Signs of Hope: Finding Jubilee in a Fractured World

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PLEASE NOTE: All sessions will be livestreamed *except* the student poster presentation at 1:30pm Thursday.

ALSO, for those watching the livestream from OTHER TIME ZONES:
The schedule follows local Chicago time, which is Central Daylight Time (CDT) and corresponds to UTC-5, Coordinated Universal Time.
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In his recent ("Hope does not disappoint," Romans 5:5), Pope Francis declares hope the central message of the 2025 Jubilee year. In this conference, we will look for signs of hope amid mounting global challenges that drive many to anxiety, cynicism, and despair. Coming from a variety of disciplines, our speakers will discuss the following topics:

• Theologies, spiritualities, and practices of hope, from large-scale projects to everyday exemplars
• Structural barriers to hope
• How hope differs from optimism
• The interplay between hope and patience
• How those on the margins manage to practice hope even in the most hopeless of circumstances
  

"" is the 16th annual World Catholicism Week conference organized by DePaul University's Center for World Catholicism & Intercultural Theology (CWCIT), and we're very grateful to our cosponsors this year here at DePaul:

• Department of Catholic Studies

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Sculpture pictured in cover photo: Breathe (2018) by Billie Bond (www.BillieBondArt.com)

Ms. Bond's sculpture was inspired by the ancient Japanese art of kintsugi. This technique for repairing broken pottery with gold offers a rich metaphor for hope in a fractured world.

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• KEYNOTE: Dylan Corbett (Hope Border Institute—El Paso, TX, USA)
• David Buckley (University of Louisville—Louisville, KY, USA)
• Min-Ah Cho (Georgetown University—Washington, DC, USA)
• Debra Dean Murphy (West Virginia Wesleyan College—Buckhannon, WV, USA)
• Yara González-Justiniano (Vanderbilt Divinity School—Nashville, TN, USA)
• Emmanuel Katongole (University of Notre Dame—Notre Dame, IN, USA | Bethany Land Institute—Bombo, Uganda)
• Léonard Katchekpele (Diocese of Speyer—Speyer, Germany | Catholic University of West Africa—Lomé, Togo)
• Cesar Kuzma (Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná—Curitiba, Brazil)
• Mwila Mulumbi (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development—London)
• Vien V. Nguyen, SCJ (U.S. Province, Priests of the Sacred Heart—Hales Corners, WI, USA)
• Elizabeth O'Donnell Gandolfo (Wake Forest University School of Divinity—Winston-Salem, NC, USA)
• Atalia Omer (University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs—Notre Dame, IN, USA)
• Antonio D. Sison, CPPS (Catholic Theological Union—Chicago, IL, USA)
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How can I contact the organizer with questions?
You can reach CWCIT's staff at [email protected].

Will the conference sessions also be recorded?
Yes! They will be edited and posted on our CWCIT website and YouTube channel within a couple of weeks following the conference.

Can I update/change my registration information?
Yes—to review or change any of your registration info, please simply follow the instructions given here.

What if something comes up and I'm not able to attend?
You can cancel your free registration by following the instructions given here.

Whom should I contact if I have questions about disability accommodations?
If you have a disability that may require reasonable accommodations in order to facilitate your participation in this or other CWCIT events, please contact us at [email protected] to further discuss accommodation options.

Info: This interactive session features undergraduates from DePaul's Catholic Studies courses who are presenting their research on the conference topic; their research was chosen by their professors as among the top in their courses. Three of our conference speakers will serve as respondents, offering their feedback and comments following the presentations. (Please stay tuned for the list of respondents and our student presenters!)

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

DePaul Student Center, 2250 N. Sheffield Ave., Chicago, United States