Annual Rev. Bernie Clark, C.S.C., Lecture
The annual Rev. Bernie Clark, C.S.C., Lecture was created by the Institute for Social Concerns in 2009 in order to highlight justice issues and themes related to the common good. The fall event honors Fr. Bernie who died young but influenced students with the life lesson of a “theory of enough.” Past speakers have included scholars and practitioners working to create a more just future for all.
2025 Annual Rev. Bernie Clark, C.S.C., Lecture
“Hope and Healing” with Tom Catena
A 2025–2026 Notre Dame Forum event
“I wanted to go to college, do my four years, get out, and start making a bunch of money,” Catena told a capacity crowd on Wednesday, November 12, at the Institute for Social Concerns’ 2025 Rev. Bernie Clark, C.S.C., Distinguished Catholic Social Tradition Lecture held in the Eck Center Auditorium. “So what did I do? I went to school for the rest of my life, and I don’t make anything.”
A cradle Catholic, Catena learned about mission work from a group of evangelical Christians on campus while he was still a student. Sensing a call to the mission field, Catena turned down his job offer and went back to school to become a medical missionary.
Dr. Catena has now been practicing in Gidel in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan for 17 years. The region has been an area of active conflict since the mid-1980s, and Catena is the only surgeon for the surrounding population of more than three million people. Catena credits his Catholic faith for his work, and says he is inspired by St. Francis of Assisi. He is known by locals as “Dr. Tom” and is widely respected by the population. In 2017, he was awarded the second annual Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. He is chair of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative.
Dr. Catena was introduced by Donald Zimmer, MD, emergency medical specialist with Beacon Health System in South Bend.
Co-sponsors
Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health, Center for Health Sciences Advising, College of Arts and Letters, College of Science, Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, Department of Africana Studies, Department of Biological Sciences, Department of Theology, Eck Institute for Global Health, Keough School of Global Affairs, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Hillebrand Center for Compassionate Care in Medicine, Pulte Institute for Global Development, Office of the President
Watch the conversation
Previous Lectures
2024 | Bryan Stevenson
An Evening with Bryan Stevenson
2023 | Colson Whitehead
A Conversation with Colson Whitehead
2022 | Clint Smith
Race, Memory, and Public History
2021 | David Silberklang, Ph.D.
Responsible for Each Other: Mutual Assistance and Maintaining Human Dignity in the Holocaust
2020 | Sr. Norma Pimentel, M.J.
Justice at the Border: The Dignity of Human Life at the Core of our Faith
2019 | Rev. Maurice Henry Sands
Act Justly: Healing Racism through Faith
2018 | Cardinal Joseph Tobin, C.Ss.R.
Reawakening the American Heart
2017 | Scott Alexander, Ph.D. and Imam Hassan Al-Qazwini
The Challenge of Peace Pursued through Christian-Muslim Dialogue
2016 | Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, RN, MS
Catholic Health Care’s Role in Integral Human Development
2015 | Christiana Peppard, Ph.D
Integral Ecology: Pope Francis, Ethical Pluralism, and the Planet
2014 | Rev. Greg Boyle, SJ
Joy and Hope in the Hood
2013 | Clemens Sedmak, Ph.D.
The Deep Practice of Human Dignity
2012 | Sr. Joan Chittister, O.S.B.
An Uncommon Search for the Common Good
2011 | Sr. Helen Prejean, C.S.J.
Building Justice in the World: Confronting Evil