FIATS Symposium on the spirituality of the Venerable Card. Van Thuan

FIATS
Franciscan Institute for Asian Theological Studies

PRESENTS

The first International FIATS Symposium
on the spirituality of the Venerable Card. Van Thuan
(to celebrate the first anniversary
of the proclamation of Cardinal Van Thuan as Venerable)

HOPE, EUCHARIST, FORGIVENESS, LOVE:

REFLECTION ON THE "ASIAN" EVANGELICAL SPIRITUALITY
OF THE VENERABLE CARD. VAN THUAN FOR TODAY

Pontifical Theological Faculty St. Bonaventure in Urbe - Seraphicum

(Via del Serafico, 1; 00142 Rome)

Sala Sisto V (left from the entrance to the Seraphicum)

Wednesday 13.06.2018 (from 3.30pm to 6pm)

(in Italian and in Vietnamese with English translation)

(Note: In the afternoon of 12.06.2018  there will be a pilgrimage with Holy Mass (at 4:30pm) at the church of Santa Maria della Scala, where the tomb of Cardinal Van Thuan is located; and on 13.06.2016 in the morning the participants will attend the General Audience with Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square)

For more information, please contact: fiats2503@gmail.com

PROGRAM

3.30 pm: Greetings. Introduction to the work of FIATS and the Symposium

(Dinh Anh Nhue Nguyen OFMConv, President of the Pontifical Theological Faculty St. Bonaventure, Founder and Director of FIATS)

3.40 pm: The Venerable Nguyen Van Thuan: Theologian and Teacher of Christian Hope

(Stéphane Oppes OFM, Professor of the Pontifical University Antonianum)

4.10 pm: Forgiveness-Love: Introductory Remarks on the Inculturated Reading of the Gospel in the Spiritual Exercises of Cardinal Van Thuan

(Dinh Anh Nhue Nguyen OFMConv, Professor of the Pontifical Theological Faculty
St. Bonaventure)

4.25pm: Discussion - Testimony - Conversation with the speakers

4.35 pm: Short presentation of the first collective study of FIATS:

Franciscan Asian Biennial Book 2016-2017

BREAK TIME

5.00 pm: "I bring you with me day and night": The Eucharistic Spirituality of Cardinal Van Thuan

(François-Marie Léthel OCD, Professor of the Pontifical Theological Faculty Teresianum)

5.30 pm: Discussion - Testimony - Conversation with the speakers

5.45 pm: Concluding observations from the speakers: Toward a Comprehensive Study of the Inculturated Spirituality of the Venerable Cardinal Van Thuan.

NOTE ON SPEAKERS

François-Marie LÉTHEL OCD, born in Paris in 1948, entered the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Province of Paris) in 1967 and was ordained a priest in 1975. After his license in Philosophy, he obtained a license in Theology at the Institute Catholique de Paris, with a thesis on Saint Maximus the Confessor, under the direction of Fr. Marie-Joseph Le Guillou OP, (Théologie de l’Agonie du Christ. La liberté humaine du Fils de Dieu et son importance sotériologique mises en lumière par saint Maxime le Confesseur, Paris, 1979, ed. Beauchesne, col “Théologie Historique”, n 52). He received his doctorate in Theology at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) in 1989, under the direction of Fr. Christoph Schönborn OP with a thesis entitled Connaître l’Amour du Christ qui surpasse toute Connaissance. La Théologie des Saints (Venasque, 1989, ed. du Carmel). Father Léthel has lived in Rome since 1982, teaching dogmatic and spiritual theology at the Pontifical Theological Faculty Teresianum. Nominated Consultor for the Causes of Saints by John Paul II in 2004, he was also appointed Prelate Secretary of the Pontifical Academy of Theology by Benedict XVI in 2008. Among his numerous studies on the theology of saints are especially books on Teresa of Lisieux: L’Amore di Gesù. La cristologia di santa Teresa di Gesù Bambino (Roma, 1999, Libreria Editrice vaticana), Luigi Maria di Montfort: L’amour de Jésus en Marie (Genève, 2000, ed. Ad Solem, 2 vol.) and Gemma Galgani: L’Amore di Gesù Crocifisso Redentore dell’uomo. Gemma Galgani (Roma, 2004, Libreria Editrice Vaticana). In 2011, he was called upon by Benedict XVI to preach the Lenten spiritual exercises for His Holiness and the Roman Curia. The text was published as a book: La Luce di Cristo nel Cuore della Chiesa. Giovanni Paolo II e la Teologia dei Santi [The Light of Christ in the Heart of the Church. John Paul II and the Theology of Saints] (Libreria Editrice Vatican, 2011).

Dinh Anh Nhue NGUYEN OFMConv is professor of Exegesis and Biblical Theology and president of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of San Bonaventura (Rome). He is also an invited professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University and at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, as well as a Honorary Research Associate at the University of Divinity (Melbourne, Australia). Among his latest publications: Gesù il saggio di Dio e la Sapienza divina. Indagine biblico-teologica introduttiva per ripensare la cristologia sapienziale nei vangeli sinottici (Miscellanea francescana, Roma 2017); and Numeri. Introduzione, Traduzione, Commento (Nuova Versione della Bibbia dai testi antichi; San Paolo, Cinisello Balsamo [MI] 2017). He is the founder and director of the FIATS Research Center (Franciscan Institute for Asian Theological Studies) at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of San Bonaventura (Rome). He has recently edited with J. Winkler the first FIATS collective study: Franciscan Asian Biennial Book 2016-2017: Research and Reflection on the Christian Faith and Values in Asia (Casa Editrice Miscellanea Francescana, Rome 2017).

Stéphane OPPES OFM is professor (“professore straordinario”) of Metaphysics in the Faculty of Philosophy at the Pontifical University Antonianum (Rome). Formerly Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy for two terms, between 2003 and 2008, he is currently Vice-Dean of the same Faculty and from December 2017 Director of the research Quarterly Antonianum. After his doctoral thesis on the philosophy of language in Italy in the first half of the twentieth century (S. Oppes, Dall’intuizione-espressione alla parola. La filosofia del linguaggio nel primo Novecento italiano [Studia Antoniana 42], Ed. Antonianum, Roma 2000, 265 pp.), he received a Diploma in Medieval Studies with a thesis on the philosophy of language in St. Bonaventure, published in 2001. Since 2009 he has been a Theologian Consultor of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, in which, he was Relator ad casum for the five year period 2012-2017. For the Libreria Editrice Vaticana he edited the autobiographical memoirs of Blessed Gabriele Allegra (S. Oppes, Le memorie di fra’ Gabriele M. Allegra ofm, il “san Girolamo” della Cina [Oriente Occidente 3], Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano 2005, 214 pp.).