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The seventh annual New York Encounter, a cultural festival featuring panel discussions, artistic performances and exhibits, will take place Jan. 15-17 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, 215 W. 18th St. in Manhattan. The theme of the 2016 Encounter is “Longing for the Sea and Yet Not Afraid.”
The Encounter, sponsored by the Catholic lay ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation, will highlight speakers from many walks of life: artists, educators, scientists, lawyers, musicians, authors, doctors and an astronaut. Program highlights include:
n Friday, Jan. 15, 6:30 p.m.: Spurred on by the Promise of Happiness. The Encounter opens with poetry, music and a conversation with Christian Wiman, poet and senior lecturer, Yale Divinity School, and Gregory Wolfe, editor of Image.
n Saturday, Jan. 16, 6 p.m.: Setting Out on the Long Path of Renewal. A reflection on Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si (On Care for Our Common Home). Speakers are Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, and Jeffery Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
n Sunday, Jan. 17, 4 p.m.: “Your Love Is Better Than Life.” A dialogue between Archbishop Amel Nona, the exiled Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Iraq; Father Pier Battista Pizzaballa, custos of the Holy Land; and a refugee family in Erbil, Kurdistan.
n Exhibit: “A People, a Face, a Newness in Everyday Rubble.” An encounter with Christians in the Middle East.
Cardinal O’Malley will celebrate Mass on Sunday, Jan. 17, at 9 a.m.
New York Encounter is a meeting point for people of different beliefs, traditions and cultures, striving for reciprocal understanding, broadened perspectives and true friendship. All events, with the exception of the Saturday night musical reflection, are free. The full program can be found at www.newyorkencounter.org.
