On October 5, 2026, hundreds of Commonweal friends, contributors and staff gathered for the Commonweal Benefit Dinner, celebrating the magazine’s 102 consecutive years of publication. The room featured a sizable contingent from the University of Notre Dame, as this year’s Centennial awardee was none other than Rev. John I. Jenkins, CSC, distinguished president emeritus of Notre Dame. Notre Dame vice president Ann Firth offered an invocation, which you can read here, and Notre Dame philosophy professor Meghan Sullivan served as emcee for the evening.
One name was unexpectedly prominent during the dinner remarks—that of former Fordham and Notre Dame basketball coach Digger Phelps. Editor Dominic Preziosi celebrated Commonweal’s longstanding ties to Notre Dame, but only after revealing his father’s animosity to coach Phelps—who notably abandoned the Bronx for South Bend—an animosity that kept young Dominic from applying. Preziosi went on to announce Arvin Alaigh as the 2026/2027 Centennial Writing Fellow, and thanked inaugural fellow Aaron Robertson for his excellent reporting on parish closures and the Black Catholic experience in America. That fellowship, announced at the 2024 Centennial Dinner, is made possible through the generosity of Karen Sue Smith and Rose DiMartino. Two younger writers, Dr. Naomi Fisher and Julian Assele, received awards from the Edward Skillin Society for journalism and social justice.
After a rousing introduction by former Notre Dame board chairman John J. Brennan (which you can read here), Fr. Jenkins aptly chose to focus his remarks on institutions, noting the traditional Catholic “knack” for institutions and their work. “They draw people together for a work at a particular time and place,” he reflected, “yet they also unite people across time to serve a mission that both endures and adapts to changing circumstances.” You can read Fr. Jenkins’s remarks in full here.
The dinner ended on an especially bright note, as Commonweal executive director Ellen B. Koneck had the honor of announcing the new Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C. Initiative for Campus & Early Career Formation, so named, Koneck explained, “in honor of Fr. John’s lifelong commitment to higher education, civil discourse, and the cultivation of young people capable of moral reasoning and civic friendships.” Dinner co-chairs Tom and Allison Franco provided the financial impetus for the Initiative. “What a gift,” indeed.
Photos from the dinner are linked here, and be sure to read Commonweal’s fall books issue here.
