Engaging with questions that matter

For more than two decades, the Notre Dame Forum has brought the University community together to consider topics of importance to Notre Dame, the nation, and the world.

During the 2025–26 academic year, the Forum explored “Cultivating Hope,” a theme rooted in the University’s Catholic and Holy Cross mission and the call from University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., for the Notre Dame community to be “seekers of truth, sustainers of hope, and builders of bridges.”

With support from members of Cavanaugh Council and President’s Circle, the Forum created opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and the wider Notre Dame family to consider what hope demands of us and where we can put it in practice. Throughout the year, conversations extended across faith and public life, leadership and global challenges, service, storytelling, and the arts, inviting the Notre Dame community to approach consequential issues through a shared spirit of hope, inquiry, and dialogue. 

“Notre Dame must continue to be a place where we encourage debate, transcend divisions, and model the respectful, rigorous discourse we hope to see,” Father Dowd said.

That conversation continues this academic year with a new Forum theme: “What Does It Mean to Live a Good Life?”

Drawing on perspectives from philosophy, theology, the arts, science, and beyond, the 2026–27 Forum invites the Notre Dame community to consider that enduring question amid rapid social, political, economic, and technological change—and, in doing so, deepen its understanding of our shared humanity and capacity to be a force for good in the world.

Through their annual support, Cavanaugh Council and President’s Circle members help Notre Dame foster conversations like these, bringing its mission to bear on the issues of our time and inviting the University community to explore and learn together.