"Freedom Is the Most Precious Gift That Heaven Has Bestowed Upon Men" (Miguel De Cervantes).

New York Encounter opening remarks by Msgr. ALBACETE, theologian, accompanied by witnesses and a poetry reading by Tony HENDRA, writer and author.

Msgr. Albacete will open the 2013 New York Encounter edition with an initial exploration of the nature of freedom not through an abstract analysis but through real-life witnesses.

“We often think of freedom as the absence of bonds or the possibility to do our own things or what we like. But this is not what freedom is. Even experientially or psychologically we feel truly free not when we do what we like best but, more keenly, when we feel satisfied, when something satisfies us. … What is it, then, that can satisfy us? What can the soul be satisfied with? It’s relationship with the infinite!” (Fr. Luigi Giussani, The Risk of Education).