Marriage as Eucharist: Re-discovering the Body and Sexuality as Sacramental

19 December 2002
George S. Worgul
Professor of Systematic Theology and Director of the Family Institute, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh

The Christian tradition has long identified the Eucharist as the source and summit of sacramental life. All sacraments are extensions and continuations of the Eucharist. How then is Christian marriage Eucharistic? This presentation will focus on rediscovering the important place of bodyliness and sexuality in the human dynamics of human love. It will also propose that there is a "real presence" of the risen Christ in the presence of the couple one to another. Moreover, their sacramental living and especially their sexual communion results in "transignification" and "transfinalization" of their bodies.

The Lay Vocation of Married Christians: A Question of Credibility for the Church

4 December 2002
Godfried Card. Danneels
Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels

Throughout the history of Christianity, the image of the Church has been shaped continuously by particular vocations: the martyrs in the early Church, the monks in the Middle Ages, the Clerics in the Post-Tridentine period. Today, there is good reason to believe that the time has come for lay Christians and, more specifically, married couples to play a key role in the mission of the Church. For the speaker, himself a bishop, nothing less than the credibility of the Church is at stake here.

Malaise religieuse et tâches de la spiritualité chrétienne

21 October 2002
Bruno Secondin, O.Carm.
Professeur de Théologie Spirituelle, Università Pontificia Gregoriana, Rome

The Christian tradition has long identified the Eucharist as the source and summit of sacramental life. All sacraments are extensions and continuations of the Eucharist. How then is Christian marriage Eucharistic? This presentation will focus on rediscovering the important place of bodyliness and sexuality in the human dynamics of human love. It will also propose that there is a "real presence" of the risen Christ in the presence of the couple one to another. Moreover, their sacramental living and especially their sexual communion results in "transignification" and "transfinalization" of their bodies.

Marriage and Spirituality in the Anglican Tradition

5 September 2002
Patrick Moore, FSC
Scholar-in-Residence, Sarum College, Salisbury, UK

The Christian tradition has long identified the Eucharist as the source and summit of sacramental life. All sacraments are extensions and continuations of the Eucharist. How then is Christian marriage Eucharistic? This presentation will focus on rediscovering the important place of bodyliness and sexuality in the human dynamics of human love. It will also propose that there is a "real presence" of the risen Christ in the presence of the couple one to another. Moreover, their sacramental living and especially their sexual communion results in "transignification" and "transfinalization" of their bodies.

The Social Timing of Modern Identities

29 August 2002
Günter Burkart
Professor of Sociology at Lüneburg University, Germany

In late modernity the perspective of life courses and of a highly structured life time has become especially important for social integration and for the arrangement of marital relations, i.e. the synchronization of family formation and individual careers. In addition, changing gender roles and new lifestyles will continue to have a major impact on modern identities.