On Nov. 18 and 19, 2010, dozens of scholars, religious leaders, business people, and friends and alumni of Notre Dame gathered in New York for the inauguration of Contending Modernities: Catholic, Muslim, Secular. On Nov. 18, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of Notre Dame, introduced the keynote speakers: Shaykh Ali Gomaa, Grand Mufti of Egypt; Jane Dammen McAuliffe, president of Bryn Mawr College and past president of the American Academy of Religion; and John T. McGreevy, professor of history and dean of Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters. The remarks of Shaykh Ali Gomaa and Jane Dammen McAuliffe are posted below; John McGreevy’s remarks are posted above.
On Nov. 19, a panel discussion entitled “Women, Family, and Society in Islam and Catholicism” featured Ingrid Mattson, past president of the Islamic Society of North America; M. Cathleen Kaveny, professor of law and professor of theology at Notre Dame; Shahla Haeri, associate professor of cultural anthropology and director of women’s studies at Boston University; and Jacqueline Moturi Ogega, director of the Women’s Mobilization Program at Religions for Peace. Their remarks will also soon appear on the Contending Modernities Blog. Jessica Polebaum of the Social Science Research Council offers some highlights of the discussion on The Immanent Frame, the SSRC’s blog on secularism, religion, and the public sphere.
