The 1st International Symposium on John Paul II’s Theology of the Body
Gaming, Austria, May 18-20, 2007
What is the dignity of the human person?
What is the true meaning of human sexuality, human love and divine love?
How does the human body reveal the inner life of the Trinity?
Why is the flesh instrumental in the salvation of humanity?
What do masculinity and femininity teach us about ourselves and about God?
From May 18-20, 2007, scholars, writers, and catechists from around the world gathered at a beautifully restored fourteenth century Carthusian monastery in Gaming, Austria, to explore these questions and many more. Man and Woman He Created Them: An International Symposium on John Paul II’s Theology of the Body aimed to deepen the Church’s understanding of John Paul’s Theology of the Body.
The Symposium began on May 18, 2007, which was the 87th anniversary of the birth of Karol Wojtyła and which was meant to be, first of all, a celebration of the gift of his life, his Pontificate and his abiding legacy. Secondly, the event was a great occasion to honour and thank DDr. Michael Waldstein for his new translation of the Theology of the Body: Man and Woman He Created Them. Thirdly, the uniqueness of this conference consisted in bringing together – perhaps for the first time – scholars and popular presenters and inviting them to engage in a sincere and fruitful dialogue.
Hosted by the Franciscan University of Steubenville (the Austrian program), the 1st International TOB Symposium brought together seventeen International speakers and over two hundred and twenty participants from twenty-nine different countries (Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Croatia, the Czech republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Germany, Holland, India, Ireland, Kenya, Lithuania, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the Ukraine and the United States of America).
Schedule:
Thursday May 17, 2007
Pre-Conference Events
Registration Desk
2:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Franziskushaus Lobby
First Dinner
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm, Mensa
Traveler’s Mass
9:00 pm, Kartause Church
Friday May 18, 2007
Breakfast
7:00 am – 8:30 am
Registration
8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Welcome and Orientation
8:45 am – 9:15 am, Prälatensaal, (All lectures will take place in the Prälatensaal)
Morning Keynote
9:30 – 10:45 am, Dr. Michael Waldstein, Three Kinds of Personalism: St. John of the Cross, Kant, Scheler and John Paul II
Session 1
10:45 am – 11:45 am, Dr. Peter J. Colosi, Response to Waldstein: A Body that Expresses a Person: Max Scheler’s Impact on John Paul II’s Theology of the Body
Mass
12:00 pm
Lunch
1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Session II, 2:30 – 4:15 pm:
Rev. Jaroslaw Kupczak, O.P., The Influence of Vatican Council II on John Paul II’s Theology of the Body
Dr. Michael Raiger, The Phenomenological Roots of John Paul’s Ethos of the Gift
Coffee Break
4:15 – 4:45 pm
First Panel Discussion: Europe and America, 4:45 – 6:30 pm
Dr. Gudrun Kugler-Lang, Europe at the Crossroads
Mr. Matthew Pinto, How Theology of the Body is Impacting the Catholic Church in the U.S.
Anastasia Northrup, Integrating Theology of the Body into Everyday Life
Dinner Break
6:30 – 8:00 pm
Evening
8:30 pm
Theophany Catholic Theater Company, Putting Faces on the Dramatis Personae of the Theology of the Body
Holy Hour and Confession
10:00 pm – 11:00 pm, Kartause Church
Saturday May 19, 2007
Breakfast
7:00 am – 8:30 am
Morning Keynote:
9:00 am – 10:00 am
Sister Timothy Prokes, FSE, The Meaning of the Body as ‘Gift in the Divine Image’: John Paul’s Theology of the Body and the Increasingly Virtual Culture of our Time.
Session III
10:15 am – 12:00 pm
Dr. Josef Seifert, Person, Transcendence and the Human Body: a Personalistic Anthropology and Metaphysics of Spousal Love in John Paul II and Realist Phenomenology
Dr. Michele M. Schumacher, The Significance of the Body in John Paul II’s Theological Anthropology of Women
Mass
12:15 pm
Lunch
1:00 – 2:30 pm
Session IV
2:30 – 4:15 pm
Dr. Donald P. Asci, Chastity Refined: The Finality of Sex and the Value of the Person
Mr. Christopher West, Theology of the Body and the New Evangelization
Coffee Break
4:15 – 4:45 pm
Second Panel Discussion: Theology of the Body and the Laity
4:45 – 6:30 pm
Ms. Katrina J. Zeno, Theology of the Body for Young and Old: Visual Aids, Power Point, and Sacramentality
Ms. Tara Seyfer, Theology of The Body: A New Language for Understanding Human Sexuality and Marriage
Mrs. Lisa Lickona, The Theology of the Body for the Very Young
Dinner Break
6:30 – 8:00 pm
Q&A Session
8:30 pm – 9:30 pm, (Based on written questions, this will be an opportunity for many questions to be posed to all speakers)
Reception
9:30 pm – 11:00 pm, Baroque Library
Sunday May 20, 2007
Early Morning Sunday Mass
6:00 am, Kartause Church
Breakfast
7:00 – 8:30 am
Final Session
8:30 – 10:15 am
Dr. William E. May, John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, Morality, and Anthropology
Rev. Thomas Loya, The Theology of the Body: Image of the Divine
Divine Liturgy
11:00 am
Lunch
12:15 pm – 1:45 pm
END