A Hearth for the Human Family: Reimagining Dialogue
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Emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, our world is marked by increasing social, economic, political, ethnic and religious divisions. Is it still possible to imagine paths for coming together even across profound differences? Join us for this interactive event as we lift up concrete efforts and best practices in a variety of cultural, professional, social, and religious settings.
Friday March 3 (Whitley Theological Center)
| 9:30 | Welcome – Focolare Forum – Methods and Hopes |
| 9:45 – 10:30 | Opening Keynote Reflection: “Public Religions in a Secular Age: The Role of the Focolare” 👤 Sociologist Fr. Patrick Gilger, S.J., Loyola University Chicago |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Responses to Fr. Patrick Gilger, S.J. 👤 Dr. Dana Dillon, Chair of Public and Community Service Studies and Professor of Theology, Providence College, Rhode Island 👤 John Mundell – Director, Laudato Si’ Action Platform (LSAP), Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development; President & CEO, Mundell & Associates 👤 Chiara Catipon & Layna Souza, Spiritual Formation Coordinators, Texas A&M University Newman Center |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Break |
| 11:30 – 12:30 | “Hearth-Style” Table Conversations A Focolare “hearth” is a place for people of different backgrounds to gather with the intention of listening deeply to each other’s experiences, welcoming and learning from even profound differences in perspective. Warmed by the light that emerges from relationships of reciprocal love and acceptance, the hope is to, in turn, share the insights that arise with the broader community. During this “hearth” moment, we will reflect together on the questions and challenges posed by Fr. Gilger’s keynote and the responses. |
| 12:30 – 1:30 | Lunch |
| 1:30 – 3:00 | Parallel Workshops (choose one) – 1. CAN A BUSINESS BE A PLACE FOR DIALOGUE AND ENCOUNTER? GOING BEYOND EXTREME CAPITALISM AND WOKE ENTERPRISE Serious tensions can plague our discussions about the core values that drive models for business and economic development. Does government regulation impede free enterprise or protect the common good? Which should be given greater weight and incentivized: solidarity with the poor or subsidiarity to help fire the engines of individual and local initiative? Since its inception in 1992, Economy of Communion gatherings have been a locus to break out of “either/or” categories in order to discuss the full spectrum of these values and explore how EOC projects lift up contributions from various political perspectives. This session will open out how this experience both challenges and offers hope for our current political climate. 👤 Nicola (Nick) Sanna, President of the FAIR Institute, CEO of RiskLens 👤 Prof. Dana Dillon, Providence College, Rhode Island – 2. HOW CAN WE IMPROVE TRUST IN THE MEDIA? Across the world, trust in journalism is declining rapidly. And while the media is considered the “fourth pillar of democracy,” fulfilling this task has been hindered by the rise of Social Media. Do we still have common ground? How can we talk about urgent challenges if our “facts” are not even similar? Journalists from the U.S. and other countries give a snapshot of how they face these situations, and writers share how they deal with the polarization and hateful comments online. Together we want to elaborate criteria of trustworthy media and some guidelines for dialogue through media. 👤 Austin Kellerman, Senior Director of Local Digital Content, Nexstar Media Group, Irving, Texas 👤 Charles Camosy, Creighton University, Nebraska 👤Claire Price, UK-based freelance video journalist and media trainer (pre-recorded video) 👤 David Begnaud, CBS news correspondent (pre-recorded video) |
| 3:00 – 3:30 | Break |
| 3:30 – 5:00 | Parallel Workshops (choose one) – 1. ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT WITH FR. GILGER’S “PUBLIC RELIGIONS IN A SECULAR AGE” Scholars from different academic disciplines will critically engage Fr. Patrick Gilger’s manuscript on Public Religions in a Secular Age. The “fishbowl” format will also welcome interested observers and open up for comments and questions at the end. 👤 Fr. Patrick Gilger, S.J., Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Loyola University Chicago 👤 William Calvo-Quirós, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 👤 Giovanna Czander, Dominican University, New York 👤 Charles Camosy, Creighton University, Nebraska 👤 Amy Uelmen, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington DC 👤 Fr. Frank Santucci, OMI, Oblate School of Theology, San Antonio, Texas – 2. THE ECONOMY OF COMMUNION AND THE CULTURE OF GIVING: RETHINKING OUR APPROACH TO POVERTY “There is always something you can give.” This was the response of Focolare founder Chiara Lubich to a young man from Congo who asked her how those without material means could help to build the culture of giving. In fact, the Economy of Communion project is founded on the principle of treating all involved as protagonists. This panel will feature those engaged with professional service and projects in direct contact with the materially poor, who will share their insights on how to build together a culture in which all play an active role in building relationships of justice and dignity. Workshop participants will also be invited to reflect on how the principles and methods they share might inform their own contact with the indigent. 👤 Paul Catipon, President & CTO, NetPro Communications; Men’s Focolare House, Harlem NYC 👤 Doug Ammar, Esq., Executive Director, Georgia Justice Project, Atlanta, GA 👤 Dr. Christina Minah Pak, Founder, CEO, Well Being Dentistry, Santa Clara, CA 👤 Andy Gustafson, Professor Marketing and Management, Creighton University, Nebraska 👤 Reneé Roden, The Catholic Worker, Chicago, IL |
Saturday March 4 (Whitley Theological Center)
| 9:00 – 9:15 | Orientation to the Day’s Program |
| 9:15 – 10:45 | Parallel Workshops (choose one) – 1. TRENDS IN GRASSROOTS ECUMENICAL WORK “The work of national and international experts on church unity is not finished until lay people in local settings participate in it.” (Karen Petersen Finch) How can the work of Christian unity advance at the local level? What are models emerging at the grassroots that can incarnate the tremendous theological advances that have taken place in international ecumenical dialogue? Alexei Laushkin (Protestant) and Nathan Smith (Catholic) are active participants in Catholic-Evangelical dialogue. They will lead a discussion on developments in Christian unity work at the grassroots level, with time for personal reflection and small group discussion about how to engage in ecumenical work in your own community. 👤 Nathan Smith, Director of Catholic-Evangelical Relations, Glenmary Home Missioners 👤 Alexei Laushkin, Executive Director, Kingdom Mission Society – 2. POLITICAL DEBATE VS. VALUES-BASED DIALOGUE: TOWARDS A MORE HOLISTIC VIEW OF THE ENVIRONMENT Throughout the world, political and social tensions have erupted in response to the global ecological crisis brought on by industrialization and development, climate change, and the loss of biodiversity. This workshop aims to understand how dualistic thinking feeds these tensions, and to present principles of a developing ecological spirituality that has found common ground among people of faith and people with no particular faith experience but who share certain values. Participants will have the opportunity to share how their own life journey has led to the development of their attitudes and positions on the environment and to reflect together with others on the potential for shared understanding and values. 👤 John Mundell and Sarah Mundell | Laudato Si’ Action Platform, Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development |
| 10:45 – 11:15 | Break |
| 11:15 -12:45 | Parallel Workshops (choose one) – 1. CULTURE WAR LANGUAGE AND THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH Today, the metaphor to rule them all is that of war. We read about “liturgy wars” in the church and “battles” over the interpretation of the Second Vatican Council, as well as political and cultural wars and the “War for the Soul of America,” as one book title put it. With the ubiquity of this metaphor, Christians might ask why it is so enticing. Why does it dominate our social imagination? In this session, Fr. Aaron Wessman, author of the new Magenta book The Church’s Mission in a Polarized World, will give the keynote address following an introduction by Charles Camosy, editor of the Magenta Series. Wessman will explore key themes from his book, particularly how the language of culture war impacts the mission of the Church in a polarized world. 👤 Robert Aaron Wessman, G.H.M., is the vicar general and director of formation for the Glenmary Home Missioners 👤 Charles Camosy, Creighton University, Nebraska 👤 Amy Uelmen and Fr. Darryl D’Souza (Pastor, Holy Family Church, Corpus Christi, TX) will respond to Wessman – 2. INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE AND RACIAL EQUITY: HOW OUR FAITH IN ACTION ENCOURAGES AN INCLUSIVE CULTURE A collaborative effort of Focolare’s Courageous Conversations and members of the community of WD Mohammed, this session explores how our lens of faith and values inspires the courage to get out of our comfort zone in order to better know our neighbor. As an interactive conversation in a live podcast format, participants can listen, learn, and contribute to reflections and experiences of putting common areas of diverse faiths into practice that build our capacity for dialogue within ourselves and with others. Together we examine the role of faith combined with action and accountability to confront racial inequities and promote social justice. |
| 12:45 – 2:00 | Lunch |
| 2:00 – 3:00 | Hearth sparks: Looking ahead Throughout the conference we will collect comments and questions regarding the questions that have arisen and/or challenges we have encountered or anticipate meeting in bringing a “hearth” spirit to our local communities and the projects we have discussed. We will thematize these contributions to form hearth-table discussions to further delve into our questions and brainstorm solutions. |
| 3:15 – 4:00 | Plenary : Ideas for moving forward – Conclusions |