The Irish Centre for Faith and Culture

St Patrick’s College
Maynooth
Co. Kildare

Director: Professor Michael A. Conway

News:

• Review of Visiting the Divine Symposium - 3 March 2011
• 3 March 2011: One Day Symposium - Visiting the Divine -
  Religious Practice in a Post Secular World
• Review of Otherness in our Midst Symposium 8 May 2008

Background:
The Irish Centre for Faith and Culture was established by the Irish Episcopal Conference in December 1997 following a request from Cardinal Paul Poupard (President of Pontifical Council for Culture) to respond to the challenge of faith meeting contemporary culture.

The Centre was founded not in view of a short-term response to current trends but in order to become a feature in the life of the Catholic Church in Ireland. The Centre strives to make a long-term contribution towards serious reflection on the Irish Church’s adaptation to the changing cultural conditions of life. The forging of links with similar Catholic Centres, in particular within Europe, may help to filter a wider experience and parallel reflection into the Irish context.

The current director of the ICFC is also the Professor of Faith and Culture in the Faculty of Theology at the Pontifical University, St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Co. Kildare.

The research centre has organised a number of conferences and has published reports and books as part of its remit.

Aims:

• To initiate reflection on faith and culture in the various dimensions of their contemporary relationship
• To encourage research into the relationship between faith and culture in Ireland.
• To support and publicize existing initiatives in the area of the relationship between faith and culture.
• To promote and assist the work of the Pontifical Council for Culture.
• To maintain links with Catholic faith and culture centres in other countries by means of visits, exchanges, and representation at international conferences.
• To promote dialogue between the two university institutions present on the campus of Maynooth within the context of the general aims for which the Centre has been established.

Understanding Faith and Culture:

The following headings indicate the broad parameters within which the work of the ICFC will be pursued.

• Faith and Mission in the present world.
• Faith and its challenge to cultural relativism and indifferentism.
• Faith and contemporary educational theory and practice.
• Faith and the emergence of a mass-media culture.
• Faith and the challenge posed by the economic basis of contemporary culture.
• Faith in dialogue with the political culture on the island of Ireland.
• Faith challenged by the artistic expression of modernity and post-modernity.
• Faith in dialogue with science and technology.
• Faith and the challenge posed by an increasingly urban culture.

Further Information may be obtained from:
Professor Michael A Conway
Irish Centre for Faith and Culture
St Patrick’s College
Maynooth
County Kildare

Tel: +353-1-708-3349
Fax: +353-1-708-3348
E-mail: icfc@may.ie