Proceedings of New York Encounter 2014
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Proceedings of New York Encounter 2014 Published by Crossroads Cultural Center This booklet contains transcripts, not reviewed by the speakers, of talks given at the 2014 New York Encounter We live in a time of uncertainty. We like to think that we live in a peaceful, ordered society, but again and again we have discovered that the darkness of blind violence can envelop us at any time, like in Newtown or in Bos- ton. We take comfort in our general prosperity, but we have an uneasy feeling that the current economic crisis, with its high unemployment rate, is different from others in the past, and that things may get worse rather than better. We cherish our freedom, but we worry about the manipulation of democracy by powerful, apparently invincible forces. Such uncertainty seems to cast a cynical doubt on the ideals that define a human culture: the exaltation of the person, the pursuit of happiness, the commitment to build, and the pride of belonging to a people. How can we fight back? “When...the grip of a hostile society tightens around us to the point of threatening the vivacity of our expression, and when a cultural and social hegemony tends to penetrate the heart, stirring up our already natural un- certainties, then the time of the person has come.” (Msgr. Luigi Giussani) What is the person? Who are we, really? What do we cry out for? Who can answer? New York Encounter 2014 explored the nature of the person and the flourishing of that person in belonging to a people. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Index “Life Belongs to Something Greater” (Msgr. Luigi Giussani) Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete, Fr. Samir Khalil Samir, and Mr. Frank Simmonds ....................................................................... 7 Hoping Against Hope Fr. Samir Khalil Samir, SJ ..................................................................... 23 Is It Possible to Work this Way? Dr. Michael Naughton and Mr. Bernhard Scholz ................................ 34 Lost? Fr. José Medina and Dr. Pedro Noguera ............................................... 54 That Hidden Companionship: Stronger than Loneliness Dr. Fabrice Hadjadj and Dr. David Schindler ...................................... 73 “Go Out, Head for the Periphery” (Pope Francis) Cardinal Seán O’Malley and Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete ......................... 93 Abraham: The Birth of the “I,” the Birth of a People Dr. David Flatto and Fr. Richard Veras .............................................. 113 From “I” to “We”: The Time of the Person, The Origins of a People Fr. Peter John Cameron and Fr. Julián Carrón .................................... 131 Introduction to the Exhibit: “The Face of Jesus: From that Gaze, the Human Person” by Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap. ........................................... 146 [ 5 ] [ 6 ] “Life Belongs to Something Greater” (Msgr. Luigi Giussani) Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete,¹ Fr. Samir Khalil Samir, SJ,² Mr. Frank Simmonds³ Introduction “For me the important thing is to reawaken the evidence that our own life is not born from itself, it does not have itself as destiny, but it belongs to something bigger, and it is this bigger thing that constitutes us […] Some- thing bigger constitutes us. In other words, the discovery of the paradox that I am Another. I cannot say ‘I’ unless I say ‘You, unless I say ‘You who make me.’ And I affirm this when I try to explain what prayer is. Jesus said: ‘The whole world is settled in the lie,’ and nowadays the lie has become completely paroxysmal because the concreteness of life has been erased; but the place where the lie operates is the person. In fact, you kill yourself or you live like someone who is dead, accepting to be dead; and this is the real suicide. Therefore, it is once again in the person that the recovery, the rebirth, the revolution takes place. How does this recovery happen at the present time? This is the question we face. Externally, the only answer is that we have an encounter with a presence that is different; that we bump into a different presence; and this presence, then, can act as a reagent, as a catalyst of energies that up till now were absconding.” (Luigi Giussani, translation from Il senso della nascita, Rizzoli) Friday, January 17, 2014 ¹Theologian ²Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Saint Joseph, Beirut ³Doorman [ 7 ] “Life Belongs to Something Greater” (Msgr. Luigi Giussani) “Choruses from ‘The Rock,’” by T.S. Eliot. The Eagle soars in the summit of Heaven, The Hunter with his dogs pursues his circuit. O perpetual revolution of configured stars, O perpetual recurrence of determined seasons, O world of spring and autumn, birth and dying! The endless cycle of idea and action, Endless invention, endless experiment, Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness; Knowledge of speech, but not of silence; Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word. All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance, All our ignorance brings us nearer to death, But nearness to death, no nearer to GOD. Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries Bring us farther from GOD and nearer to the Dust... ...What life have you if you have not life together? There is no life that is not in community, And no community not lived in praise of God. Even the anchorite who meditates alone, For whom the days and nights repeat the praise of God, Prays for the Church, the Body of Christ incarnate. And now you live dispersed on ribbon roads. And no man knows or cares who is his neighbour Unless his neighbour makes too much disturbance, But all dash to and fro in motor cars, Familiar with the roads and settled nowhere. Nor does the family even move about together. But every son would have his motor cycle, And daughters ride away on casual pillions. Much to cast down, much to build, much to restore; [ 8 ] “Life Belongs to Something Greater” (Msgr. Luigi Giussani) Let the work not delay, time and the arm not waste; Let the clay be dug from the pit, let the saw cut the stone. Let the fire not be quenched in the forge... ...O weariness of men who turn from God To the grandeur of your mind and the glory of your action, To arts and inventions and daring enterprises. To schemes of human greatness thoroughly discredited. Binding the earth and the water to your service, Exploiting the seas and developing the mountains, Dividing the stars into common and preferred. Engaged in devising the perfect refrigerator, Engaged in working out a rational morality, Engaged in printing as many books as possible, Plotting of happiness and flinging empty bottles, Turning from your vacancy to fevered enthusiasm For nation or race or what you call humanity; Though you forget the way to the Temple, There is one who remembers the way to your door... ...Men! polish your teeth on rising and retiring; Women! polish your fingernails: You polish the tooth of the dog and the talon of the cat. Why should men love the Church? Why should they love her laws? She tells them of Life and Death, and of all that they would forget. She is tender where they would be hard, and hard where they like to be soft. She tells them of Evil and Sin, and other unpleasant facts. They constantly try to escape From the darkness outside and within By dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good. But the man that is will shadow The man that pretends to be. [ 9 ] “Life Belongs to Something Greater” (Msgr. Luigi Giussani) Albacete: The reading of Choruses from ‘The Rock,’ by T.S. Eliot, was given by Tony Hendra. Hearing that Tony was going to be here and read to us, I suddenly realized what would be a good theme for my presentation. And it is a single scrip- ture passage, which I have here. “My brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am a smooth man.” My brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am a smooth man. That is the passage upon which I will base my talk this evening, in an attempt to explain why we chose the theme for this year, which is the task given to me. Fr. Giussani used to say that my participation in his charism consisted in my ability to vulgarize its teaching, so I’m hauled out whenever the title appears a little bit difficult. Because frankly, what the heckis the “time of the person,” and what does it have to do with “the time of the people”? Well, it’s all found in “My brother is a hairy man, but I am a smooth man.” The time of the person. You are here tonight, and I venture to say that for you, for me, for all of us here, something is worrying us. I mean, beyond the usual worries of getting through the day there is a deeper unrest. That’s the word: unrest. In this unrest we seek a source that will restore a direction to our lives, that will give us a clarity that will guide us through this unrest. Fr. Giussani describes the unrest in these words. “When the grip of a hos- tile society tightens around us to the point of threatening the vivacity of our expression, and when a cultural and social hegemony tends to pene- trate the heart, stirring up our already natural uncertainties”—I love that term, by the way: natural uncertainties—“then when that happens,” he says, “the time of the person has come.” It’s an amazing thing. I don’t think a description of the current cultural instability is difficult to find, or to confirm, unless we’re hiding somewhere under the water of the sea.