Bannan Forum
The Bannan Forum of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education collaboratively leads faculty, staff, administrators, and students in advancing the Jesuit, Catholic vocation of Santa Clara University as a transformative social force, building a more humane, just, and sustainable world.
Focused on (though not limited to) the intersection of faith, culture, and questions of justice and reconciliation, Bannan Forum programming promotes and makes accessible the comprehensive humanism of the Jesuit intellectual heritage, bringing it to bear on contemporary global realities. Through public events, print publications, and digital offerings, the Forum brings the Santa Clara University community and the larger public in Silicon Valley and beyond into conversations emerging from SCU’s distinctive character and mission.
History
The Bannan Family's affiliation with SCU is something near and dear to the heart of the Ignatian Center, which was originally named the Bannan Foundation for Christian Values in 1982. We continue to honor this SCU family legacy through our Bannan Forum programming.
The Bannan Forum seeks to cultivate the University’s moral and spiritual, as well as intellectual and aesthetic values. This involves seeking answers for not only ‘what is’ but ‘what ought to be,’ and it means encouraging the search for a faith that promotes justice.
The Bannan family tree roots stretch deep into Santa Clara University history. Nearly 200 Bannans have come here in the past 100 years, since Tom Bannan ’23—that’s 1923—went against his father’s wishes to attend the University of California at Berkeley and enrolled at Santa Clara instead.
Media & Publications
Exploring the Integration of Faith, Justice, and the Intellectual Life in Jesuit, Catholic Higher Education
The authors in the Winter 2023 issue of the Explore Journal are working toward their own understanding of how we might put theory into action to consider the tension between ideas and practice.
Bringing Thought Leaders to Santa Clara University
The Bannan Forum's extensive video library features lectures from thought leaders like Cornel West, Ingrid Matson, and Terry Eagleton. Check out our channel to see more.
Bringing the long tradition of Bannan programs, speakers and events to life
The topic of these lectures spans academic, public, and pastoral offerings around issues of contemporary religious, cultural, and theological debate.
Is There a Common Good in Our Common Home?
The Bannan Forum podcast, INTEGRAL, explored the question "is there a common good in our common home?" as it relates to issues of Racial Justice, Economic Justice, Gender Justice and Environmental Justice.
Involvement Resources
Last Spring, the Ignatian Center co-hosted a workshop for ministers, staff, and administrators in Catholic parishes and diocese led by Julie Hanlon Rubio (JST) and Paul J. Schutz (SCU), which presented new research on factors contributing to clergy sexual abuse and assess their implications for Catholic institutions.
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