Mission Report
2024-2025
Witnesses of Hope
The 2024-2025 academic year was marked by significant moments of grace, starting with the proclamation by Pope
Francis of the Jubilee of Hope in December 2024, as well as change — for the Church and for The Lay Centre.
A few months into the Jubilee, we joined the Church in gathering to mourn the death of Pope Francis and then again,
a few weeks later, to rejoice in the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first pope to have visited The Lay Centre as a
cardinal on May 14, 2024. These landmark events profoundly shaped our daily routines and swept us up in the
momentum and intensity of these moments of global significance.
During this time, The Lay Centre welcomed a new director, Filipe Domingues, who succeeded founding
director Donna Orsuto in January 2025, launched a new website, and unveiled a new logo. By the end of 2025, plans
were underway to mark another significant moment — the 40th anniversary of the founding of The Lay Centre in
2026.
In communion with the Holy Father and the universal Church, we chose as our theme for the 2024-2025 academic
year, “Witnesses of Hope,” holding ourselves to our commitment to be visible signs of unity, closeness, devotion and
truthful collaboration.
Laity in the World
Our residential community is at the heart of The Lay Centre.
Here is an overview of the academic year 2024 – 2025
30
Nationalities
28
Residents
11
Specializations
Countries Represented
The countries represented include: Argentina, India, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Ethiopia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, India, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Pakistan, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom, U.S.A.
Lay Leadership
Lay
Leadership
Program
Thanks to our generous benefactors, The Lay Centre
coordinated three scholarship-fellowship programs, which
are important catalysts for the formation of lay leaders in
academia and the professional world of the Church in Rome.
In 2024-2025, this program provided full or partial financial
support to 12 participants from Argentina, Germany, India,
Italy, Mexico, Pakistan, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.
Leadership Scholars:
Scholars of the pontifical universities whose focus is academic excellence, although without neglecting an outward approach to others, either in the community or outside of it.
Impact Fellows:
Community members who, besides their academic program, will be carrying out a project of impact in a Church institution, social enterprise or Catholic NGO.
Vatican Fellows:
Young professionals whose main activity, for a year, will be to carry out a formative work experience in one of the Holy See or Church institutions in Rome.
Orientation Week
In preparation for the Jubilee of Hope, The Lay Centre held an Orientation Week in the spirit of pilgrimage, starting September 24, 2024, with Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, celebrated by Father Agnello Stoia, OFM Conv. Then, participants attended a session on women in leadership at the office of Caritas Internationalis and visited the Catacombs of Priscilla. Topics for the rest of the week included safeguarding, synodality, and research and academic skills. The week concluded with a visit to the Church of San Clemente and the Roman Houses in the Celio neighbourhood.
Summer Lay
Leadership Program
The Lay Centre hosted young professionals from 15 countries for its fifth Summer Lay Leadership Program, July 4-11. The program,
funded through a Lilly Foundation grant and grounded in Catholic spirituality and social teaching, is co-sponsored by the Institute of Pastoral Studies of Loyola University Chicago.
Letty Garcia associate director at Harvard Business School, designed the program and is the main presenter.
Through guest speakers and site visits, participants also learned about synodality, discernment, vocational leadership and sacred art.
Laity in the Church
2025: Jubilee year
in the Catholic Church
The Jubilee 2025 was a profound season of hospitality that beautifully
bridged two pontificates. The Holy Year opened on Christmas Eve,
December 24, 2024, with Pope Francis welcoming the world as
“Pilgrims of Hope,” and concluded on January 6, 2026,
when Pope Leo XIV closed the Holy Door, sealing a historic journey
of shared faith and encounter.
Autumn Community
Retreat
We started the academic year with a retreat on the
theme, “Witnesses of Hope”, at the Capuchin convent
in Frascati, outside Rome.
Father Francisco Martins, SJ, a biblical scholar and
professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University, led
the retreat and drew on various stories in Scripture to
speak about virtue. Participants reflected on their role
as lay people to be messengers of the Gospel and
messengers of hope in an often hopeless world.
Community
Evenings on Hope
The weekly community evenings at The Lay Centre are opportunities for community members to gather around the Eucharist, have dinner and learn from a guest speaker. This year, more than 40 guest speakers offered reflections on the year’s theme, “Witnesses of Hope.” They elaborated on one of the four topics in the pope’s declaration of the jubilee: restoring a climate of hope and trust as a prelude to renewal and rebirth; recovering a sense of universal fraternity through hope; contemplating with hope the beauty of creation and caring for our common home; hope as a sing of unity and harmonious diversity.
Spring Community Retreat
Fr. Daniel Huang, missiology professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University, led 27 members of The Lay Centre community on a retreat on the theme, “Graces of the Jubilee Year 2025,” at Casa Divin Maestro in Ariccia, outside Rome. Fr. Huang encouraged participants to grow in their relationship with God and in their understanding of hope as a grace and a virtue.
Closing Liturgy: Remembering
the Gifts of Baptism
Archbishop Carlo Maria Polvani, secretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, celebrated Mass at The Lay Centre to conclude the academic year, May 21. The Mass was intended to draw attention to the gifts of baptism and to each Christian’s baptismal call.
Lay Centre Joins the Pilgrimage of
the Seven Churches in Rome
About 20 people joined The Lay Centre community in the 25-km Pilgrimage of the Seven Churches on February 9.
Promoted by St. Philip Neri in the 16th century, the historic pilgrimage is intended to help people grow in prayer, joy and community.
Laity in Dialogue
A Journey of Hope
A public event May 27 on the theme, “Journey of Hope,” featured three speakers from the Holy Land — Sarah Bernstein, Fr. David Mark Neuhaus, SJ, Safa Younes — each representing one of the three Abrahamic religions, for a discussion on hope for peace in the Middle East. The event was held as part of The Lay Centre’s yearlong program for the Jubilee of Hope.
A Pilgrimage on Synodality
The Lay Centre partnered with FADICA to organize a pilgrimage for FADICA members on the theme, “Journey in Synodality,” November 10-16, 2024. The itinerary included prayer, meetings with Vatican officials and journalists, as well as training sessions. Pope Francis met with the pilgrims and expressed his gratitude for the support FADICA provides to the Holy See and other Church initiatives.
Open Day: Dies Academicus
Five members of The Lay Centre community presented their research in psychology, poetry, theology, Church teaching and safeguarding to visitors at The Lay Centre’s Open Day and Dies Academicus on November 30. The presentations are available on The Lay Centre’s YouTube channel.
Meetings with
Both our current and former directors met
Pope Leo XIV: Filipe Domingues
during the pope’s first meeting
with journalists and Donna Orsuto
during an audience with participants of a
congress organized by the Dicastery
for the Laity, Family and Life.
Founding Director
Named to Dicastery
for Divine Worship
The Lay Centre’s founding director, Donna Orsuto, was appointed by Pope Francis as a member of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Sacraments on January 11, 2025.
Loyola Chicago and Jesuit
Refugee Service
The Lay Centre welcomed a group of students and faculty from Loyola University Chicago, led by Lay Centre alumnus Michael Canaris, for a session June 6 with Jesuit Refugee Service titled, “Crossing Borders with Disponibilità.” The speakers witnessed the ways in which accompaniment and availability can cross borders and build bridges among people.
Rome Seminar for ACCU
Mission Officers
In partnership with the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, The Lay Centre organized the first intensive seminar for mission officers of Catholic institutions of higher learning, July 13-17. The object was to offer participants an intensive experience of dialogue, spiritual reflection and exploration of the Church’s evolving mission.
Five Alumni Defend Doctoral Dissertations
Witnesses of Hope:
A Year in Images
To inspire and prepare future
leaders to serve the Church and
the world.
leaders to serve the Church and
the world.
We offer lay women and men a meaningful experience of community
life as well as impactful programs for human, spiritual, intellectual and professional development.
life as well as impactful programs for human, spiritual, intellectual and professional development.
