FAIRFIELD, CT - To coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and the upcoming golden anniversary of the foundation of Sacred Heart University, Sacred Heart will sponsor a two-day conference to mark the special milestones on April 23 and April 24, 2012.
The conference will feature several notable scholars and theologians from throughout the United States including Sacred Heart’s Rev. Anthony Ciorra who serves as the University’s assistant vice president of Mission and Catholic Identity; Michael W. Higgins, Ph.D., also of Sacred Heart; Roberto Goizueta of Boston College; Rev. David Dwyer, director of the Catholic radio program ‘Busted Halo’; Diana Hayes, Ph.D., of Georgetown University; Massino Fagioloi of the University of St. Thomas; Scott Appleby, Ph.D., of Notre Dame University and Rev. Michael Himes of Boston College.
The theme of the conference will focus on a way forward for the Church from the stand point of the Second Vatican Council and pick up on where the Council left with following the seven closing speeches given by the cardinals on the last day of the Council in 1965, and they encompass: youth; church and politics; art and beauty; suffering; labor and immigration; religion and science and the role of women.
“We’re taking these seven issues that the council left off with and we’re going to open the door to those issues and have seven of the best speakers and scholars in the country to address them during the two-day conference,” said Ciorra. “The purpose of the event is not to look back at what happened but to look at where the Church and where the world is today and move forward. The structure of the conference is to capture of the spirit of the Council that was life-altering and bring it to the issues of the 21st century.”
As the conference ushers in the special anniversaries of the Second Vatican Council and Sacred Heart, it will also allow attendees to participate in a symposium of thoughtful discussions and dialogues led by the preeminent scholars and visionaries on Catholic thought today. “It will be an interactive conference, a place for brain-storming and a time for reflection, strategizing and moving forward,” added Ciorra.
Sacred Heart’s rich history, spanning almost five decades, was founded in 1963 by the most Reverend Walter W. Curtis, who was then bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport. Sacred Heart University was born just a year following the opening of the Second Vatican Council. The Second Vatican Council addressed the relations of the Catholic Church and the modern world. Taking what he gleaned from that remarkable council that changed and shaped today’s Catholic Church, Bishop Curtis envisioned a university run by lay people in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, which is characterized by rigorous scholarship and a commitment to spiritual and ethical values. Nearly fifty years later, Sacred Heart underscores the Second Vatican Council's Call to Holiness and its vision for the modern Church.
“At this point in 2011, the church and the world are at a radically new place for a lot of reasons – globalization, technology, the state of the world economy and the rising of new super powers such as China,” said Ciorra. “The church is not in isolation, we live in the world which is a different place, and we’re now at a critical point and how we harness that energy that was presented in 1962 and bring it to a new situation will be galvanized at the conference.”
The conference set in April will attract a multitude of Catholics from various walks of life including individuals working at the pastoral and parish level including priests and laity and those who work in hospitals and as social workers; people from the academic community and young adults. “We particularly think it’s important to have young people at the conference because they will be living with these issues and they are the future,” said Ciorra. “Everyone is welcome because this is such a ground-breaking time for the church.”
On October 11, 2012, the exact anniversary of the commencement of the Second Vatican Council, Sacred Heart University will bestow three individuals who were at the Council or closely affiliated with the event with Honorary Degrees. Also, a book is planned to be published that will capture the themes of the conference at Sacred Heart and the ideas and discussions sowed at the monumental event.
