new world
New York encounter

That Most Precious  Gift
What does it mean to be truly free? This seemingly simple theme was explored in all its richness during a weekend-long adventure at the New York Encounter. In midtown Manhattan, over 2,000 visitors (and 225 volunteers) journeyed through presentations, performances, and discussions–discovering that “the NYE itself becomes an experience of freedom.”

by Michael and Sondra Orts

“Hi.” The only word (at first) to come out of Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete’s mouth as he comes on stage Friday evening is met with spontaneous laughter and applause that resounds in the great hall at the Manhattan Center.  Just like that, the 2013 New York Encounter  (January 18-20) begins.  The theme is “Experiencing Freedom.” As Monsignor continues, we are guided away from the reductions we usually make and asked not to give a definition of freedom, but to experience freedom, that “most precious gift that heaven has bestowed upon men” (Miguel de Cervantes).
The dramatic follow-up to this call to attention was the video interview of Joshua Stancil, an inmate from a North Carolina prison who discovered the writings of Fr. Luigi Giussani through readings published in Magnificat. He began following Communion and Liberation through visits from friends in the CL community. When asked how it’s possible to feel free in prison, Joshua related an incident where, working as a medical janitor, he became depressed after cleaning up blood from a particularly brutal prison fight. He asked: Why me? What did I do to deserve this?  “A couple days later, I received a letter from a group of kids, friends in the Movement.  It was a school group, and they had questions; they wanted to know about my experience in prison.  I was so shocked by this.  They’re asking me questions, and they’re expecting an answer. They’re asking, ‘Why?’  Unlike me, they’re expecting an answer.  My ‘why’ was not a genuine question; it was more like a shaking fist, an accusation.  Theirs was actually a real question.”  This why was the question to follow, the starting point of experiencing freedom.

The question is the key . Later that evening, Jonathan Fields guided listeners through musical history in his presentation, “America’s Longing for Freedom.” American band music was born on the battlefields of the Civil War. The musicians were not so concerned with technical perfection, but more with a friendship –“Look into the face of the one who is singing, and hear the music of the ages” (George Ives). Meanwhile, Antonin Dvorak made the yearning for freedom in Negro spirituals the starting point for his own American compositions.  Pieces from across the spectrum of Americana, performed by the Manhattan Wind Ensemble, revealed how, as Jonathan told us, “music carries the need to express something true.” A modernist piece by Charles Ives, “The Unanswered Question” (1906) presented the dynamic of three voices:  1) The Mystery, the soaring constant presence of the cosmos, represented by the strings;  2) the question of man in the presence of the Mystery, represented by the solo trumpet; and  3) the world’s wisdom trying to answer man’s question, represented by the flutes. And man’s indestructible question always returns–“That question, that search for an ultimate meaning, is the possibility of freedom.”
Other events underscored questioning as a key to freedom, in art (as shown by Francis Green in his masterful discussion of modern art) and even in work. The “Freedom, Risk, Responsibility” presentation by Harold Korell, former Chairman of the Board of Southwestern Energy, described how the curiosity of his employees was the most valuable asset. Following this, going deeper into problems that would typically be abandoned to preconceptions, and approaching decisions by taking all the factors of reality into account fostered value, growth, and unprecedented performance in the company.

A changed heart. “Political freedom comes from the freedom of the heart,” remarks John Waters, moderating the presentation for Paul Bhatti, Pakistan’s Minister of National Harmony and Minority Affairs.  Paul  Bhatti gave a moving testimony of the life of his brother, Shahbaz Bhatti, Federal Minister for Minorities, who gave his life for the sake of liberty and brotherhood among the people of Pakistan. Previously, while living a comfortable life as a doctor in Italy, Paul was certain he would never return to Pakistan. After his brother’assassination, Paul’s heart was changed and he decided to take up his brother’s cause.  This choice wasn’t made by following an ideology but, instead, because Christ had given everything for all men, and his brother had shown how to participate in this sacrifice.  “I know the meaning of the Cross,” proclaimed Shahbaz on a television interview shortly before his death. “When you give your life to Jesus Christ, you are not afraid.”
With this incredible witness, we moved forward into the evening performance of “The Katrina Letters,” an ensemble piece set to the love letters of two teenagers, a man serving in World War II and his girlfriend waiting for him back home.  The letters were discovered 60 years later by their children, floating in flood waters left by Hurricane Katrina in their family home. The letters tell a story that began in innocence and rises to great tension in their separation, as the dangers of the war grow over time.  Selections like Ravel’s “Sonata for Violin and Cello” take the viewer into the heart of this experience, as the actors read letters in an unpredictable rhythm, such that it’s impossible to know when the next letter will come. Through the complexity of emotion and dialogue, real history passes through music describing the crucible of maturity, as the lovers emerge more aware of themselves, their relationship, and their place in the God-given world.
  After celebrating Mass Sunday morning with His Eminence Edward Cardinal Egan, two reflections on the Year of Faith (“Faith, Soul of Life”) were given by Fr. Peter Cameron, Editor-in-Chief of Magnificat, and Fr. Julián Carrón, President of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation.
Fr. Cameron was serving at St. Rose of Lima parish in Newtown, CT, helping victims after the horrific shooting that took place in the local Sandy Hook Elementary School.  He tells of Michael Murphy, the husband of  the teacher who sacrificed her life to protect some of the children, who came on Sunday morning to ask the priest  if he could say something at Mass to help his children, who were taking the death of their mother very hard.  “Why did Michael Murphy come in search of a priest instead of a counselor, or a therapist, or a psychiatrist?  Because of an endless aspiration, a boundless expectant awaiting, for which only Jesus Christ can suffice.”
He continues, “The first duty of the Year of Faith is to be ready, ready with a renewed and absolute conviction of the truth that faith is not optional; it is what everybody needs.  It is tragic that so often it takes a crisis or a catastrophe, like that of Newtown, to make people realize that they need the Infinite... When this happens, your presence will convince that person that appealing to faith is not a foolish thing to do; rather, it is the only reasonable thing to do.”
Fr. Carrón picks up this thread: “The journey of reflection that we are making together, during this Year of Faith, leads us to meditate: man carries within himself a mysterious desire for God.” Faith arises as a grace, a “gaze that takes hold of him” in a relationship with those living the communion of Christ seriously, as explained in a university student’s letter: “When I walk through the halls, amid the gazes of these people changed by the encounter with Christ, I feel happy, and I feel at home.  When I can’t see them, I want to seek them out–but, have they ever promised me anything?  No. Yet, in reality, they have promised me everything. They are the promise, with their way of living, of being together; with their way of looking at people so that they feel loved, so that they lack nothing. ”
Carrón goes on, “It is through contingent circumstances and relationships that Christ, that the event that Christ was for Simon or the Samaritan woman, became an event for you now!  Christ became the event of life for you through apparently contingent circumstances and relationships.  If you tear yourself away from these, you don’t lose those relationships, but become estranged in those relationships.”

A place of friendship.  This is the challenge in front of us as we live in a world estranged in its relationships, marked by tragedies like the shooting massacres in America and the world economic crisis. “The challenge that we have before us is of this magnitude. We accept it following Benedict XVI, who walks before us today, pulling us all toward Christ, with the enthusiasm of the faith.”
Has the New York Encounter become a space for this possibility, that of being taken hold of by this gaze?  Simon Fung, a volunteer for the New York Encounter since its inception, offered his thoughts: “Something I saw that I didn’t really notice before is that the NYE is becoming a place of friendship. I saw friends from very different circles, all driven by a personal curiosity.  It wasn’t just that people came, showed up, and left, like going to a movie theater.  People came, had coffee, talked…”
“When we were working on describing the theme of freedom this year, Angelo Sala [the Encounter’s originator and driving force] insisted, ‘We hope that the NYE itself is an experience of freedom.’  I didn’t understand this point, but I’m beginning to now. It’s not just a production where you go for the performances and presentations.  It’s a place of encounter and dialogue between people, and  I was surprised to discover a new way of looking.” From contingency to the awareness of gift, beginning with that first “Hi.”
(For more information about the NY Encounter, go to: http://www.newyorkencounter.org/)