ARCHDIOCESE OF MELBORNE RELEASE
PROFESSOR MARY ANN Glendon, President of the Pontifical Academy of the Social Sciences and the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard University in Boston is in Melbourne this week with her daughter Dr Elizabeth Lev, an Art Historian and Lecturer based in Rome, presenting a series of public lectures and talks on a variety of topics. Prof. Glendon was also conferred with an honorary doctorate from the Australian Catholic University (ACU) on Tuesday evening.
View photo gallery
Listen to CSSV breakfast briefing presentation, Tuesday 4 December 2012
Listen to ACU evening presentation, Tuesday 4 December 2012
Listen to Women of Faith and Grace Luncheon presentation, Wednesday 5 December 2012
Prof. Glendon is a prolific writer on bioethics, comparative constitutional, international and property law and human rights. She was recently appointed to the US Commission on Religious Freedom and is a former United States Ambassador to the Vatican. In 1998 the National Law Journal named her one of the ‘Fifty Most Influential Women Lawyers in America’ (1998).
In a visit hosted by the Archbishop’s Office for Evangelisation, Prof. Glendon launched her public speaking engagements with a breakfast briefing on Tuesday morning for representatives from Catholic Social Services Victoria. She spoke on the topic, ‘The Universal Declaration of Human Rights—Foundations for a just society?’ and reflected on how Catholic social thought relates to the contemporary human rights agenda and the relationship of religious freedom to anti-discrimination laws.
“There was time, not so long ago when Catholic social thought and human rights were very closely aligned,” she said. “Today, that indivisible, inter-dependant body of rights that corresponded so closely to Catholic social thought is under attack…It has left many us ‘politically homeless’.”
“On the one hand we have this enormously rich, coherent body of thought that we call Catholic social teaching that is very relevant and enormously helpful to many of the problems that our liberal democracies are struggling with, but the challenge for us, and especially for those of us who are interested in the social apostolate, is how can we bring those principles to life in their fullness?
“To the surprise of many people, one of the strongest defenders in the international scene today, of the idea of a menu of human rights that is inalienable, indivisible and inter-dependant is the Holy See, but it is increasingly a rather lonely voice.”
Prof. Glendon spoke about the increasing tension between religious liberty and anti-discrimination laws. “I see this as probably the area of the most formidable challenges that we are facing in the United States,” she said.
“When I last visited Australia ten years ago, I had no idea that these problems would assume such prominence for us—but so much has changed, and so quickly. The threats to religious liberty in the United States is increasing and I believe the same is true all over Europe.
“I’m not saying that these issues are easy to resolve, far from it. But I am worried about whether those of us who are going to be in these battles—they will increase for all of us—can make our voices heard in our increasingly secular societies where we are at real risk of being marginalised.
Prof. Glendon also addressed about 90 people gathered at Treacy College, Parkville on Wednesday on the topic, ‘Women of Faith and Grace: The unique role of women in contemporary society’. In an event hosted by the Archbishop’s Office for Evangelisation and the Life, Marriage, Family Office, Prof. Glendon reflected on her own life having grown up in Western Massachusetts.
“Looking back on that period of very active feminism in the late 60s and 70s, one of the things that John Paul II taught me, and all of us who read Catholic social thought, is when you look into the cultural manifold—at a movement or a set of phenomena—try to discern and build on what is good, sound and healthy, and try to discern the things that can be well left behind. And to name them for what they are,” she said.
When considering what a ‘new feminism’ might look like, Prof. Glendon highlighted some problems that need to be addressed. They included divorce, or the fragility of marriage, disrespect for unpaid work that is performed in the home or in care-giving, destitution, particularly women’s poverty, disadvantage for a particular class of women and disease.
“All of us have been through a cultural revolution which has shaken up our understandings of men’s and women’s roles. Some of it has been very good and some of it has been problematic. But the point is that there is no road map for us to go forward, we have to do it ourselves, and we have to figure out the way forward ourselves.
“I think however we go, we have to follow that wonderful advice that John Paul II gave us: ‘take what is sound and healthy, and build on it, but try to liberate yourselves from the things that are dragging us down and keeping us from fulfilling the best that is in our nature’.”
Photos by Fiona Basile, Kairos Catholic Journal
Melbourne News
Melbourne welcomes Prof. Mary Ann Glendon
PROFESSOR MARY ANN Glendon, President of the Pontifical Academy of the Social Sciences and the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard University in Boston is in Melbourne this week with her daughter Dr Elizabeth Lev, an Art Historian and Lecturer based in Rome, presenting a series of public lectures and talks on a variety of topics. Prof. Glendon was also conferred with an honorary doctorate from the Australian Catholic University (ACU) on Tuesday evening.View photo gallery
Listen to CSSV breakfast briefing presentation, Tuesday 4 December 2012
Listen to ACU evening presentation, Tuesday 4 December 2012
Listen to Women of Faith and Grace Luncheon presentation, Wednesday 5 December 2012
Prof. Glendon is a prolific writer on bioethics, comparative constitutional, international and property law and human rights. She was recently appointed to the US Commission on Religious Freedom and is a former United States Ambassador to the Vatican. In 1998 the National Law Journal named her one of the ‘Fifty Most Influential Women Lawyers in America’ (1998).
In a visit hosted by the Archbishop’s Office for Evangelisation, Prof. Glendon launched her public speaking engagements with a breakfast briefing on Tuesday morning for representatives from Catholic Social Services Victoria. She spoke on the topic, ‘The Universal Declaration of Human Rights—Foundations for a just society?’ and reflected on how Catholic social thought relates to the contemporary human rights agenda and the relationship of religious freedom to anti-discrimination laws.“There was time, not so long ago when Catholic social thought and human rights were very closely aligned,” she said. “Today, that indivisible, inter-dependant body of rights that corresponded so closely to Catholic social thought is under attack…It has left many us ‘politically homeless’.”
“On the one hand we have this enormously rich, coherent body of thought that we call Catholic social teaching that is very relevant and enormously helpful to many of the problems that our liberal democracies are struggling with, but the challenge for us, and especially for those of us who are interested in the social apostolate, is how can we bring those principles to life in their fullness?“To the surprise of many people, one of the strongest defenders in the international scene today, of the idea of a menu of human rights that is inalienable, indivisible and inter-dependant is the Holy See, but it is increasingly a rather lonely voice.”
Prof. Glendon spoke about the increasing tension between religious liberty and anti-discrimination laws. “I see this as probably the area of the most formidable challenges that we are facing in the United States,” she said.“When I last visited Australia ten years ago, I had no idea that these problems would assume such prominence for us—but so much has changed, and so quickly. The threats to religious liberty in the United States is increasing and I believe the same is true all over Europe.
“I’m not saying that these issues are easy to resolve, far from it. But I am worried about whether those of us who are going to be in these battles—they will increase for all of us—can make our voices heard in our increasingly secular societies where we are at real risk of being marginalised.
Prof. Glendon also addressed about 90 people gathered at Treacy College, Parkville on Wednesday on the topic, ‘Women of Faith and Grace: The unique role of women in contemporary society’. In an event hosted by the Archbishop’s Office for Evangelisation and the Life, Marriage, Family Office, Prof. Glendon reflected on her own life having grown up in Western Massachusetts.“Looking back on that period of very active feminism in the late 60s and 70s, one of the things that John Paul II taught me, and all of us who read Catholic social thought, is when you look into the cultural manifold—at a movement or a set of phenomena—try to discern and build on what is good, sound and healthy, and try to discern the things that can be well left behind. And to name them for what they are,” she said.
When considering what a ‘new feminism’ might look like, Prof. Glendon highlighted some problems that need to be addressed. They included divorce, or the fragility of marriage, disrespect for unpaid work that is performed in the home or in care-giving, destitution, particularly women’s poverty, disadvantage for a particular class of women and disease.
“All of us have been through a cultural revolution which has shaken up our understandings of men’s and women’s roles. Some of it has been very good and some of it has been problematic. But the point is that there is no road map for us to go forward, we have to do it ourselves, and we have to figure out the way forward ourselves.
“I think however we go, we have to follow that wonderful advice that John Paul II gave us: ‘take what is sound and healthy, and build on it, but try to liberate yourselves from the things that are dragging us down and keeping us from fulfilling the best that is in our nature’.”
Photos by Fiona Basile, Kairos Catholic Journal
SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF MELBOURNE
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