Warm afternoon sunlight magnified the row of stained-glass windows high above the congregation gathered inside Founders Chapel for the opening Mass of the Lighting the Way Forward Conference. The assembly included members of the University of San Diego community and guests — from across the country and around the world — all of whom had come together to discuss the future of Catholic higher education.
The Eucharistic Liturgy of the novel conference carried a distinguished air as both a warm welcome to guests visiting USD’s Alcalá Park and the official beginning of the university’s 75th anniversary — appropriately themed “Lighting the Way Forward.”
“It is timely for us to gather at this moment to rethink, reimagine and rearticulate our deepest purposes and our highest aspirations,” USD President James T. Harris III, DEd, said during his welcome speech. “I sincerely hope this conference will provide an opportunity to draw wisdom from the incredibly rich history of Catholic higher education and chart a course forward to navigate a more inclusive, sustainable and hopeful future.”
Roughly 250 individuals representing more than 40 Catholic colleges and universities and numerous K-12 school districts participated in the conference, held to explore what it means to be a Catholic university at a time in history riddled with urgent global challenges, including climate change, structural racism, lack of trust in institutions, polarizing political discourse, breakdown of communities and more.
Cardinal Robert W. McElroy provided the keynote plenary session on Care for Our Common Home. After his talk, McElroy, the bishop of the San Diego Diocese, was named a Laudato Si’ Fellow for his efforts promoting Care for Our Common Home, one of the university’s Envisioning 2024 pathways that embodies Pope Francis’ urgent call of Laudato Si’.
In his 2015 papal encyclical, the pope called for urgent action to support the poor and the vulnerable who are disproportionately impacted by global environmental problems such as climate change, pollution, access to clean water and loss of biodiversity. Care for Our Common Home is one of USD’s six core values.
Other plenary topics at the conference included: Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging; Pope Francis’ Pontificate and Catholic Colleges and Universities; the Liberal Arts; and the Emerging Needs, Challenges and Opportunities of Generation Z.
The genesis of the conference emerged during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Fall 2020. USD Vice President of Mission Integration Michael Lovette-Colyer, PhD, began working with others in Mission Integration to determine what a post-pandemic world would look like in Catholic higher education.
Pope Francis published an opinion piece in The New York Times on Nov. 26, 2020, titled “A Crisis Reveals What Is in Our Hearts.” In the article — which was subsequently turned into the bestselling book Let Us Dream — the pope makes the argument that society will emerge from any crisis either better or worse, but never the same.
“What will make the difference, he says, is if we take the time to honestly reflect on what happened and then to dream together of a better future,” explained Lovette-Colyer. “We were really struck by that.” The Office for Mission began to have conversations, both internally and with colleagues around the country, and there was a strong desire to put together this unique gathering.
Ultimately, the conference exceeded expectations, Lovette-Colyer said, both in terms of the attendance and the quality of presentations.
“The energy that came from gathering people from different institutions was really exciting. We can sometimes get caught up in our own narrow focus, but to realize that we are all a part of something much larger elicits a great deal of hope and joy.”
The Lighting the Way Forward Conference was a reaffirmation of USD’s unique identity and an important milestone in the university’s diamond jubilee.
“In the moment, I profoundly appreciated how appropriate it was that we were beginning the conference in Founders Chapel inside Founders Hall, one of the very first buildings constructed at USD,” said Lovette-Colyer. “It was the perfect way to mark this transition from our first 75 years to the next 75. The dream of Bishop Buddy and Mother Hill has come true in so many ways and required an incredible amount of faith and grace. For us to be in the Chapel to remember the faith of our founders and all those who got us here was incredibly touching as we think about what is ahead of us.”
— Story and photos by Matthew Piechalak, Assistant Director of Digital Communications at the University of San Diego
