International Congress of the Pontifical Council for the Laity

Woman and man: the humanum in its entirety.

On 7-9 February 2008, at the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the apostolic letter “Mulieris Dignitatem”, the Pontifical Council for the Laity organized an international congress, gathering around 250 participants (women in major part) from all around the world.

The international Bureau of the MIAMSI asked me to take part in this event and I would like to thank them for this opportunity and experience.

These three days were very enriching, thanks to the quality of the persons I met, even more than to the quality of the very well structures presentations from great speakers.

The German philosopher Hanna Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz pleaded for a new ownership of the “feminism” by the Church, to avoid letting this concept go to the anticlerical movements.

The theologian Blanca Castillar de Cortázar reminded us that Jean-Paul II, with his apostolic letter «Mulieris Dignitatem» and his vision of the woman as a image of God, created a «time before» and a «time after» in the Church. Mrs. Castillar reaffirmed that the man and the woman have a different but complementary way of giving themselves to others and therefore become a source of attraction but above all source of fecundity («l’homme et la femme ont une manière de se donner aux autres différente et complémentaire, devenant ainsi source d’attraction mais surtout source de fécondité»).

The intervention of Attilio Danese and Giulia di Nicola, respectively professors of anthropology and of sociology, handled in depth the topic of the relationship between man and woman under the title “Woman and man created one for the other” («La femme et l’homme créés l’un pour l’autre»).

During her presentation called «Responsibility and participation of the women in building the Church and the society» («Responsabilité et participation de la femme à l’édification de l’Eglise et de la société»), Paola Bignardi said that the woman, with her «patience in waiting» can bring the «experience of listening» to the Church.

Roundtables about «Christianism and the promotion of women», «Contemporary cultural trends and issues» and « ole and mission of the woman» allowed us to hear the vision of experts on these topics.

Workshops and brain storming sessions, to think further on the various issues according to the continents, were the final part of this session.

These few “Roman” days allowed me to appreciate the Church’s diversity and its richness but also to hear the difficulties encountered by some women, concerned about the reality of their position in the Church, beyond the nice talks.

I particularly related to the frequent interventions of African women reminding that the Church was a major player in the struggle for the women’s dignity in Africa, especially in the actions against excision.

And the end of this congress will not be an end! The website www.laici.org will have a special section reserved for the division “women” of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. The aim of this section is to foster the exchange of experiences, reflections and initiatives between the various movements, associations and institutions which are working to the promotion of the woman’s dignity and mission.

9 April 2008

Isabelle Losseau –Seny

ACi Belgium