The 10th International Conference on Catholic Social Thought and Business Education was organized and hosted this year by the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, U.S.A. on June 21-23, 2018.

Academics and practitioners from over 30 countries participated in the 3-day event with the conference theme “Building Institutions for the Common Good: The Purpose and Practice of Business in an Inclusive Economy”. The event included several panel discussions on the following themes:  the common good as principle for business; is the business of a university, business?; economic common good and institutions; the practitioner’s view of business for the common good; and the common good as principle in business education.

Conference speakers and panel respondents include business ethics scholars Stefano Zamagni (University of Bologna, Italy), Domenec Mele (IESE Business School, Spain), Martin Schlag (University of St. Thomas, USA), Michael Naughton (University of St. Thomas, USA), and Mary Hirschfield (Villanova University).  In his welcome remarks, Msgr. Dr. Martin Schlag, John Ryan Institute Director and conference organizer, said that “the common good grows through sharing. Business serves the common good when it creates wealth, opportunity, hope and development for all who wish to make an effort to participate, not only for a few who exclude others.”

Apart from the plenary sessions, concurrent sessions were also held with papers drawn from more than 100 papers submitted for the conference. Writing on the theme of the common good as principle in business education, SHSS lecturer Dr. Maria Rosario Catacutan presented a paper on virtue ethics and character education. Specifically, she explored the use of experiential learning in teaching the concepts of the common good and social justice, and proposed the need for business ethics academics to adopt alternative approaches in teaching abstract philosophical terms in ways that can be better understood by students. She argued that philosophical concepts such as respect for the dignity of the human person, concern for the common good, and solidarity with the poor can be learnt not only by reading or theorizing about these themes in the classroom, but also by providing students with authentic and meaningful learning experiences which could serve as trigger for critical reflection and motivate students to practice the virtues.

Conference sponsors for this year’s international conference include the Center for Markets, Culture and Ethics (Rome, Italy), Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public Policy (Minneapolis, USA), International Union of Christian Business Executives (also known as UNIAPAC), and  IPADE Business School (Mexico).

The next international conference will be held in Portugal with the theme “The Future of Work” in 2020. Details about this year’s conference can be found here: https://www.stthomas.edu/commongoodconf/