ACADEMICS | Two of the nation’s prominent Catholic university presidents will have a public conversation when LMU’s Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D., sits across from the University of Notre Dame’s Rev. John Jenkins, C.S.C. Their topic will be “Challenges and Opportunities for Catholic Universities.” The conversation highlights this year’s Bellarmine Forum, which has this fall included a debate, book panel discussion and a lecture.
“The Bellarmine Forum theme invites important conversations regarding the roles of Catholic universities within an increasingly pluralistic, divided, and morally complex world…”
Snyder and Jenkins will have a facilitated question-and-answer session at 4 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 24 in the McIntosh Center in University Hall. That evening at 7 p.m., Father Jenkins will deliver the Bellarmine Forum Lecture in Ahmanson Auditorium, on the theme of: “The Idea of the Catholic University in the 21st Century.”
“The Bellarmine Forum theme invites important conversations regarding the roles of Catholic universities within an increasingly pluralistic, divided, and morally complex world,” said Jonathan Rothschild, associate dean of BCLA and associate professor of theology. “The Oct. 24th events, involving Presidents Jenkins and Snyder, will invite students, staff, faculty and members of the community to reflect on the enduring legacy of the Catholic intellectual tradition and its impacts on Catholic education, and to discuss the various ways in which this legacy continues to be embraced, debated, and reframed in light of current contexts and challenges.”
The Bellarmine Forum is LMU’s annual celebration of the life of the mind, offered by the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts. It consists of interconnected undergraduate courses and events throughout the semester and year.
Already this semester, BCLA has presented a debate on “What Preserves Catholic Identity?” and a panel discussion on Shusaku Endo’s novel “Silence.” A public lecture by Kerry Cronin, associate director for Boston College’s Lonergan Institute and Philosophy Department Fellow for Center for Student Formation, addressed “Falling in Love: Dating and Discernment on Campus.”
In spring 2018, the Bellarmine Forum will continue with a reading group discussing “Catholic Universities, Justice, and Compassion,” an art exhibit in Hannon Library titled “Meeting Christ in Faith and Art,” and a visit to campus by Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez.
