Living the Mission

Laudato Si’: A Fordham Green Plan

Pope Francis issued a new imperative to our world to act courageously in addressing climate change. This bold and visionary approach asks all Catholic institutions to holistically transform over the next seven years to stave off catastrophic global warming.

Learn More View Our Action Platform

Change yourself. Then tackle the world.

Who we are determines what we do. We seek knowledge and engage with society. We strive to find God in all things. We are committed to the spirit of inquiry and curiosity even when—especially when—we don’t know where the answers will take us.

A Jesuit education means living a life beyond self, helping to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, heal the sick. Service is a critical part of who we are - so much so that it’s built into our curricula.

Nurturing the Jesuit, Catholic approach to education is the work of our division. We help everyone at Fordham grow spiritually through reflection, dialogue, and service. 

At Fordham, service forges the person you become. We hear it all the time from our alumni and current students: Fordham gives them the tools to not only make a positive change in themselves, but also a positive change in the world.

 

Looking for information on Urban Plunge? Head to the Center for Community Engaged Learning's webpage to learn more!

Urban Plunge Students - LG

Campus Ministry Center for Community Engaged Learning Center on Religion and Culture

What Does Living the Mission Mean to You?

Fordham students talk about what Living the Mission means to them.

Living the Mission News Articles

Theologian Proposes Reimagining Our Place in the Natural World

Theologian Proposes Reimagining Our Place in the Natural World

In a wide-ranging lecture on March 21, Elizabeth Johnson, C.S.J., made a case for rethinking humankind’s relationship with the natural world. “We need to change from thinking that we are masters of the universe to realizing that we are siblings, or kin, with all other beings in the community of creation, loved by God,” she [...]

Read The Full Story

Fordham Experts Weigh in on Pope Francis’ First Decade

Fordham Experts Weigh in on Pope Francis’ First Decade

Ten years ago on March 13, following the shocking resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, the world got another surprise: the elevation of a Jesuit, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., of Argentina, to the role of pontiff. Taking the name Francis, he became the first pope to be a member of the Society of Jesus, the first [...]

Read The Full Story

Undocumented High Schoolers Intern at Fordham through Beyond Rising Program

Undocumented High Schoolers Intern at Fordham through Beyond Rising Program

This summer, Fordham’s Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL) will help reprise and expand the youth program Beyond Rising, which it runs with Oyate Group, a community partner. The program offers paid internships to undocumented immigrant high school students who live in the community around the university. The program is designed to fill in a [...]

Read The Full Story

Center for Jewish Studies Launches Bronx Jewish History Project

Center for Jewish Studies Launches Bronx Jewish History Project

In the first half of the 20th century, the Bronx was home to hundreds of thousands of Jewish residents, many of whom had immigrated with their families in the late 1800s and early 1900s from Europe. More than 600,000 Jewish people lived in the borough in the late 1940s, but by 2003, just about 45,000 [...]

Read The Full Story

Curran Center Lecture Explores Thomas Merton’s Affair–and His ‘Complex’ Humanity

Curran Center Lecture Explores Thomas Merton’s Affair–and His ‘Complex’ Humanity

Thomas Merton’s humanity, humility, and complexity are part of what drew Gregory Hillis to him in the first place. So it’s fitting that Hills, a professor of theology and religious studies at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, would want to explore a particularly complex part of Merton’s life: his affair with a nurse. Merton, an [...]

Read The Full Story

Living the Ignatian Mission at Fordham, One Program at a Time

Living the Ignatian Mission at Fordham, One Program at a Time

In more than 20 years at Fordham, Robert Parmach, Ph.D., has worked to incorporate Jesuit values, teachings, and practices in all of his roles, which have included first-year class dean, professor, leader of the Manresa program, and GO! leader. In his new role as the inaugural director of Ignatian mission initiatives in the office of [...]

Read The Full Story

Fordham President Tania Tetlow’s Inaugural Address | Edwards Parade, Rose Hill Campus | October 14, 2022

Fordham President Tania Tetlow’s Inaugural Address | Edwards Parade, Rose Hill Campus | October 14, 2022

What an overwhelming moment. I am honored beyond measure to be entrusted by the Board of Trustees, and all of you, to be here today—the chance to build on the extraordinary work of my 32 predecessors, especially Fr. Joe McShane. Believe it or not, Fordham has only held two other inauguration ceremonies in almost 200 [...]

Read The Full Story

Theology Professor Works with Vatican on Global Project

Theology Professor Works with Vatican on Global Project

Bradford Hinze, Ph.D., the Karl Rahner, S.J. Professor of Theology, is working with the Vatican to give voice to those who have been historically marginalized and to help the Catholic Church re-examine its goals. This year, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development—an office that promotes human development, particularly for migrants and refugees—launched a [...]

Read The Full Story

Scholar to Examine Religious Connections to Ukraine War

Scholar to Examine Religious Connections to Ukraine War

The Russian invasion of Ukraine captured the biggest spotlight on the world stage in February, and eight months later, the war it ignited continues to rage on. But there’s more to the war than just missiles and economic sanctions, said Elizabeth Prodromou, Ph.D, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center. To fully [...]

Read The Full Story

Curran Center Award Winner Explores Healing Power of Voice

Curran Center Award Winner Explores Healing Power of Voice

There is healing power in using your voice. That was one of the lessons of “A Theology of Voice: VOCAL and the Catholic Clergy Abuse Survivor Movement,” an article by Brian Clites, Ph.D., chosen by Fordham’s Curran Center for American Catholic Studies in May as the winner of its third annual New Scholars essay contest. [...]

Read The Full Story

Mass of the Holy Spirit: ‘Bigger Than This Moment’

Mass of the Holy Spirit: ‘Bigger Than This Moment’

The Fordham community gathered on Sept. 11 to kick off the academic year at the annual Mass of the Holy Spirit on the Rose Hill campus.  President Tania Tetlow asked those in attendance at the University Church to think about the meaning of the ceremony, both current and historic. “This is bigger than this particular [...]

Read The Full Story