The Rome Summer Seminars on Religion and Global Politics is a two-week program for graduate students, scholars, and practitioners working at the crossroads of religion and global politics and is designed to draw on the unique religious and geopolitical resources of the city of Rome. The Ansari Instite for Global Engagement with Religion is one of the seminars' supporting institutions and Mahan Mirza…

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The Ansari Institute was pleased to host Sir Jeffrey Abood for the first of two lectures planned at the University of Notre Dame in honor of Fr. Drew Christiansen, SJ. Abood’s talk entitled “The Church in the Holy Land and the Quest for Human Dignity” focused on the Catholic Church’s presence in the Holy Land and the living conditions of the Catholic people, sometimes referred to as the “living stones” of the Church.

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The Ansari Institute grieves the loss of innocent life in Israel and Gaza. We invite our audience to read statements issued by the University of Notre Dame’s leadership and by prominent peacebuilding, human rights, and academic institutions. Click on the links below to view the complete statements. Father John I. Jenkins…

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The Fr. Sorin Reading room buzzed with energy. Directors, sponsors, Notre Dame students, staff, and colleagues gathered with excitement and the spirit of friendship. By 5:30 p.m., over 50 guests eagerly awaited the start to Kaitlyn B. Curtice’s book session, “Living Resistance: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day”.…

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Rome Picture 3 Last week, Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs hosted a panel discussion: Can Interreligious Engagement Be a Realistic Tool for Diplomacy and Peacemaking…

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Womens Interfaith Dialogue Small Twenty years later, no one can quite remember who was in the group. They know that the original gatherings had six Christian women and six Muslim women but as to who those individuals were, they just cannot recall. Longtime Women’s Interfaith Dialogue member Jane Pitz does know that her friend Reg Weissert initiated the gatherings.…

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By far my favorite part of the Parliament of the World’s Religions was the langar I was able to attend on three occasions during my time there. This year the Parliament was held in Chicago during a week that felt more like October than August. The weather was temperamental and often quite wet which means the success of the langar was all the more impressive.…

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It is fairly easy to get lost at McCormick Place. After all, the convention center - located on the south loop of Chicago, IL - is the largest in the United States. Meanderingly large, cavernous in design, and inclusive of at least four separate buildings all connected via skyway, the enormity of McCormick’s Place seemed fitting for the Parliament of the World’s Religions…

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Local faith leaders in South Bend, IN celebrated the dirtless groundbreaking of a new mental health facility in the community on Tuesday. This new 24 hour behavioral health center is the answer to a pressing need that members of the community have been identifying for years. …

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How can engagement with religious norms help - rather than hinder - engagement with public health directives meant to promote the common good and health across all communities? This is the question at the heart of Dr. Mahan Mirza’s recent article in the journal Religions. As the Covid-19 pandemic illustrated, individual religious beliefs and cultural norms can be at odds with best practices in public health. Along with assertions of religious freedom and a rise in suspicion of corporate scientific institutions, a firestorm of vaccine resistance resulted and may have threatened or delayed positive public health outcomes.…

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Interfaith Earth day: a collection of students, faculty, and staff plant flowers in pots outside of Duncan Hall Earth Day was an interfaith day of celebration and activity this year at the University of Notre Dame. The Interfaith Notre Dame Initiative (INDI), sponsored by the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion in partnership with the Building Interfaith Leadership Initiative…

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The Ansari Institute is pleased to be attending and serving as a sponsor of the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions. The Parliament, which traces its roots back over a century ago to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, was originally envisioned as a way to engage with religions “of the east and the west.”…

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