The theme for the 2021-2022 Notre Dame Forum will be “Care for Our Common Home: Just Transition to a Sustainable Future,” University President Fr. John Jenkins announced in an email Thursday.
Jenkins said the purpose of the annual forum, which started in 2005, is to bring in multiple perspectives to talk about a topic important to both the University and the world.
Jenkins noted this year’s theme was chosen due to changes in global climate that have led to wildfires, intensified storms and drought around the world. He also cited Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ 2015 Church encyclical, which identifies both the social and environmental crises the world faces as one complex crisis.
“As a University community whose work is the education of the next generation who will inherit these challenges, and as one with a Catholic mission calling us to seek justice and serve the common good around the globe, we turn to these urgent and complex questions,” Jenkins wrote.
Jenkins also invited members of the community to engage with the forum in some regard, whether it be attending an event or planning a related discussion.
“Our goal is to extend the dialogue into our classrooms, labs, studios, workplaces, dining halls, and residence halls and thus transform the Forum into a true campus-wide conversation,” he wrote.
