The Edith Stein Project of the University of Notre Dame is an annual conference that seeks to articulate the authentic meaning of human dignity and sexuality. This year’s conference is on “Relationships and the Call to Love” and it’s keynote address will be given by Alasdair MacIntyre on “Edith Stein on Empathy.”
Caroline Reuter, a senior at Notre Dame and one of the Project’s chairs this year, explained the purpose of the Edith Stein Project and this year’s conference theme:
The Edith Stein Project provides a venue for exploring issues that are deeply relevant to college students, but which they may not frequently discuss. This year, we will be looking at each person’s call to love in and through relationships. How can the relationships that fill our lives be informed by the Catholic perspective of the human person? How can we look at the practical side of our relationships while remaining rooted in the truths of who we are as men and women?
With a wide range of topics, from the problem of pornography and the hook-up culture on college campuses to presentations on the thought of Edith Stein and John Paul II, Madeline Gillen, conference chair and senior undergraduate student, recognizes Christ and his Resurrection, in union with the teachings of the Church, to be at the heart of the conference’s mission to provide students with an authentic understanding of the human person.
Other conference presenters include First Thoughts and Spiritual Friendship blogger Ron Belgau, Elise Italiano, a contributor to Breaking Through: Catholic Women Speak For Themselves, and Gina Loehr, 2013 delegate for the Pontifical Council for the Laity seminar on Mulieris Dignitatemi, and myself, presenting a paper on “The Noble Vocation of Women: Love and Friendship in Alice von Hildebrand.” Carmelite prioress and musician Sr. Claire Sokol will also speak, and the conference will have a display to honor the memory of Bishop John D’Arcy, bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend and enthusiastic supporter of the Edith Stein Project since its founding, who passed away last year.
