A previews of the PROGRAM

ExhiBits, Shows, debates: WHEN The Protagonist is the “heart “
We offer here a glimpse of the week, in which the events, scientists, musicians, and ministers will bring us another step on the path of desire, demonstrating how “That Nature that Pushes Us to Desire Great Things is the Heart.”

by Francesca Mortaro

The week of the 2009 Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples was dense with meaning. From the coffee bar run by prisoners to the meeting on Saint Paul, from the exhibit on the Rione Sanità in Naples to talks by Nobel Prize winners, the last Meeting highlighted how “Knowledge is Always an Adventure.” Well, this year it goes a step further. The title was drawn from a conversation between Fr. Luigi Giussani and some high school students, when, in response to a girl telling him about her desire for “a life of greatness” he asked, “Why do you desire to be great? …The nature that pushes you to desire such great things is the heart. Follow it.” Continuing this, the theme of the Meeting is: “That Nature that Pushes Us to Desire Great Things is the Heart.” It will be developed by Fr. Stefano Alberto in one of the key talks of the week. The aspiration dwelling in every human heart is what makes us irreducible.
So, here’s a first taste of the tentative program. Many important guests have already confirmed their commitment: Mary McAleese, President of Ireland; Franco Frattini, Italy’s Foreign Minister; Joaquin Allende-Luco, President of the Aid to the Church in Need Association; and great scientists such as Laurent Lafforgue and Edward Nelson. Again this year, there will be testimonies to how a life can be reborn in any circumstance. This is the case with the orphans taken in by Rose Busingye at the Meeting Point of Uganda, and of Margherita Coletta, widow of the brigadier killed in the attack on the Italian peacekeepers in Nassiriya. A cycle of encounters on humanity and law will involve jurists such as Paolo Carozza, from the University of Notre Dame, and Joseph Weiler from New York University, while Angelo Scola, Patriarch of Venice, will explore the theme of the Church and the challenges of modernity. The Meeting will also offer the opportunity to hear from the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin; the Buddhist monk, Shodo Habukawa; and the Anglican theologian, John Milbank. Nine exhibits will cover such varied subjects as Flannery O’Connor, Dante, the value of work in mathematics, and the thirty-year anniversary of Poland’s Solidarnosc movement.
This year’s performances will have dramatic impact. They include Caligula by Albert Camus, which will open the week; a homage to the 90-year anniversary of the birth of Federico Fellini; and a concert dedicated to Frédéric Chopin. The event will also feature Terra Naomi, the American singer who has become famous through YouTube. Closing the evenings of the Meeting will be the band OutofSize—Milanese by birth but American at heart—and its repertoire of folk, rock, and soul. A common denominator keeps everything together, from an encounter with an entrepreneur to a symphony performance: the greatness of the desire of the human heart.