7th St Josemaria Symposium in Jaén – November 21-22, 2014

7th St Josemaria Symposium in Jaén – November 21-22, 2014

Around 400 people participated in the 7th St Josemaría Symposium held in Jaén from 21 to 22 November, bearing the theme “New Venues for Freedom: Christians in the 21st Century.” It opened with the Mayor of Jaén, José Enrique Fernández de Moya, calling on all to act with freedom and effort in public life so that we can recover respect, honesty, integrity, and trust. In his turn, the Supreme Court Justice, José Luis Requero, pointed to the need to recover that sense of citizenship especially in these crisis situations our society is going through… Antonio Guillén, President of the Catalina Mir Foundation, organizer of the Symposium, opened the first day with a warm greeting, after the inauguration of an Exhibit on Blessed Álvaro del Portillo done by the Vicar General of Opus Dei, Javier Palos, who insisted on the idea that we ought to be in close contact with those who suffer.

On 22 November, the immediate past President of Red Madre [“Motherhood Network”], Carmina G Valdés, (who sent a video message, as she couldn’t be present because of her attendance at the very important CADA VIDA IMPORTA pro-life rally), said that, unfortunately today, “motherhood is suffering adverse consequences”. She decried the fact that 50 million euros are funding abortions, while there is no funding for pregnant women…

St Josemaría Symposium Award:

The “Ask Me For The Moon” Association (see photo), made up of nurses, nursing assistants, and parents of children in the Onco-Hematology Unit of the Children’s Hospital of Jaén, received the 7th St Josemaría Symposium Prize. The Association was initiated on 2 October 2012 by Marisol Escribano Olmo who, after being many years in the Unit as a nurse, has always tried to give the kids their dreams no matter how hard. With the Theme “Ask me for the moon, and I will try to get it to you for as long as your dreams come true,” the group has programs of activities both outside the hospital and within, whose aim is to reduce the anxiety and increase the confidence/esteem of both children and their families and make their hospital stay more bearable.

The second day of the Symposium began with the talk “Spreading the message of sanctity in the world”, by José Luis G-Gullón, researcher with the Instituto Histórico San Josemaría, where he reviewed the history of Opus Dei giving data, info, stories, photos which have not been hitherto made public, from the 1930s to the subsequent expansion. Then there followed talks by: Montserrat Martorell, director of Fundación Pineda, Fashion; Pablo Moreno on “Film and Freedom” through the movie ‘Un Dios prohibido’, a film about love and forgiveness, which changed the lives of all those working on it, including his own; Jerónimo Martín on “The teachings of St Josemaría in contemporary film”. Talks by Joaquín de los Ríos, coordinator for ‘May Feelings’; and by Jack Valero, head of Catholic Voices (catholicvoices.org.uk), among others, likewise followed.

The Vicar General of the Episcopate of Jaén, Bishop Francisco Juan Martínez Rojas, putt he Symposium to a close, saying, in his talk “Holiness and daily life in the message of St Josemaría”, that the “greatness of Christian life is in the daily affairs, in the most simple things. … transforming the earth with our work and effort, with our commitment and contemplation,… sometimes without the noise of words, keeping silent and with a glance is sometimes enough.”