Dear Cavanaugh Council and President’s Circle Members,

I am pleased to share with you this year’s Impact Report, highlighting some of the many ways you make it possible for Notre Dame to be a force for good for a world deeply in need.

As this report reflects, it is through your partnership that we are able to advance pathbreaking research and scholarship to address some of humanity’s most pressing challenges, and to continue to offer an unsurpassed undergraduate education, preparing future leaders with both the knowledge and the moral framework they will need. You make it possible for us to build bridges across campus, in our local community, and around the world. In all that we do, we are guided by our mission as the leading global Catholic research university. 

I chose “Cultivating Hope” as the theme of this year’s Notre Dame Forum, drawing both on the theme chosen by Pope Francis for this Jubilee Year, and the motto of the Congregation of Holy Cross—“the Cross, our only Hope." Amid the conflict, violence, and division we see in the world, it has never been more important for Notre Dame to be an agent of hope and to do all that we can to help build a more compassionate, just, and peaceful society. 

Thank you for the many ways you each serve as agents of hope, and for the trust you have placed in me as Notre Dame’s president. You and your loved ones are always in my prayers.

Sincerely Yours in Notre Dame,