International Conference on Democracy, Culture and Catholicism

June 19, 2012: An International Conference on Democracy, Culture and Catholicism began at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome on Monday. Loyola University of Chicago’s Joan and Bill Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage (CCIH) is sponsoring this 3 day conference. It is the culminating event in its Democracy, Culture, and Catholicism International Research Project, a Press release revealed.

This conference concludes three years of research by thirty-one interdisciplinary scholars from Lithuania, Indonesia, Peru, and the United States who have analyzed and explored the relationships between democracy and religion, with particular attention to the Roman Catholic religious experience.

Successive waves of democratization and de-democratization have swept the world since the 20th century. In every case, religion has been an important factor—be it the effects of the Solidarity Movement in Eastern Europe or the contemporary Arab Spring in the Middle East, the statement added.

On Monday the Conference explored Democracy and Catholicism, Violence and Reconciliation, Expressions of Democracy in Theology and Culture. On Tuesday the conference focused on Religion, Rights, and Relationships in Democratic States; Religious Faith and Democratic Polity; Democracy, Catholicism and Economic Practices;
The conference is scheduled to explore on Wednesday Grassroots Movements, Catholicism, and Democratic Action; Youth Formation and Democratic Participation.