The Synod on the Family has plenty of controversial topics to consider — divorce and remarriage, contraception, sexuality — but there’s another issue affecting millions of families in nearly every nation on earth: How to get by with less in times of economic uncertainty.
Crux and the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, will host a panel discussion Sept. 9 to consider economic pressures facing families, and how the Synod on the Family in October might address them.
The event, titled “It’s the Economy, Synod!,” will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. ET in Gaston Hall and carried live on Crux. Online viewers will have the opportunity to ask questions via Twitter. The hashtag for the event will be #CruxGU.
The event will begin with an outline of the Synod’s priorities from Crux associate editor John L. Allen Jr., followed by a panel featuring Maryann Cusimano Love, associate professor of international relations at the Catholic University of America; Tarshea Smith, an organizer with the labor union UNITE HERE!; Michael Strain, a deputy director at the American Enterprise Institute; and Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO.
The panel will discuss economic pressures that undermine family life and affect children.
John Carr, head of the Georgetown organization and former longtime director at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, will moderate the evening.
