Rev. Oliver Williams, C.S.C. (USP), a faculty member of the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame and the director of the Center for Ethics and Religious Values in Business, was recently invited to Notre Dame University Bangladesh (NDUB), a Holy Cross educational institution and the only Catholic university in Bangladesh. There, he led a five-day workshop on business ethics for 25 NDUB faculty members. Aside from Fr. Williams, the workshop featured presentations by Faisal Rahman and Mabrur M. Chowdhury, a special guest from the Bangladesh office of the UN Global Compact, among others.
In designing the workshop, Fr. Williams drew on his academic expertise in business ethics, corporate governance, and Catholic social teaching, and on his practical experience serving on the five-person Board of Directors of the United Nations Global Compact Foundation, the world’s largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative.
This was Fr. Williams’ first visit to Bangladesh, and thus his first visit to Holy Cross’s ministries there. He was greeted with the hospitality that is typical in Bangladeshi society and among the international Holy Cross brotherhood, with Holy Cross religious voluntarily showing him several of their apostolates across the country, including the Bhadun Pastoral Center, Nagary Parish, St. Augustine’s Parish, and St. Joseph School and College, among others. Though Catholics make up less than one-half of one percent of the Bangladeshi population, their ministries in parishes, schools, colleges, and universities have garnered respect across Bangladeshi society, where many business and government leaders received a Holy Cross education.
Asked to reflect on his visits to NDUB and other Holy Cross ministries, Fr. Williams noted the importance of educational institutions in developing countries like Bangladesh and said that “the Congregation with its sisters, brothers, and priests is doing a remarkable job!” He added that Holy Cross’s work in Bangladesh is “a great example of putting our resources to advance the ‘preferential option for the poor,’” which is one of the tenets of Catholic social teaching and a theme of the Congregation of Holy Cross’s Year of Mission.
Provided by the Mission Center, December 2025
