Friday, FEBRUARY 14, 2020
6:30 pM | MAIN FLOOR AUDITORIUM
video

“We climbed up, he first and I behind him …. To see again the stars” (Dante)

The Encounter opens with music with Molly Morkoski, pianist, staged readings from The Divine Comedy with Giuseppe Mazzotta, Sterling Professor of Humanities for Italian at Yale University, and welcoming remarks by Seán Cardinal Patrick O’Malley, OFM, Cap, archbishop of Boston

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Friday, FEBRUARY 14, 2020
7:45 pm | Second FLOOR AUDITORIUM
Exhibit Presentation
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Crossing the Divide: From Ideology to Wonder

Presentation on the exhibit on the Encounter’s theme

Near the end of his life, the great American novelist Walker Percy observed that ours “is the age of theory and consumption” and “the common mark of the theorist and the consumer is that neither knows who he is or what he wants outside of theorizing and consuming [because] one’s self is always a leftover from one’s theory.” This remark has interesting implications for the theme of this year’s New York Encounter: it suggests that the real divide is not primarily between people, but between abstract ideas and real life…

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Friday, FEBRUARY 14, 2020
8:15 pm | Second FLOOR AUDITORIUM
Exhibit Presentation
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“His seeing caused me to begin to see”: Looking at Race and Reality with James Baldwin

Presentation of the exhibit on James Baldwin, novelist, playwright, and activist

“It has always been much easier,” writes the essayist and novelist James Baldwin, “to give a name to the evil without than to locate the terror within.” Though we usually talk about racism as a historical phenomenon in the past or a societal structure to be solved, Baldwin invites us to look more closely at the lack of self-awareness from which it emerges.

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Friday, FEBRUARY 14, 2020
9:00 pM | MAIN FLOOR AUDITORIUM
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The Girl from Hong Kong

A journey across America in words, music, and images by Martina Saltamacchia, José Medina, TJ Berden,
Michele Averchi, and Jonathan Ghaly. Music by Jonathan Fields and Christopher Vath. Images by Lee Jeffries, Randy Halverson, and Patrick Witty.

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020
10:00 aM | MAIN FLOOR AUDITORIUM
video

A Place for Life

Witnesses on the enduring importance of family with J.D. Flynn, editor-in-chief, Catholic News Agency, Sarah Hemminger, founder and CEO of Thread, and Matteo Stohlman, software engineer in a DC real estate startup, moderated by Marcie Stokman, founder of Well-Read Mom

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020
11:30 aM | MAIN FLOOR AUDITORIUM
video

Working in an Inclusive Economy

Young workers and entrepreneurs discuss Pope Francis’ economic vision with Carlos Martínez, CEO of 376 Management Group and Giorgio Vittadini, president of the Foundation for Subsidiarity and professor of statistics at the University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy, moderated by Anujeet Sareen, portfolio manager, Brandywine Global

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020
12:45 pm | Second FLOOR AUDITORIUM
Exhibit Presentation
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Giussani in America

Presentation of the exhibit on Fr. Luigi Giussani, founder of Communion and Liberation

The work of a group of friends who have encountered the charism of the ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation, this exhibit explores the life and impact of founder Father Luigi Giussani in the United States. How do Americans—with their unique sense of “destiny” and “promise” and the potential of the individual—receive the proposal of this Italian priest?

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020
1:15 pm | Second FLOOR AUDITORIUM
Exhibit Presentation
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“A human being is a remarkable thing”

Presentation of the exhibit on the wartime writings of Dutch-Jewish woman Etty Hillesum (1941-1943)

The year is 1941. In Amsterdam, Etty Hillesum, a young, emancipated, secular Jewish woman starts keeping a diary at the request of her therapist. She scrupulously records her every thought, change in mood, and the often banal events that punctuate her daily life. As the Nazi occupiers of the Netherlands impose increasingly harsh measures on Dutch Jews, however, Etty realizes that she also needs to make sense of the outside world and its frightening reality.

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020
2:00 pM | MAIN FLOOR AUDITORIUM
VIDEO

Bridging the Divide in the Most Unlikely of Places

A conversation on reconciliation and going over apparently un-crossable divides with Jeanne Bishop, Cook County Public Defender and Fr. George Williams, chaplain for San Quentin State Prison death row

A public defender reconciling with the man who murdered her sister, un-born child, and brother-in-law and a chaplain serving in a seemingly hopeless place of death row will share their experience of going over apparently un-crossable divides.

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020
3:00 pm | Second FLOOR AUDITORIUM
Exhibit Presentation
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Humans and Machines: Behind the Curtains of Artificial Intelligence

Presentation of the exhibit on Artificial Intelligence with Julia Stoyanovich, assistant professor of computer science and engineering at NYU, and Carlo Torniai, advisory council member of DominoDataLab

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Saturday, FEBRUARY 15, 2020
4:00 PM | MAIN FLOOR AUDITORIUM
video

In Search of the Other America

A conversation with Chris Arnade, writer and photographer, and Patrick Deneen, professor of political science and constitutional studies at the University of Notre Dame, moderated by Jon Balsbaugh, president of the Trinity Schools Network

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020
5:15 PM | SECOND FLOOR AUDITORIUM
Across the Divide Series: The Power of Human Experience
VIDEO

SOMOS: Doctors on the Front Line

Caring for people and communities on the periphery with Mario Paredes, chief executive officer of Somos Community Care, and Ricardo Rivera, chief development officer of Somos Community Care

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020
6:00 PM | MAIN FLOOR AUDITORIUM
video

Ideals vs. Ideologies in Politics. A Lost Battle?

A conversation on the direction of American politics with Sohrab Ahmari, op-ed editor, The New York Post, and Christine Emba, columnist, The Washington Post, moderated by Brandon Vaidyanathan, chair of the Department of Sociology at The Catholic University of America

Politics, instead of reflecting shared ideals and the desire for the common good, has become prey to ideologies that relentlessly fuel divisions. Recognizing the difference between “ideologies”—both on the right and on the left—and “ideals,” and being open to the impact of real events, seem critical in America today.

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020
7:15 PM | SECOND FLOOR AUDITORIUM
Across the Divide Series: The Power of Human Experience
VIDEO

Making Poetry Sing: Crossing the Divide Between Poet and Audience

A presentation on poetry by Dana Gioia, poet, followed by the Poetry Contest award ceremony

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Saturday, FEBRUARY 15, 2020
8:15 PM | SECOND FLOOR AUDITORIUM
Across the Divide Series: The Power of Human Experience
VIDEO

From the Street to the Backyard

A face-to-face encounter with Rex Hohlbein, founder of Facing Homelessness Seattle and the BLOCK Project, moderated by Alberto Carignano, post-doctoral fellow, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Washington

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Saturday, FEBRUARY 15, 2020
9:00 PM | Main FLOOR AUDITORIUM
video

Classical Music and Jazz ... Two Sides of the Same Coin

A concert with Andrea Domenici, jazz pianist, and Radoslawa Jasik, classical pianist

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2020
9:00 AM | MAIN FLOOR AUDITORIUM
video: Homily by Archbishop Christophe Pierre

Holy Mass

Memorial Mass for the 15th anniversary of Fr. Luigi Giussani’s death, celebrated by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, with the Choir of New York Encounter directed by Sebastian Modarelli, music director and organist at St. John the Evangelist Church in Rochester, MN

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2020
11:00 AM | MAIN FLOOR AUDITORIUM
Video

What Can Free Us from Ideology?

A conversation on the Encounter’s theme in light of Where is God?: Christian Faith in the Time of Great Uncertainty (McGill-Queen’s University Press) by Fr. Julián Carrón, with Fr. Julián Carrón, president of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, Ami Dar, founder and executive director of Idealist.org, and Aaron Riches, professor of theology at Benedictine College, moderated by Fr. José Medina, U.S. coordinator of Communion and Liberation

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Sunday, FEBRUARY 16, 2020
12:45 PM | SECOND FLOOR AUDITORIUM
Across the Divide Series: The Power of Human Experience
VIDEO

From Dereliction to a Life of Luminous Love

A conversation about the journey of the late-Frank Simmonds with Rita A. Simmonds, wife and author of Convicted by Mercy: The Journey of Frank Simmonds from the Streets to Sanctity, and Lawrence E. Sullivan, professor emeritus of theology and comparative world religions, University of Notre Dame

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Sunday, FEBRUARY 16, 2020
2:00 PM | MAIN FLOOR AUDITORIUM
video

A Paper-Thin Distance

How the discovery of our common humanity can shatter racial ideology with Daryl Davis, musician and public speaker, and Christian Picciolini, author and founder of the Free Radical Projects global network, moderated by Jonathan Fields, composer

An African American blues musician who engages with members of the Ku Klux Klan. The former leader of a white-supremacist skinhead group who has left hate behind. A surprising dialogue on crossing the divide from opposite sides of a seemingly unbridgeable chasm.

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Sunday, FEBRUARY 16, 2020
3:15 PM | SECOND FLOOR AUDITORIUM
Across the Divide Series: The Power of Human Experience
VIDEO

Unafraid of the Divide

A face-to-face encounter with Sr. Mariae Agnus Dei, SV and Sr. Virginia Joy, SV, Sisters of Life, and Fr. Richard Veras, director of pastoral formation at St. Joseph’s Seminary, Yonkers, NY

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Sunday, FEBRUARY 16, 2020
4:00 pM | Main FLOOR AUDITORIUM
VIDEO

Our Tears Are the Same

An Israeli and a Palestinian share their stories of reconciliation with Bassam Aramin, Palestinian Co-Director of The Parents Circle Families Forum and Robi Damelin, Israeli spokesperson for the Parents Circle Families Forum, moderated by Marta Zaknoun, journalist

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Sunday, FEBRUARY 16, 2020
5:30 pM | Main FLOOR AUDITORIUM
video

Someone, Somewhere, Who Lived Fully

Witnesses on the martyrdom of 40 Burundians killed by Hutu rebels and 21 Copts killed by ISIS extremists, with Fr. Zacharie Bukuru, Benedictine monk in Buta, Burundi, His Grace Anba David, bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of New York and New England, and Rev. Marcel Uwineza, SJ, Rwandan genocide survivor, moderated by Barbara Gagliotti, foundations officer, AVSI-USA

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Sunday, FEBRUARY 16, 2020
7:30 pM | Main FLOOR AUDITORIUM

All This Starry Sky … That Makes Me Dream

Final night of celebration and songs with the Encounter volunteers

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Featured Images

“We climbed up, he first and I behind him …. To see again the stars”
Gustave Doré (1832–1883), The Inferno, Canto 34, 1857, engraving print (detail) | (PD-US)

“His seeing caused me to begin to see”: Looking at Race and Reality with James Baldwin
Beauford Delaney (1901–1979), Portrait of James Baldwin, 1945, oil on canvas, Philadelphia Museum of Art

“A human being is a remarkable thing”
Portrait of Etty Hillesum. Place, date and photographer unknown. Public Domain. Source: nationaalarchief.nl

In Search of the Other America
Chris Arnade, Cesar and Son, El Paso, Texas, August 2015

Making Poetry Sing: Crossing the Divide Between Poet and Audience
Jules Adolphe Breton (1827-1906), The Song of the Lark, 1884, oil on canvas (detail) | CC0 Public Domain

From Dereliction to a Life of Luminous Love
From the film Humans and Trees (2015) directed by John Touhey

From the Street to the Backyard
https://www.facinghomelessness.org/about#media