What does this press release say?

“Ontogeny and Human Life” sounds interesting. It’s a conference taking place in Rome next week. What’s it about? It might take reading to the bottom of the brief release to learn more.

The event is part of the STOQ Project (Science, Theology and the Ontological Quest) which came into being in 2003 and involves five Roman pontifical universities (the Lateran, the Gregorian, the Salesian, the Holy Cross and the St. Thomas) as well as the Athenaeum “Regina Apostolorum.” The project is patronized by the Pontifical Council for Culture and supported by the Robert Templeton Foundation and other institutions.

During the press conference, Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, affirmed that the ultimate aim of the STOQ Project is “to contribute to dialogue between the various areas of research and study which have, in the modern age, gradually become separated from one another. This means building stable bridges and creating fruitful exchange between science, philosophy and theology by means of dialogue among experts in those various fields.”

There it is. The key to this. “Building bridges” and having “fruitful exhange” among people in those three disciplines is critical and hopeful in this particular time of secular humanism, resurging atheism and pop theology. Those three subjects are all over the media and culture right now.

The international congress, which will be relayed to other academic centers through video linkups, is due to be attended by scientists, researchers and students.

I love Rome, maybe only second to my oldest son in this family. He has lived and studied there, as recently as last summer. Two of his four college degrees are in Theology and Philosophy. We would both like to be there for this gathering. He’d be a good participant. I’d sit in the back of the room and take notes. Or ask questions.

Oh, and don’t miss the last line of that press release:

Archbishop Ravasi also announced that in 2009, for the bicentenary of the birth of Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book “The Origin of Species,” a congress will be held in the Pontifical Gregorian University to examine the much-debated question of evolutionism: “Evolution and Evolution Theories.”

See, the Church understands that faith and reason are not only not exclusive, they are mutually supportive. The media would have such a good story if they could get this straight.