Presented by the Center for Catholic Studies, the 2023 Bellarmine Lecture, “Forging Hope, Reforging Democracy: A Contribution of Jesuit Universities to the Future,” will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Our world is in the midst of dramatic change, and young people are the ones who will have to bear the greatest burden. Faced with forces unleashed by new technologies and ecological disruption, many question prevailing ideas, social, political, and economic models, and wonder about the shape of the future.
Jesuit and Catholic universities have unique resources to offer to help meet these challenges. In his presentation of the 2023 Bellarmine Lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 15, Rev. Matthew Carnes, S.J., will discuss the intellectual and institutional possibilities for forging a new intergenerational and intercultural dialogue, and offer ways that our Jesuit schools can foster a sense of hope and contribute to more effective and inclusive democratic governance.
This in-person event at 7:30 p.m. in the Barone Campus Center’s Dogwood Room is free and open to the public, and will also be livestreamed for virtual attendance. Register for the livestream at fairfield.edu/cs.
Fr. Carnes is an associate professor in the Department of Government and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. His research examines the dynamics of labor, social welfare policy, economic inclusion, and democratic participation. A specialist on Latin America, he has conducted extensive field research in Argentina, Peru, Chile, and Bolivia, and he has worked on development projects in Honduras, Mexico, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Ecuador. He is the author of Continuity Despite Change: The Politics of Labor Regulation in Latin America (Stanford University Press, 2014), and numerous journal articles.
A distinguished educator, Fr. Carnes has received three of Georgetown University’s highest teaching awards, and in 2012, he was featured among the country's best in the Princeton Review's publication, 300 Best Professors.
Fr. Carnes served as the director of the Georgetown Center for Latin American Studies from 2016 to 2022. He has been a visiting fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame (Spring 2009) and a national fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University (Academic Year 2011-12). In academic year 2022-23, he is on research sabbatical, completing a project on the role of religious actors in the development and delivery of social welfare programs in Latin America. He is currently resides and writes at the University of Oxford.
Register for the 2023 Bellarmine Lecture livestream at fairfield.edu/cs, or join us in-person at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15, in the Barone Campus Center’s Dogwood Room, located at 1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield, CT 06824. For more information about Fairfield University's Center for Catholic Studies, please visit fairfield.edu/cs.