A presentation of The Religious Sense, a seminal work by Fr. Luigi Giussani on the occasion of its new translation, with greetings by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York and a conversation with Fr. Michael Carvill, US coordinator of Communion and Liberation, and John Cavadini, director of McGrath Institute for Church Life at University of Notre Dame, moderated by John Zucchi, professor of history at McGill University, translator of The Religious Sense

The event will introduce “The trunk is rooted where the truth lies,” an exhibit on the Self and the Other in the life and thought of the Servant of God Fr. Luigi Giussani.

A conversation on this year's Encounter theme with Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S., and Msgr. Erik Varden, O.C.S.O., Bishop of Trondheim, Norway

The 2023 Encounter, explores how—amidst growing uncertainty about how to face life, and especially the mystery of evil—many of us yearn to be seen and affirmed by someone in flesh and blood who defeats our loneliness. We long to be accompanied in life by a father or a friend who is certain of its meaning, and to discover our identity within this relationship. Bishop Erik Varden has reflected deeply on the most profound dimensions of our humanity in the course of his journey, as he describes in his book The Shattering of Loneliness. Here is an excerpt from his introduction:

"I was close to 16 and I was developing an interest in Mahler. Having splashed my savings on a CD player, I bought a Bernstein recording of his Second Symphony, the Resurrection. The Christian significance of the theme was known to me but left me cold. Although I had been baptized, I had never affirmed belief. If anything, I was hostile. Christianity appeared to me a wishful flight away from the inner drama I was trying to negotiate, which was full of ambivalence, far distant from the studied certainties of preachers. Mahler, to me, was about harmonics and instrumentation. Nevertheless, as I listened to the symphony, I could not remain aloof. I had not expected to be so moved ... Before disbelief had time to configure, it was hushed by voices singing of a hope that must, in secret, have gestated in my depths, for I recognized it as mine:

Have faith, heart, have faith: nothing will be lost to you.

What you have longed for is yours, yes, yours; yours is what

you have loved and fought for. Have faith: you were not

born in vain. You have not lived or suffered in vain.

At these words, something burst. The repeated insistence, 'not in vain, not in vain', was irresistible. It was not just that I wanted to believe it. I knew it was true. It sounds trite, but at that moment, my consciousness changed. With a certainty born neither of overwrought emotion nor of cool analysis, I knew I carried something within me that reached beyond the limits of me. I was aware of not being alone. There was no special warmth, no ecstatic inner movement. There were no tears. But I could no more doubt the truth of what I had found than I could doubt that I existed. The sense of it has never left me. That this should be so amazes me still."

Bishop Varden will explore this year's Encounter theme in conversation with Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Papal Nuncio to the U.S. They will help the audience appreciate the meaning and relevance of being in a relationship with “someone who knows me and, inexplicably, cares for me.”

A presentation on Comunità Cenacolo with Albino Aragno, director of the Cenacolo Communities in America, and Ian Ross, elementary school teacher, moderated by Matteo Tinti, regional sales manager at MEI.

The Catholic Church position on peace and the current situation in Ukraine, with Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN, and the Most Reverend Borys Gudziak, Metropolitan Archbishop of Philadelphia of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, moderated by Holly Peterson, educator.

The Encounter opens with poetry, music, and a conversation in memory of Pope Benedict XVI with Steven Brown, Dean of Graduate Studies at The Catholic University of America, Cardinal Seán O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston, Most Rev. Steven J. Raica, Bishop of Birmingham, and Fr. Alex Zenthoefer, rector of St. Benedict Cathedral in Evansville, Indiana, and music played by Christopher Vath, pianist.

At the 2022 New York Encounter, we invited podcasters to record their shows in a special studio at the venue. We will be sharing some of the episodes they recorded on the Encounter podcast.

On this episode, Ken Hallenius from the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture interviews Dan Lipinski, who spoke at the 2022 Encounter in the event "Politics: a Zero-Sum Game?"

Ethics and Culture Cast Shownotes:

Dan Lipinski is the former US Representative for the 3rd Congressional District in Illinois from 2005 to 2021, a member of the Democratic Party. He was co-chair of the Bi-partisan Congressional Pro-life Caucus.

• New York Encounter 2022: "Politics: A Zero-Sum Game?": Overcoming ideological divides in the political battlefield, with William Haslam, former Governor of Tennessee, and Dan Lipinski, former U.S. Congressman, moderated by Kimberly Shankman, Dean of Benedictine College, Atchison, KS. The Encounter 2022 will explore how seeking the truth in any human endeavor, and loving it more than one’s own preconceived opinions, is essential in order to overcome ideological divides and restore a much-needed trust in each other and our public institutions. An area where the opposite seems to apply is politics. This is why examples of seeking the truth more than winning an argument and bridging the sectarian divide that dominates the political arena, even to the point of sacrificing personal power, are so important. Both speakers have long careers on the political frontlines and will share stories of these attempts and their views about where to go from here.
• dCEC Fall Conference 2021: "The Catholic Answer Our Divided Nation Needs" — Précis: The divide in America today is best described as a sectarian partisan divide. This new type of partisanship, which is increasingly embraced by Americans on both sides, is a moralized identification with each party having an established set of beliefs and a strong focus on maintaining ideological purity and distinction from its counterpart. The potential triumph of the sectarian left’s replacement of the biblical view of humans with expressive individualism as a policy basis, poses an existential threat to America. But zero-sum sectarian partisanship on the right that negates the political process, embraces political messianism, and muddles temporal politics with Christianity is also a threat to our democratic republic. Our divided nation needs a Catholic answer - rejecting sectarian partisanship on both sides and being Catholic first.
• Author Page at First Things
• Author Page at Public Discourse
• Theme Song: "I Dunno," by grapes — I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque

At the 2022 New York Encounter, we invited podcasters to record their shows in a special studio at the venue. We will be sharing some of the episodes they recorded on the Encounter podcast.

On this episode, Ken Hallenius from the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture interviews Abigail Favale, who spoke at the 2022 Encounter in the event "Body and Identity"

Ethics and Culture Cast Shownotes:

Abigail Favale, Ph.D., is a writer, professor, and speaker. She is Dean of the College of Humanities at George Fox University. Raised an evangelical Christian, she converted to the Catholic faith in 2014. Her newest book, The Genesis of Gender, is due to be released by Ignatius Press in May 2022.

• Abigail Favale's Homepage
• Dr. Favale at dCEC Fall Conference 2021
• Dr. Favale at New York Encounter 2022 - Body and Identity — A presentation on gender theory and its social implications, with Abigail Favale, Dean of the College of Humanities, George Fox University, and Helen Joyce, executive editor for events business of The Economist, moderated by Holly Peterson, Principal of Nativity: Faith and Reason School in Broomfield, CO.
• Dr. Favale on "What is Sex For?" at MICL Cultures of Formation Conference
• Book: "Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion"
• Book: "The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory"
• New York Encounter — NEW YORK ENCOUNTER IS AN ANNUAL THREE-DAY CULTURAL EVENT IN THE HEART OF NEW YORK CITY, OFFERING OPPORTUNITIES FOR EDUCATION, DIALOGUE, AND FRIENDSHIP.
• Communion and Liberation — Communion and Liberation is the lay Catholic movement which sponsors the New York Encounter.
• Theme Song: "I Dunno," by grapes — I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque

The so-called gender theory has caused widespread confusion and bewilderment. Thus, its content needs to be known and carefully tested against reality to the benefit of young people, parents, and educators. This critical assessment is all the more needed because of a general inclination, nowadays, to stop thinking about complex issues and go with the flow of the group one identifies with. Speakers have dedicated several years of their careers to studying the origin, content, policy-making consequences, and larger societal implications of the gender theory.

“The individual is more than the worst act he/she committed.” This is one of Mr. Stevenson’s most famous and challenging statements. What journey brought him to this conclusion? Why would it be true and what implications would it have on the judicial system? What can facilitate a similar journey, especially for young people? What is the relationship between individual and structural or systemic changes in society? What comes first and why? These are some of the questions that will be addressed during the conversation.

Our Christian life, our faith, and our concrete morality, the set-up of our lives is determined either by current ideologies or by the factuality, the supremacy of our existence, of things as they happen, of things as we come across them, of things to which you react in a given way, of facts: facts as events.

~Fr. Luigi Giussani, To Give One’s Life for the Work of Another, MgGill-Queen University Press, 2022