Commonweal executive director Ellen B. Koneck travelled to San Diego in late February to participate in The Way Forward, a conference held annually and this year hosted on the campus of the University of San Diego. This year's conference focused on Laudato si', Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical on climate change and environmental justice, and brought together thinkers from across Catholic clerical, academic, nonprofit and media spaces to imagine how the Church can live out Laudato si' in a contemporary context.

Koneck facilitated a panel entitled "Hispanic Perspectives on Pastoral Theology" which featured Emilce Culda, an Argentinian theologian who serves as the secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and Victor Carmona, a professor of theology and religious studies at the University of San Diego. Carmona emphasized the connection between the panel's themes and the theology of Laudato si': "Catholicism in Latin America assumes [an] integral understanding of reality," Carmona said. Culda agreed with this conclusion: "The ecological crisis is an environmental and social crisis," she said, echoing Francis' insistence on integral ecology.

The panel received particularly high praise from attendees, and featured prominently in the conference's summary video. One bishop and Curia member in attendance, Mark O'Connell from the Archdiocese of Boston, mentioned being "quite struck" by his experience of the panel. "Pope Francis comes from that part of the world, and there is a disconnect, perhaps, between how we in the United States hear Pope Francis' message." More details about the February 2024 event can be found here, and about The Way Forward conference in general on the conference website.