Conference „Christianity in Europe. Questions on Unity”   |   4 – 7 November 2024   |   18 Jordana st. Katowice, Poland

Conference programme

Conference: Christianity in Europe. Questions on Unity

Katowice, EuroScience City 2024
4-7 November 2024

4 th November

10:00

Greetings

 10:45

Panel discussion [POLISH/ENGLISH, translated]: The experience of synodality. In search of unity that respects plurality

Card. Grzegorz Ryś, Bp Jacek Grzybowski, Myriam Wijlens, Jerzy Sojka

Moderator: Grzegorz Strzelczyk

14:00

Session 2: Some national or regional experiences with the synodality (short presentations) [POLISH/ENGLISH, translated]

Aušra Vasiliauskaitė (Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania)

Hopes and challenges of the synodal process from the Lithuanian ecclesial perspective

Radoslav Lojan (Catholic University in Ružomberok, Slovakia)

The experiences with the synodal process in Slovakia

Josef Mikulášek (Palacký University Olomouc, The Czech Republic)

Unity and diversity of the Catholic Church in the Czech Republic based on the experience of the synodal process

Józef Kloch (The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow, Poland)

Synod chases synod. The feasibility of their ideas and the context of the passing of time

5th November

9:30

Session 1: Ǫuestions from the Synod

Myriam Wijlens (University of Erfurt, Germany)

The Synod on Synodality: the process, the outcomes and the challenge of implementation in a worldwide Church

10:45

Session 2: Ǫuestion of the doctrinal unity

Michael Seewald (University of Münster, Germany)

The unity of the Church and the mutability of her doctrine

Damian Wąsek (The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow, Poland)

The role of ecclesial structures in sustaining the doctrinal unity of the Church

14:00

Session 3: Europe: The plurality identity and the Christian unity

Alexandre Palma (Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, Portugal)

Europe, Christianity and the Church: roots and fruits

Alberto Lo Presti (Lumsa University, Rome, Italy)

Decentralization and identity: Europe and Christianity

15:00

Workshops for students

6th November

Session 1: Cultural pluralism and Christian unity in the global perspective

Margit Eckholt (University of Osnabrück, Germany)

Trans-lation and „esprit de finesse“. Theology in the service of synodal learning processes in a culturally plural World Church

Dirk Ansorge (Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt, Germany)

Catholicity on trial: ecclesiological reflections on unity and Diversity in the global Church

11:00

Session 2: Public responsibility of theology. What can unite us? 

Jean Ehret (Luxembourg School of Religion & Society, Luxembourg)

How to do theology to foster unity? 

Alex Villas Boas (Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, Portugal)

Theology between genealogies of power and genealogies of political spiritualities: an archaeological task to think about unity in plurality in the 21st century 

14:00

Session 3

Emerging scholars

Krzysztof Piętak (University of Warsaw, Poland) 

Reconciling Christianity with modernity: an attempt to vindicate Epicurus’s legacy within the Catholic Church 

Cirilo Boloron (Vienna)

Religious and cultural diversity as God’s gifts to humanity 

Taeha An (New Haven, Connecticut) 

Soteriology and Community-building: theology of salvation in the current European social and political landscape 

Patryk Zając (University of Vienna, Austria; University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland)

Political epistemology and the unity of mankind:   Catholic Christianity’s contribution to enhancing the human epistemic condition 

7th November

9:30

Session 1: Christians for the European integration today. Some insights

Urszula Pękala (Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany) 

Reconciliation – a concept for an European Order? Experiences from Franco-German and Polish-German Relations 

Jerzy Sojka (Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw, Poland)

The Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe and the European Integration

Conclusion