‘Show kindness and compassion’: In Fr. TED Talks, Notre Dame community explores what we owe each other

Published:November 05, 2024

Author: Carrie Gates

University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., speaks at the Fr. TED Talks event on Oct. 29. (Photo by Matt Cashore / University of Notre Dame)

Last Monday and Tuesday evenings (Oct. 28 and 29), hundreds gathered under a tent on the Library Lawn to attend a Notre Dame Forum event titled "Fr. TED Talks: Ideas from the Catholic Social Tradition That We Find Inspiring."

The event featured a series of eight speakers from the Notre Dame community, culminating in a talk by University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C. Each explored the question at the heart of the 2024-25 Notre Dame Forum: "What Do We Owe Each Other?"

The two-night festival, co-sponsored by the Office of the President in partnership with the Notre Dame Ethics Initiative and the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good, was named in honor of legendary University of Notre Dame President Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. The idea for the talks originated with the institute's undergraduate core team.

"Father Bob has asked us to spend this year thinking as a campus community about what we owe each other - a question that is at the very heart of the Catholic social tradition," said Meghan Sullivan, the Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy and director of the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good and the Notre Dame Ethics Initiative, who introduced the event.

"While many of the Forum events feature speakers from outside of our community, with this event, we want to shine the spotlight on all of the incredible insights we have right here within our Notre Dame family. So tonight, all of you, our whole community, you are the stars of the Forum. Fr. TED Talks are a chance for us to ask the question of what we owe each other a little bit more personally and a little bit more face to face."

The event was emceed by Iliana Contreras, the young alumni/student program director in Notre Dame's Alumni Association. Each night included four 10-minute talks touching on common themes and values including dignity, responsibility, community, solidarity, home, family and love.

Featured speakers included Notre Dame alumni Nathaniel "Nano" Burke, who spoke about an 80-day, coast-to-coast bicycle trip he took with a friend and the "radical generosity" they received from strangers along the way; Alex Sejdinaj, whose encounter with a Notre Dame adviser encouraged her to pursue her passions and ultimately led her to found South Bend Code School - an organization dedicated to making technology education accessible to learners of all ages; and Dr. Jim O'Connell, president of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program.

O'Connell spoke about his work with the homeless population, particularly one man named Michael, whom he had helped to care for for decades. "I think we owe each other to stick with each other," O'Connell said. "It's walking with people through the thick and the thin, the bad and the good, but being there with them.

"We used to think it was the outcomes we were looking for, and we stopped thinking like that. We're in it to take care of people and take care of each other - no matter what happens - because standing with each other is what it's all about."

Three Notre Dame undergraduate students also shared insights related to their research and personal experiences. Toni Akintola, a junior majoring in computer science and economics, focused on using technology to transform the world and uplift the vulnerable. Artificial intelligence, in particular, he said, has the potential to eradicate institutional instabilities, raise the standard of health care and end educational inequity globally. Junior Meera Bhakta, a science preprofessional studies major, shared her experience conducting research in Ethiopia on the decision-making factors behind women seeking treatment for breast cancer and how it helped her to understand that "being fully known and truly loved is a fundamental human need." Monica Caponigro, a senior majoring in film, television and theater, explored how an improvisational theater technique called "yes, and" can be used to demonstrate the power of active listening to cultivate deeper relationships.

And Cecilia Lucero, director of the Balfour-Hesburgh Scholars program and an advising professor, centered her talk on the healing power of storytelling. She spoke of seeing firsthand the power of sharing one's experiences - through an oral history project she encountered while volunteering, where refugees were able to process trauma by sharing their stories, and through the annual student-produced "Show Some Skin" monologues at Notre Dame, for which she is a faculty adviser.

Father Dowd concluded the event by reflecting on two interrelated crises the world faces today - a crisis of civility and a crisis of sustainability - and proposing action steps to address both issues. He encouraged the audience to take four key actions: to develop a greater awareness of the problems, to take time to reflect and be in touch with the spiritual, to align actions with intentions and to promote change in positive ways.

In his talk, Father Dowd cited two of his personal heroes, Gandhi and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., noting that both helped to create a more civil, humane and just society.

"So how do we do this? Show kindness and compassion, making sure that we're not engaged in self-righteous behavior that demonizes others," Father Dowd said. "Collaborate. Be willing to work together and even find common cause with those with whom you don't agree. Take the long view. Don't be hoodwinked by short-term objectives.

"Notre Dame is a place where we hope that all of our research and all the teaching and learning that goes on here makes the world more humane and just, more civil and sustainable. Notre Dame is a place where we believe that spirituality is important, and hopefully, everyone here at Notre Dame feels an invitation to get in touch with the spiritual - that deepest part of ourselves that calls us to turn outward in service of others."

A reception on the lawn followed the talks on both evenings, with performances by student bands Block 250 on Monday and the Mourning Doves on Tuesday.

Recordings of the talks are available at forum.nd.edu.

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