Wednesday, July 18

Today was, sadly, the last full day of lectures.

It began with a discussion on Eccumenism by Fr. Neuhaus. He had some interesting things to say about the history of eccumenism and it is very evident that this is an issue dear to his heart, and it is a great thing to have a desire for, and this was evident in his talk today.

The second talk was on Human Dignity by Fr. Williams. It was an excellent lecture, probably, in my opinion, his best. What I really enjoyed about it was the ideas that love is a requirement and prerequisite of justice and that justice can only be fulfilled with a proper understanding of love. This was all built out of JP II's anthropological personalism that was just outstanding. Essentially, without love, justice turns against itself and becomes injustice. I don't want to say too much simply because I would spend WAY too much time on this. Needless to say, it was a fabulous lecture.

After that a group of us went for lunch with Fr. Neuhaus. It was great, we discussed, largely, the idea of the Catholic University and Catholic Higher Education. He didn't stay too long, but there were great discussions before and after he left as well.

After that George Weigel offered an optional lecture on Catholic International Relations Theory which was great. The stuff he had to say about just war I think most people there had heard before. What was really great was the discussion that ensued from his lecture in which it ended up being a class discussion on Just War and the Capital Punishment for an hour and it got heated in a good way and, I think, was quite productive.

After that we had Mass and Fr. Neuhaus gave an excellent homily. He talked about our roles once this course is over, that you know you have authentically learned something when it makes you realize how little you know. He discussed the necessity of keeping in touch with each other, praying for each other, and working to act as leaders and future intellectuals and it was a very motivating homily, expressing, I think, what they hope to be the fruit of the course.

We then went for dinner where there were further discussions on the Just War and the Death Penalty and then some of us went for a drink on top of a hotel that gives a great view of the square and got to say by to Fr. Williams.

Now it's time for bed so that I can be prepared for the upcoming day. Tomorrow begins with a lecture by George Weigel on, I think, the future of Europe, followed by a Q&A period for the professors. After that some of us are going for lunch with George Weigel and then it's the closing dinner and party until the wee hours of the morning. I may or may not do an update tomorrow, depending on how much free time I have, if I don't, I'll do one on Friday evening (Pacific Time) or Saturday.

God bless!

-Harrison