Fall and Winter 2004

Program Schedule

The International Institute for Culture (IIC) is a non-profit educational and research center which seeks to promote international understanding through cultural means. Started in 1989 in response to the Holy Father’s call for the re-evangelization of culture, the IIC is engaged in international conferences, language and cultural programs, lectures series, educational seminars, art exhibits and musical performances which reflect the rich cultural heritage of the Catholic Church and which may serve to bring people to the Person of Jesus Christ.   “St. Peter’s Church” Viviano Codazzi c. 1630 The English cultural historian Christopher Dawson noted in Progress and Religion (1929) that “It is the religious impulse which supplies the cohesive force which unifies a society and a culture. The great civilizations of the world do not produce the great religions as a kind of cultural by-product; in a very real sense the great religions are the foundations on which great civilizations rest. A society which has lost its religion becomes sooner or later a society which has lost its culture.” Pope John Paul II echoes these insights in stating that “Faith in Christ who became incarnate in history does not only transform individuals outwardly, but also regenerates peoples and their cultures.... In its approach to cultures, Christianity presents the message of salvation received by the Apostles and the first disciples, reflected on and deepened by the Fathers of the Church and theologians, lived by Christian people, especially the saints, and expressed by its great theological, philosophical, literary and artistic geniuses. We must proclaim this message to our contemporaries in all its richness and beauty.” (March 14, 1997 address to Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture)   Christianity and Culture: Italy The International Institute for Culture is planning a series on faith and culture which will concentrate on a given country for six months or a year. We will reflect on how the faith has shaped these cultures and how a given culture determines to varying degrees how the faith will be expressed. Beginning this Fall, while exploring the richness and beauty of the faith incarnate in culture, the IIC will concentrate its programming on revealing the Christian roots of the great spiritual, intellectual, artistic, musical and historical achievements of Italy.   Italy, where the grandeur of antiquity was transformed by the glory of Christian revelation, produced an unparalleled harvest of saints, artistic masterpieces, and cultural contributions to Western Civilization. Through a look at examples from Italy’s historic Christian past, we can rediscover the dynamism of the universal faith which became embodied in the unique contingencies of time and place.   Click here for the IIC calendar