Presentation
This website has come into being in the wake of the International
Conference on “Woman and Man the humanum in its entirety”
that took place in Rome from 7-9 February 2008, organised
by the Pontifical Council for the Laity to mark the twentieth
anniversary of the Apostolic Letter Mulieris dignitatem.
On that occasion over 280 delegates from countries all over
the world emphasised the need to follow up on the reflection
that had emerged, and they also stressed the importance
of reinforcing collaboration between movements, associations
and individuals who work to advance the dignity and the
mission of women.
The website is an open forum that hopes to use a large number
of contributions that will offer our readers suitable materials
for study and reflection. In addition to references to the
teachings of the pontifical magisterium on women, there
will be research and analysis by specialists and intellectuals.
First of all we need to study the anthropological question,
our starting point being the original unity of the person
on which the reciprocal man/woman relationship is based.
We must not overlook a reflection on the anthropological
difference between the “feminine me” and the
“masculine me”. It is not at all an obstacle
or unsurmountable abyss, but, on the contrary, it enriches
the expression of the “humanum” in all spheres
of society.
In an era of manifest agnosticism, we feel it is of fundamental
importance to turn to the primacy of God and to a person’s
transcendent vocation. If the lives of men and women remain
imprisoned within the immanent dimension, they run the risk
of not finding the answers to the underlying questions of
life: what can be done so that the man/woman relation can
go beyond the frameworks of competition, oppression, imposition
and the lack of respect and mutual esteem? What can be done
so that this relationship may be truly a place of communion,
encounter, communication and mutual love, and so that women
may increasingly find that space that corresponds to them
in the divine plan? If God does not enter into the horizon
of the man/woman relation, one or the other run the danger
of an egocentric assertion of their “self” that
leaves no space for the “other”.
We are convinced that holiness is truly the locus theologicus
for reflection on the identity and mission of women in our
times. On this website we shall try to think in ecclesia,
that is, in the company of all the women who have gone before
us in faith with their holiness and witness of life. It
is in the women saints and particularly in the mystery of
Our Lady that we can contemplate redeemed femininity raised
to the highest dignity in all clarity and transparency.
These saints are concrete models for so many women who long
to live their own baptismal identity as lay people with
greater depth and awareness, and at the same time they ask
about the mission in the Church that pertains to them.
The comparison with the new cultural paradigms and the consequent
challenges should not make us forget that there are still
many places in the world where the dignity of women is not
recognised or is misunderstood, and this results in misery,
violence and marginalisation. We are certain that a greater
presence of women in families, education, politics and economics,
the cultural sphere and the Church, will determine the future
of humanity in order to build a human community enriched
by the contributions of femininity and masculinity.
It is our intention also to create a real network of people
and groups involved in this field by putting them in contact
with each other and building synergy. The email address
to which you can send information, communications and requests
is donna2008@laity.va
of the Pontifical Council for the Laity Section for Women.
Our heartfelt thanks to the group that are helping us with
this initiative: Prof. Giorgia Salatiello, Prof. Nuria Calduch
Benages, Prof. Giulia Paola di Nicola and Prof. Attilio
Danese.
Entrusting to Mary the fruits of this new reality, we
send you our most cordial greetings,
Section Woman
Pontifical Council for the Laity
June 2008
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