CNA<\/a>).- An organizer for the New York Encounter, a three-day cultural festival held in January, says this year's theme of \u201cExperiencing Freedom\u201d is an idea both cherished and deeply divisive in American culture.<\/p>\n\t\u201cWhat is it that defines this mysterious thing which we call freedom, which for us as believers is the ultimate reflection of the experience of God himself that's been given to us as creatures?\u201d Maurizio Maniscalco, the event's chairman, reflected.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cFreedom is the territory where not even God intervenes in our life,\u201d which makes its experience a \u201cpretty compelling thing,\u201d he told CNA in a Jan. 9 interview.<\/p>\n
\tThe New York Encounter will be held Jan. 18-20 in midtown Manhattan, and is the third annual installment of the event. It is free and requires no registration.<\/p>\n
\tThe Encounter is organized by the Catholic ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation and by Crossroads Cultural Center. The center aims to explore the relationship between religion and culture, and was founded by members of the Communion and Liberation movement.<\/p>\n
\tThis year's Encounter will feature reflections from an array of speakers, as well as musical and artistic performances, and exhibits on author G. K. Chesterton and the Cristero martyrs of Mexico. Mass will be said Jan. 20 by Cardinal Egan, archbishop emeritus of New York.<\/p>\n
\tAmong the speakers is Paul Bhatti, who is Pakistan's Minister of National Harmony and Minority Affairs. He will talk about the life of his brother Shahbaz, who was martyred in 2011 for his support of Pakistani Christians and his opposition to the country's blasphemy laws, which are primarily used to persecute non-Muslims.<\/p>\n
\tManiscalco said the organizers desire to share their experience of God with those who attend the Encounter, and that it is for Catholics and non-Catholics alike.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cOur ultimate desire is that what happened to us, may happen to others. And since it happened to us through human encounters, our hope is that through the human encounter that the New York Encounter is, somebody could discover that God is not just an unknown mystery, but is a life, that the church is not an obsolete organization, but is a life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cAnd for those who already believe, we desire that God willing they may return home with more hope, more faith, more charity; more passion, more love for what they are called to do, what they are called to live.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe said that freedom is experienced not as an achievement, but as a belonging-in-community.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe know that the truth will make us free. And the truth has become man, dwelling among us. That is our certainty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cAnd we hope that by spending some time there, listening to witnesses, maybe even seeing the 200 volunteers we have who make this happen, one begins to perceive, to see a glimpse of this possible fulfillment which is fruit of a belonging.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tNew York Encounter is \u201cas Catholic event as it can be,\u201d Maniscalco said, \u201cin a true sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThose who make it happen do it with the one and only desire, to bring their humble testimony in the public square, in the heart of New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe said the Encounter is in the spirit of St. Paul's admonition to test all things, and \u201chold fast to what which is good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe invite people, we present things\u2026we try to embrace them and retain what is good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWhile being a \u201cCatholic\u201d event, the New York Encounter is not one in which \u201cwe sit there to pray the Rosary,\u201d Maniscalco reflected.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cGod willing we do that, but during the Encounter, it's a sign, an event of openness.\u201d The New York Encounter is the fruit of a \u201cdesire to bring our testimony in the heart of the world,\u201d said Maniscalco.<\/p>\n
\tNew York Encounter \u201caims to discover, affirm, and offer to everyone truly human expressions of the desire for truth, beauty, and justice,\u201d its website says. It is \u201ca meeting point for people of different beliefs, traditions, and cultures striving for reciprocal understanding, mutual building, and true friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe organizers of the event are all members of Communion and Liberation, which was founded in 1954 by Monsignor Luigi Giusanni. Maniscalco said the movement's gift to the Church is \u201ca friendship in the name of Christ,\u201d and that the New York Encounter \u201cis a little example\u201d of this friendship.<\/p>\n
\tAndrew Whaley will be attending the New York Encounter, and is traveling from Colorado to do so.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI'm fairly new to Communion and Liberation, but am really intrigued so far, both by the thought of Fr. Luigi Giussani, but also by the way it is lived out so immediately in community,\u201d he told CNA Jan. 10.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cHe was always saying 'Christ is an event that is happening to me 'now.' I find it a challenge to do that from moment to moment \u2013 to experience my life and my self as a question, in the moment, whose answer is Christ,\u201d Whaley added.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI am looking forward to being surrounded by an entire community attempting to live that for a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
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New York City, N.Y., Jan 10, 2013 \/ 12:27 pm (CNA).- An organizer for the New York Encounter, a three-day cultural festival held in January, says this year's theme of “Experiencing Freedom” is an idea both cherished and deeply divisive …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
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