INTAMS

On 11-14 MAY, 2022 The Faculty of Theology, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and the Pontificio Istituto Teologico Giovanni Paolo II per le Scienze del Matrimonio e della Famiglia organize an International Conference on Moral Theology: Pastoral Practices, Life Experience, and Moral Theology: Amoris Laetitia Between New Opportunities and New PathsThe conference aims to explore the critical issues, provocations, and ideas that emerged from the Apostolical Exhortation Amoris Laetitia of Pope Francis It seeks to understand them in greater depth and to further explore the applications of an evolving theological moral reflection, and its pastoral implications We believe that this papal teaching has continuing significance both for the theology of marriage and the family, and for moral theology in general This approach starts from within an ecclesial horizon and is also ready to re think theological and moral issues in a constructive dialogue with human experience This experience is considered both universal and always contextualised by particular cultures and personal events. Call for Papers.

MARRIAGE, FAMILIES & SPIRITUALITY 27/2 (2021): To understand and to follow the “signs of the times”, a concept coined by Vatican II, remains a fundamental, though infinite taskThe first article in this issue of our journal examines how Pope Francis has established with his Apostolic Letter Antiquum ministerium in May 2021 a new “lay ministry”, that of the catechist, which since the promulgation of Spiritus Domini in January 2021 has also opened the ministries of lector and acolyte to women (see article in MFS 27/1, 2021, 8-35). According to Patrik C. Höring the new document does not fully eliminate remaining confusions concerning the function of sacramental ministries and the role of clericalized ministers. The issue of zeitgeist is also present in Bertrand Dumas’s article about the understanding of sacramental marriage in postmodern times. “Spectacularization” is his own phrasing to show that the new focus is now on “intensity”, “visibility”, and the “extreme” – a mindset that discounts the routine and everyday life of couples. The mystery of sacramental marriage is “turned into the spectacular, and the ordinary is lost in the attempt to make it conform to the remarkable”. Jesuit Ward Biemans sees in Amoris laetitia an opportunity to improve the pastoral accompaniment of couples before and after marriage. Empirical research proves, he argues, that premarital education has a sustainable beneficial effect on the relationship quality of couples. Part of his forthcoming research is to analyze how the settings of religiosity and spirituality could contribute to the new expectations. Rooted and educated in Indian culture, canonist Thou Ngaomi is convinced that love is a constituting and indispensable component of marriage at the very moment of the exchange of consent and must therefore obtain a provable juridical status. But familiar with the situation of “arranged marriage” in his native country, he argues that a loveless arranged marriage exclusively based on parental judgment and pressure is a “form of cultural aberration” – a provocative challenge that certainly invites further debates. Benjamin Elie David’s article turns to a different cultural area. He intends to explain what the position of Judaism was with regard to intrafamilial marriages and what the reasons were for its evolution over the centuries. Although the prohibition of consanguineous marriage was for a long time commonplace in Jewish communities, historical and sociological changes have contributed to a gradual decrease of kindred marriages. The coronavirus pandemic could help us to interrupt the sense of progress which has become so dominant in modern times and which pushes us always forward with the assumption that we have to produce, to invent, to improve, to perfect etc. – that is Samuele Francesco Tadini’s thesis. Referring to the 19th century philosophy and theology of Antonio Rosmini, Tadini proposes to deepen moral and spiritual life by adopting a new perspective on the “present” which includes a “look beyond time”, i.e. to eternity. Jan Loffeld concludes this issue of our journal with practical-theological reflections about the different grades of secularization which have now reached its highest phase and arrived also at the area of family pastoral care. While family rituals are still popular, they are coming up against the limits of what liturgy meant originally. The background is that transcendence as a place of “life in abundance” is more and more converted to “immanence”, i.e. the feeling that everything is achievable in the “here and now”. But what, then, is the sense of church rituals? Read the Editorial by Thomas Knieps-Port le Roi, Editor See the full Table of Contents

On September 10, 2021, Aldegonde Brenninkmeijer-Werhahn, the founding Director of INTAMS, received a Honorary Doctorate in Theology (Dr. theol. honoris causa) in recognition of her outstanding achievements on behalf of the Christian theology of marriage and the family, and Jewish‒Christian dialogue. The title was conferred on her, in the name of the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelm-University of Bonn, by the Dean, Professor Dr. Dr. Jochen Sautermeister, in a solemn ceremony. Aldegonde Brenninkmeijer-Werhahn is, with her late husband Hubert, the founder of the Centre for the Study of Christianity at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the founder of the Cardinal Bea Centre for Judaic Studies at the Gregorian University in Rome, and the founder and director of the International Academy for Marital Spirituality (INTAMS) in Louvain/Brussels. The Faculty of Catholic Theology of Bonn University pays tribute above all to “the exceptional achievements of this theologian and social scientist with regard to Jewish‒Christian dialogue, to the further development of the theology of marriage and the family, and to the communication and implementation of fundamental insights of the Second Vatican Council. These central concerns also correspond to the main focuses of the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Bonn,” says Dean Sautermeister. “I gratefully accept this honor, in view of the decades-long committed work of my husband and myself,” says Aldegonde Brenninkmeijer-Werhahn. “I understand it especially as an encouragement and motivation for the coming generations to accept responsibility in various ways and to get involved for the good of other people.” Read the Acceptance Speech by Aldegonde Brenninkmeijer-Werhahn (Deutsch, English) Read the Press Release (English, Deutsch, Nederlands) In the media: Universität Bonn (Deutsch, English). Nachrichten Informationsdienst Wissenschaft. Böckle-Nachfolger würdigt Brenninkmeijer.