Planning Meeting
Dear Reverends and Colleagues,
We had a good CAPPF June- December 2012 meeting yesterday which was attended by Father Mark, Mario Galea, Wilfred Mallia, Mark Demicoli and Jes Saliba. I had met the week before Father Joe to discuss possible activities to be included in this plan.
Review of the first part of 2012
There is general satisfaction with the developments during the first months of the year including (a) the Roundtable on the International Financial and Monetary System, which was well attended and well covered by the media, (b) the radio programmes on RTK which are greatly successful, (c) the progress being registered in CAPPF’s contribution to the Converse project on “What type of Society do we wish to have?” where the breakfast dialogue meetings are being very well attended and where participation is strong and valuable, and (d) The Lenten Talk given by Father Joe was also successful with fifteen members and their spouses in attendance.
The meeting yesterday wishes to express gratitude to Joe Borg for his dedication to the RTK radio programme – a weekly chore of careful preparation and skilful presentation, and to Mario Galea for participating as a resident guest on this programme.
There were also suggestions that we will hold Talks similar to the one given by Father Joe more often and not waiting for Lent to have such an event organised. The members yesterday also wished that the radio experience will be followed up by other programmes in the near future.
Discernhas kindly accepted to publish the papers delivered during the Roundtable in a booklet.
The meeting also expressed satisfaction with the way the Master programme in Business Ethics is progressing. The Faculty of Theology is also very enthusiastic in taking forward the English version of the on-line social doctrine course which is being developed by the Universita’ Lateranense. The forthcoming visit by Andrew Abela of the University of Washington in June this year will create an opportunity to have him addressing both the MA students as well as the CAPPF group.
CAPPF Convention in Milan in May 2012
So far four couples and Father Joe have decided to attend this Convention.
Events for the rest of 2012
There are two major events being organised, besides Holy Mass in December.
The first event will be another Roundtable on “The Economic and Social Life in Gaudium et Spes from today’s perspective – celebrating 50 years since the opening of the Vatican Council II “. (provisional title).
This year is the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Vatican Council II by Pope John XXIII. Gaudium et Spes , also referred to as the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, was one of the four Apostolic Constitutions resulting from the Second Vatican Council. The document is an overview of the Catholic Church’s teachings about humanity’s relationship to society, particularly in reference to economics, poverty, social justice, culture, science, technology and ecumenism. Chapter 3 of the document focuses on the Economic and Social Life. (Find attached Chapter III of Gaudum et Spes).
The idea behind this Roundtable is that of reviewing the application of the ideas and principles expressed in this document throughout these fifty years, also in the light of the various encyclicals on social teaching, including Populorum Progressio, Centesimus Annus and Caritas in Veritate. We will hold this Roundtable in October with the participation of three economists and sociologists.
The second event centres around the visit of the CAPPF board on the 16th November. The board meeting of the Vatican based foundation will be held at Palazzo de Piro on the 16th November, but we will have a number of occasions to have the board members meeting the Maltese group. Cardinal Calcagno, the President of APSA, will also accompany the board to this meeting. The programme will include meetings HE Mgr Caputo, the Archbishop and the Bishop of Gozo, and the President of Malta. We will also organise a brief encounter with President Emeritus Dr Fenech Adami whom we will invite for one of the dinners and ask him to give a pre-dinner speech. I will keep you informed on the progress being registered in the organisation of this visit. Do pencil in on your diaries the 15th – 17th November.
Kindest wishes,
Joe