Part of the 2025–26 Notre Dame Forum series Cultivating Hope, this symposium honors the life and work of Rev. Gustavo Gutiérrez, O.P. (1928–2024), a pioneer of the theology of liberation who taught at the University of Notre Dame from 2001 to 2018. It also marks the joint opening of the new Gustavo Gutiérrez Merino, O.P. Collection, a 50-year digital archive of Gutiérrez’s theological conferences, at the Hesburgh Libraries of Notre Dame, the Instituto Bartolomé de las Casas, and the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

This gathering also celebrates the posthumous publication of Father Gutiérrez’s Vivir y pensar el Dios de los pobres and the Cushwa Center’s launch of its Gustavo Gutiérrez Research Awards.

Schedule

1:00 – 2:30 p.m.   “Más que la palabra escrita”: A Half-Century Audio Archive of Gustavo Gutiérrez Doing Theology

Friends, colleagues, and collaborators of Father Gutiérrez reflect on his legacy and introduce digital materials newly available to researchers at the University of Notre Dame Archives at Hesburgh Libraries, thanks to a partnership with the Instituto Bartolomé de las Casas and the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. The digital archives provide access to a half-century of little-known theological conferences given by Gutiérrez in Perú from 1971 to 2020.

2:30 – 3:00 p.m.  Coffee Break

3:00 – 4:00 p.m.  Book Discussion: Vivir y pensar el Dios de los pobres

Leo Guardado and David Lantigua discuss Father Gutiérrez’s posthumous book, Vivir y pensar el Dios de los pobres (Centro de Estudios y Publicaciones, 2025), edited by Guardado with a preface by Pope Francis. The conversation with the book’s editor considers the contemporary legacy of Gutiérrez’s way of doing theology from a world of poverty after Pope Francis.

A light reception and book sale will follow the book discussion in the Mahaffey Family Scholars Lounge (1st Floor).

This symposium is free and open to all. Registration is requested but not required.

Speakers

Carmen Lora de Ames
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú

Rev. Dan Groody, C.S.C.
University of Notre Dame

Leo Guardado
Fordham University

Mary Catherine Hilkert, O.P.
University of Notre Dame

Erika Hosselkus
University of Notre Dame

David Lantigua
University of Notre Dame

Timothy Matovina
University of Notre Dame

Juan Miguel Espinoza Portocarrero
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú