The Way Forward Conference
After hosting the inaugural gathering in 2022, the Hank Center has been pleased to be involved in the Way Forward Conference, an initiative that resonates with our mission of fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and exploring the Catholic intellectual heritage in light of emerging needs and opportunities.
The Way Forward 2024
Laudato Si': Protecting Our Common Home, Building Our Common Church
The University of San Diego
February 22–23, 2024
The title for this third annual ecclesial gathering was Laudato Si’: Protecting Our Common Home, Building Our Common Church, and was held at the University of San Diego on February 21 - 23, 2024. This year’s event, which brought together a select group of Cardinals, other Bishops, scholars, and journalists, focused on the encyclical, Laudato Si’, the recent exhortation Laudete Deum, and the reception of their themes in the Catholic Church in the U.S.
The gathering was organized by the Hank Center, Boston College’s Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture, and the Center for Catholic Studies at Sacred Heart University. It was hosted on the USD campus by the Frances G. Harpst Center for Catholic Thought and Culture.
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Past Conferences
Pope Francis, Vatican II, and the Way Forward
March 25–26, 2022
Hosted by the Hank Center.
Over two days, a diverse group of conference attendees were provided a forum where bishops, academics, journalists, and others could speak frankly to each other about important issues affecting the Church today—all of us working and praying together to carry forward the synodal vision of the Second Vatican Council in the pontificate of Pope Francis, and beyond. We were grateful for our time and conversations together, and grateful to our speakers for providing compelling insights and setting the stage for needed dialogue.
The meeting was characterized at once as a living expression of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, a practicum in Catholic Social Teaching, and an example of the kind synodality to which the Holy Spirit calls us today. With the strong support of our respective Jesuit institutions, it was a privilege to organize this meeting, the fruits of which might be described in this shorthand: "unity in essentials, diversity in non-essentials, charity in all things."
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Pope Francis, Vatican II, and Synodality
March 3–4, 2023
Hosted by Boston College’s Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life.
The 2023 iteration of the Way Forward conference, titled "The Way Forward: Pope Francis, Vatican II, and Synodality," saw 80 participants engage in interdisciplinary discussion of Pope Francis' call for synodality as a continuation of the trajectory of the Second Vatican Council. Among the participants were cardinals, bishops, and other Catholic Church leaders, as well as theologians, historians, and journalists.
The event—co-sponsored by the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage at Loyola University Chicago and the Fordham University Center on Religion and Culture—was a follow-up to the inaugural “Way Forward” conference in 2022, hosted by the Hank Center.
View more event information and media here.
