network systematically explores ways to apply CST to concrete social problems that communities face around the world, sharing that teaching with practitioners who can implement it.

Through the Global CST Network and each of SPIRE’s initiatives, the Institute is making Notre Dame the place where CST becomes widely known and shared as an effective engine for social transformation.