GCC Conference • May 31 – June 4 • Loyola University, Chicago

CONFERENCE REPORT

The 2009 Chicago conference on Globalization for the Common Good (May 31-June 4) was a great success. Over 250 participants and 99 presenters brought their enthusiasm and expertise from six continents in response to the conference theme, “Globalization: the Challenge to America”. The conference was hosted by Loyola University, Chicago, at its beautiful Lake Shore Campus.

Four Co-Convening organizations made the gathering possible:

• The Interreligious Engagement Project (IEP21: www.iep21.org/),
• The Center for Ethics at Loyola University (www.luc.edu/ethics)
• The Center for Global Studies at Purdue University Calumet (http://blogs.calumet.purdue.edu/cgs/), and
• Globalisation for the Common Good (UK) (http://www.globalisationforthecommongood.info/).

The four Chairs of the event were Jim Kenney (IEP21 and Common Ground), William French (Center for Ethics), Yahya Kamalipour (Center for Global Studies and Journal of Globalization for the Common Good), and Kamran Mofid (founder, Globalisation for the Common Good).

Several Co-Sponsors helped to make the conference a success:

• The International Interreligious Peace Council (www.peacecouncil.org)
• Common Ground: A Study Center (Deerfield, IL) (www.cg.org)
• Hands of Peace (www.hands-of-peace.org)
• World Council of Muslims for Interfaith Relations (www.wcmir.org)
• Interreligious Insight: a Journal of Dialogue and Engagement (www.interreligiousinsight.org)
• Niagara Foundation (www.niagarafoundation.org)
• Lake Forest College Interfaith Center (www.lakeforest.edu/life/orgs/interfaith/default.asp)

The majority of conference presentations took place in plenary sessions held in Loyola’s striking stained-glassed Mundelein Auditorium. Two periods were set aside to accommodate 20 different break-out programs on a wide range of topics including regional perspectives on globalization (Africa and Latin America), the experiences of a new generation of  young “global citizens”, approaches to a new economics, globalization and human rights, the “global commons” and interfaith insights into the realities  of globalization.

Thirteen plenary sessions addressed the key dimensions of the conference. They included:

• Conference Opening: Francis Cardinal George, Rev. Michael Garanzini (President, Loyola University), Howard Cohen (Chancellor, Purdue University Calumet), William French, Conference Co-Chair, Kamran Mofid (GCG founder)
• Welcome Addresses: “Setting the Conference Themes”
• Global Business Roundtable: “Creating the Virtuous Economy”
• Global Citizenship: “Preparing the Next Generation for a Globalized World”
• Reclaiming Our Global Commons: “Beyond the Public and Private Sectors”
• The International Interreligious Peace Council: “Religion and Globalization”
• Global Media Roundtable: “In Search of Balanced Representation and Globalization for the Common Good”
• Youth Roundtable: “Youth, Globalization, and Our Planetary Future”
• Global Peacemaking Roundtable: “American and the World – Peace and Multipolarity”
• The Peace Council: “What America Needs to Hear from Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism”
• Summary Plenary #1: “Globalization and a New Economics”
• Summary Plenary #2: “Ecology, Climate, Sustainability, and Globalization”
• Conference Closing: Final Addresses, the 2009 Conference Declaration; announcement of the 2010 Conference (California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, CA • June 6-10).

In addition to the Plenary Sessions, two evenings, open to the public, were devoted to Major Addresses on aspects of the conference theme. (See the Conference Schedule for details.)

Many conference attendees elected to take part in an afternoon architectural cruise along the Chicago River through the center of the city. This chilly but spectacular tour was followed by a wonderful Persian dinner at Reza’s Restaurant, a Chicago landmark.

A Gala Dinner on the last full day of the conference was marked by a slide presentation on One Child’s Village, an extraordinary outreach to AIDS orphans in Kenya. Created by conference regular Todd Lorentz, the project grew out of our 2005 gathering in Kericho, Kenya.

Participants agreed that the conference program achieved a new breadth and depth. One way to capture something of its richness is offered by philosopher Ken Wilber’s “Four Quadrants” approach to human inquiry. He argues that there are four essential modes of human knowing, four windows on reality. Each provides a unique perspective. Together, they offer a map of “integral knowing”. The most important questions should always be addressed from as many as possible of these epistemological vantage points. Conference participants will agree that the 2009 GCG Chicago program brought the four quadrants together in a remarkable way. The spiritual, cultural, scientific, and social scientific dimensions of globalization and of the challenge to America were not only all present, but also engaged in engaged dialogue with one another throughout the event.