Romana

Zonnewende, The Netherlands

Ordinary life and culture and Ordinary life and science were the topics of two conferences in Zonnewende Conference Center, as part of a series held during the centennial of Saint Josemaría Escrivá.

The first of these, on Sunday, September 22, began with a talk by a former juvenile court judge, C. J. Laurentius-Kooter, currently vice-president of the Amsterdam court. The title of his talk was Law and Justice, allies or enemies. The presentation included a brief historical review of the philosophy of law and the legislative role in the administration of justice. The other two presentations were by Dr. Gerard Van den Aardweg, a psychotherapist, and A. Smeets, an educator. The titles of their respective talks were "Psychological reactions to suffering" and "Education, a joint project of teachers, parents and students."

Two photographic expositions were presented: "Friendship translated into cooperation," which focused on work camps in Poland and Central America, and "Solidarity through Photo-journalism," which featured photographs that have received awards in the World Press Photo competition.

In the second conference, held on November 17, Professor A. Boons, from the School of Business Science at the University of Rotterdam, and Dr. C. Beenakker, professor of physics at the University of Leiden, spoke respectively about the social doctrine of the Church in regard to economic structures and on the relationship between science and faith.

The first speaker began with citations from the Old Testament, and went on to consider documents from recent Popes, starting with Pope Leo XIII. In the second talk, Professor Beenakker pointed out that truth, even for a physicist, is unchanging and is not affected by cultural variations.

Finally Ben Tax, director of the Rijk Zwaan company and coordinator of the round table, spoke about the vision of work as a means of sanctification and apostolate in the teachings of Saint Josemaría Escrivá.