American Papist: Not Your Average Catholic!: *Save the Date* "Co-Creating with God: Humanae Vitae Today" (Sep. 20)

updated 9/16 (see below...)

Here's something you don't want to miss!

On Sep. 20th, Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit is hosting a conference to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of the encyclical Humanae Vitae entitled "Co-Creating with God: Humanae Vitae Today".

Presenters include Dr. Michael Waldstein, Dr. Janet Smith and Dr. Pia de Solenni. I've had the privilege to study under the first two and can highly recommend them to my readers. You can see the full list of presenters here. Also, the conference's Mass celebrant and homilist is Bishop Robert Carlson of Saginaw (pitured right)!

More about the conference:

The fortieth anniversary of the landmark encyclical Humanae Vitae (On Human Life) of Pope Paul VI is being celebrated this year. Catholics are generally misinformed about the Church's teaching on birth control. In response, Sacred Heart Major Seminary has developed a one-day conference, "Humanae Vitae Today: Co-Creating with God," which will examine the encyclical's critical and prophetic teachings. The conference will be held at the seminary on Saturday, September 20, 2008, from 9:00 AM until 8:30 PM.
.... Sacred Heart Major Seminary hopes through this conference to give witness to our confidence that human experience and divine wisdom demonstrate the truth of Humanae Vitae. Featuring seven nationally known speakers on life issues, it is aimed at those who already embrace the document and wish to understand it more deeply, and to those who are skeptical about it.

Although this is a one-time event, we hope it will bear lasting fruit in the lives of those who attend. [More]

Resources:

Conference information and registration sheet (PDF)
Facebook Event Page - Spread the word!

Contact: (313) 883-8792 // keller.marybeth@shms.edu. Registration here.

Please help me spread awareness. I'd love to see this conference well attended.

update: I've been provided with the speaker topics and descriptions:

Pia: “Generations X and Y and Humanae Vitae”

Many experts have commented on the fallout of Humanae Vitae (or rather the fallout from the neglect and refusal of this monumental document). Forty years later, there are signs that younger generations are understanding Humanae Vitae better than their parents and grandparents if only because they've had to live through the original fallout. Even the oft criticized mainstream media or secular media can't avoid certain truths about life and love that can be used effectively to teach the truths of marriage - truths that apply even to non-Catholics.

Alexanders: “Sex, Lies and the Truth of Humanae Vitae ”

Several years ago when Julie and Greg Alexander were considering a divorce, a priest challenged them to live their marriage in accord with Church teaching. They are now devoting their lives to helping others find the happiness they have found in living by Church teaching rather than the destructive mores of modern culture.

Fagan: “Contraception as a Social Justice Issue”

The contraceptive revolution led to multiple crises in social justice in matters of birth, marriage, family and society, such as increases in unwed pregnancy, abortion, divorce, and poverty. Social science data subsequent to Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae (1968) tends to support the Pope's depiction of what works (and does not work) for human nature in life, love and sexuality.

[Special Lunch Hour Presenter:]

Dr. Mark Latkovic, professor of moral and systematic theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, has written and spoken widely on bioethical issues. He will review the principles of Humanae Vitae for the attendees during the lunch hour.

Waldstein: “Theology of the Body and Humanae Vitae”

The question of contraception is not simply one among other moral questions of our age. In his Theology of the Body, John Paul II shows that it is a pivotal question. It is the question in which the many concerns of our age come together as in a tight knot.

Smith: “Parents as Co-Creators with God”

One of the great joys and responsibilities of marriage is having children. In doing so, they become “co-creators” with God. In having conjugal relations they invite God to create a new human soul and he entrusts that soul to them with the gift of a child. This truth is a truth that underlies all of sexual morality.