On 11 October, the second day of the Seminar on “God entrusts the human being to woman”, the discussions were centred around the theme of women’s role in building up a civilisation of love.
The keynote speech was given by Jocelyne Khoueiry. She observed that this kind of civilisation is founded on the love of God who created man and woman in his image and likeness. God calls them to build humanity through the “gift of self”, a gift they received from the Holy Spirit.
The speaker pointed out that there is a social aspect to the feminine genius that has scriptural roots in the Magnificat. That prayer ushered in the new messianic times and proclaimed liberation and justice for the poor and oppressed. The Mother of God bears the news of her Son’s plan of salvation, a new social order founded on divine charity in which the weak, the sick and the marginalised will be at the centre of the community. God’s logic overturns the laws of the world, for their rationale is built upon the concept of enmity and animosity.
The panel discussion that followed had the theme: “Principles in safeguarding the humanum”. The speakers were Gilfredo Marengo, Giorgia Salatiello and Oana Gotia. Their respective topics were: “Human nature and identity: concepts to be recovered?”, “Sexual differences and the concept of person” and “How can we speak out about major ethical issues in a liquid society?”.
In the afternoon, there was a panel of speakers who dealt with the theme of “Proposals for a new civilisation of love”. Vicky Thorn spoke on “A Christian vision of sexuality”, Costanza Miriano spoke on “Mature male and female identities”, Marisa Lucarini spoke on “Recovering the value of motherhood”, Virginia Parodi spoke on “Educating people to live life as a gift of self” and Jane Wathuta dealt with “The legal protection of life and family”.
There was an unscheduled item after the panel discussion. At the request of Cardinal Rylko, Prof. Nembrini spoke about the theme of women in Dante’s “Divine Comedy”. He is well known in Italy and abroad for his undisputed expertise in this field, but also for his ability to present Dante Alighieri’s masterpiece in an accessible and modern way. He has attracted the interest of young people, women and families for many years now. His beautiful presentation of the centrality of the female figure in Dante's poem helped us to appreciate the theme of the Seminar. He illustrated it with the immortal language of poetry. The participants could touch the mystery of the creation of the human being, in the image of God, man and woman, expressed in all its depth through the poetic language of the great Italian poet.
