NEW YORK, Jan. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 2015 New York ­Encounter, a three-day public cultural festival featuring panel discussions, artistic performances, and exhibits, will take place January 16-18 at the Metropolitan Pavilion on 215 West 18^th Street.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, will deliver opening remarks on Friday January 16^th at 6:30pm. As Cardinal Dolan witnessed last year, the New York Encounter helps "promote a society of truth and love."

The theme of the 2015 New York Encounter, In Search of the Human Face, is pertinent to our world today. Our society and culture are driving many to ask new questions about the meaning of life and to re-examine answers that had long been taken for granted. What can science contribute to the understanding of who we are? How do the new means of communication shape the perception of ourselves in relationship to others? These questions express a broader quest to redefine our identity, and provoke us to verify what contribution the Christian event can offer to this exploration.

Through events and conversations with speakers such as Sean Cardinal O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston, the New York Encounter will delve deeper into these questions that shape our society. 

The diverse array of presentations will feature speakers from all walks of life: artists, educators, scientists, lawyers, musicians, authors, and doctors.  Highlights include:

• Saturday, January 17, 2015 at 3:30pm: The Emergence of the Human Face. A presentation on the degree to which evolution explains who we are. Speakers: Kenneth MILLER, Professor of Biology, Brown Un., Martin NOWAK, Prof. of Biology and Mathematics, Harvard Un., Richard POTTS, Director of the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian, Maria Teresa LANDI (moderator) Senior Investigator at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
• Saturday, January 17, 2015 at 5:30pm: Identity and the Challenge of Disability. A dialogue on the discovery of human identity in the speakers' life long experience with people with disabilities. Speakers: Sean Cardinal O'MALLEY, Archbishop of Boston, Timothy SHRIVER, Chairman of Special Olympics and Jean VANIER (on telecast), Founder of L'Arche communities.
• Sunday, January 18, 2015 at 5:30pm: In Search of a New Beginning. A talk by Fr. Julian Carron, President of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, on the Catholic contribution to the quest for human identity in front of the challenges of our times.
• Exhibit "The Face of Sanctity, the Human Face". The lives of St. Frances Cabrini and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

For a full program of events visit www.newyorkencounter.org  

Founded in 2010 by members of the Catholic lay ecclesial movement, Communion and Liberation, the goal of the New York Encounter is to be witness to the flourishing of new life generated by faith. The Encounter continues to provide a vibrant meeting point for thousands of people from different beliefs, traditions and cultures striving for reciprocal understanding, broadened perspectives and the possibility for true friendship.

Most events are free of charge. Credentialed media are welcome. For interviews with speakers or organizers, contact the New York Encounter Press Office at: press@newyorkencounter.org -or- (920) 541-7872.

www.newyorkencounter.org
press@newyorkencounter.org
1 (920) 541-7872
Twitter: @nyencounter

SOURCE New York Encounter

Related Links

http://www.newyorkencounter.org/