From Motto to Mission to Manifestation
The 2012 Caritas Veritas Symposium, “From Motto to Mission to Manifestation: Dominicans as Citizens of the World,” will build upon the success of and foundation laid by the 2010 and 2011 Caritas Veritas Symposia, which focused on our pursuit of truth and its relationship to love, and how truth and love lead to action.

In the keynote address of the 2011 symposium Claire Noonan reminded us that Dominicans are “a group of people who choose to make the whole world their family.”

The 2012 Symposium will explore ways in which we strive to manifest our Dominican mission by building relationships across differences and physical and cultural borders to create communities of compassion and justice.

Dominican University invites the entire Dominican community—faculty, staff, students, trustees and alumnae/i—to ponder and explore one or more of the following questions:
  1. Why do we aspire to be “citizens of the world,” in terms of our own deepest motivations and in response to the summons of our Catholic Dominican traditions and mission? How might the four pillars of Dominican spirituality- prayer, study, community, service-inform our aspirations to be “citizens of the world”?
  2. How do we understand ourselves to in relation to others, as individuals, as persons of faith and as members of community? What kinds of attitudes, knowledge and skills are needed to be “citizens of the world”?
  3. What are some of the ways in which we seek to embrace globally responsible attitudes, develop a critical understanding of global interconnectedness, and act ethically for the common good? Where has Dominican taken action to create “a more just, humane and sustainable world.”
We invite the Dominican University community to respond to these questions across disciplines and departments and to create a dialogue that engages and expands multiple perspectives. We especially encourage students to submit proposals for presentations at the 2012 Caritas Veritas Symposium. Proposals should be approximately 150 words. In addition to your proposal, please include a two sentence description of your topic for publication in the symposium program.

Proposals for formal papers, panel presentations, round-table discussions, workshops, and original creative work, particularly in the visual, performing and other arts, are all encouraged. In order to design a balanced symposium accommodating as many of the best proposals as possible, the planning committee may ask some individuals to adapt their preferred presentation format to fit the shape of the program as a whole. Flexibility and a collaborative spirit will be valued.

Please submit proposals to cnoonan@dom.edu by May 18, 2012. Questions may be directed to S. Diane Kennedy, OP, Vice President for Mission and Ministry, dkennedy@dom.edu or 708-524-6860; or Claire Noonan, Director of Siena Center, cnoonan@dom.edu or 708-714-9107. Notification of acceptance will be sent by June 1, 2012.