The Study Day organized on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the first publication of the manual “The Law of Christ by Bernard Häring” took place on Thursday 21 November 2024, at the Aula Magna of the Accademia Alfonsiana.
After the institutional greetings by the Dean, Prof. Giovanni Del Missier introduced the morning session by presenting a short film made with archive footage and quotes from Bernard Häring, read by the teachers. A highly symbolic gesture, a way to “give back a voice” to the Redemptorist theologian, who between the 70s and 80s even had to “relearn to speak” following throat cancer that almost took away his speech.
And it is precisely the element of the voice that is the common thread that holds together the speakers’ interventions: Prof. Lilia Sebastiani (moralist), Prof. Lucia Vantini (philosopher and theologian), Prof. Tanzarella (historian).
Professor Lilia Sebastiani, who had B. Häring as a teacher, in outlining a theological biography of the “happy Redemptorist”, underlined how his was a prophetic voice in the renewal of Catholic moral theology in the twentieth century, “a voice without a voice, often surrounded by a reputation for dissent and irregularity” (due to the examination of his works by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith).
Professor Lucia Vantini recalled the ambivalent nature of history, which first resists prophecy and then gives voice to the silenced prophets. This is the case of B. Häring. In presenting his pioneering approach to the ecological question, he praised his mystical-political perspective, capable of realizing before others that the common ground on which science and religion meet, is not so much the world of the factory, but that of the ecological crisis, understood in the evolving context of spirituality.
Prof. Tanzarella highlighted how Häring was a pioneer of the theology of peace, having been among the first to support out loud the need to rethink all theology starting from the perspective of shalom, which must characterize both ecclesial life (“the Church is a sign and instrument of education for peace”) and social life. He too, like Sebastiani, underlined how the war experience was decisive for Häring, prompting him to reflect both on the stupid and criminal obedience to Nazi wickedness and monstrosity, and on the therapeutic force of nonviolence.
The morning was enriched by the screening of video testimonies by professors Vidal, Autiero and Majorano, whose lives are intertwined by the experience of study, research and teaching shared with Häring.
The afternoon session, instead, revolved around the topics of The Law of Christ. The Round Table, coordinated by St. Lorenzo Pertusini, brought together Prof. Filomena Sacco, Prof. Andrzej S. Wodka, and Prof. S. Zamboni on various topics: the “Law of Christ” in Scripture, conscience as a moral faculty, the relationship between religious and moral experience in light of the process of secularization.
The conclusions of the Study Day were entrusted to the Dean, Prof. Donato, C.Ss.R., who took the opportunity to present the new series “Verbo et Opere” which collects, in the form of handy manuals, the writings of the professors of the Accademia Alfonsiana.
Ultimately, the event was propitious for relaunching the common educational mission, continuing to “give voice” to Bernard Häring and to those who, like him, have contributed and contribute to the renewal of Catholic moral theology.
COORDINATION: prof. G. Del Missier, prof. S. Zamboni, prof. A. Gnada, prof. MP Dalbem.
(source: www.alfonsiana.org )
The event was broadcast on the YouTube channel of the Accademia Alfonsiana.
