Buona sera from Rome! Ive just made it back from a delicious dinner with friends after a full first day of Humanum: The Complementarity of Man and Woman hosted by the Vatican. Pope Francis started things off this morning with a concise speech about the centrality of marriage in society. “Children have a right to grow up in a family with a father and a mother capable of creating a suitable environment for the child’s development and emotional maturity,” he said.The Pope blame the decline of marriage culture for increases in poverty and a host of social ills especially for the poor, women, children, and the elderly. He also exhorted young people to be revolutionaries for marriage by going against cultural trends. Yes, after today the folks at The Advocate may want their Man of the Year Award back. The rest of the day featured a diverse array of distinguished representatives. These included representatives of many faith traditions, including Islam, Jainism, Judaism, and Buddhism as well as nations and cultures, from the former Secretary of State of Norway to the Primate of the Church of Nigeria in the Anglican Communion. Inarguably, the most rousing address came from Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the UK. You can watch each speech online here: humanum.it/videos/ Another highlight is a series of beautiful short films produced by the Austin Institute for the conference. Heres a link to the first of six: https://youtube/watch?v=X8_0_ZbhhYk#t=40 Though the day was full of wonderful insights and lessons, one specific thought that stuck with me came from German Cardinal Gerhard Muller. He spoke of the basic fact of complementarity throughout the universe, as evidenced in language. Most (English being an exception) use gendered nouns, for example in German der (masculine) die (feminine) and das (neuter). In such a system, complementary aspects of creation are reflected in grammar. Consider day (der tag - masculine) and night (die nacht - feminine). The complementarity of male and female is just as natural, and just as fundamental. Read more about the conference: From the Washington Post washingtonpost/news/local/wp/2014/11/17/vatican-opens-conference-on-traditional-marriage/ From the ERLC erlc/article/pope-francis-stands-firm-on-marriage-at-humanum-colloquium
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 21:54:15 +0000
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