The Catholic Women’s Forum 2017 Symposium
A Feminine Lens on the Enduring Problem of Poverty
Date: March 30-31, 2017
Location: Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C.
Co-sponsored by The Catholic Women’s Forum at EPPC and The Catholic Information Center
Agenda (links to abstracts below)
Pre-Symposium Reading:
Mortality and Morbidity by Anne Case and Angus Deaton
Our Miserable 21st Century by Nicholas Eberstadt
Dress Code: Business Attire
Objective: This two-day symposium of Catholic women scholars brings a feminine lens to the problem of poverty. Our work is premised on the idea that economic policies alone, though important, offer an inadequate framework for addressing this issue. Our scholars will consider the poverty of a lost cultural inheritance, wherein the allure of materialism and casual sexual norms has replaced the personal, internal struggle for virtue, the traditional life script that offered the bonds of marriage and the gift of children, and solidarity with the poor in our own communities and beyond. This loss has taken a disproportionate toll upon women and their children, often leaving women and children bereft of paternal support and, in turn, fostering a troubling aimlessness among poor and working class men especially. Meanwhile, as the mediating institutions between the individual and the state have weakened, the range of solutions has become narrow, with a dismaying focus on the government transfer of payments rather than solutions that encourage the development of the person and strengthen the family. Minority populations have been particularly hard hit by these changes—an important consideration for Catholics, as nearly half of Catholic children in the U.S. are Hispanic/Latino, and a significant percentage of them live in poverty. Women, particularly those motivated by faith, have always been at the forefront of cultural renewal, shaping hearts and minds in families and communities, and offering practical assistance to the poor and needy. Our scholars will focus on the link between the Church’s preferential option for the poor and practical solutions that foster the development of virtue, responsibility, sexual integrity, and marriage as pathways out of poverty, particularly for women.
AGENDA
| Schedule subject to adjustments | |||||
March 30, 2017 |
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| 8:15 AM | Mass | Celebrant: Fr. Justin Huber | |||
| 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM | Breakfast | ||||
| 9:30 AM – 9:45 AM | Welcome | ||||
| 9:45 AM – 10:45 AM | Panel I | What is “Poverty”? (And How Do We Measure Progress?) | |||
| Catherine Pakaluk | Economics and Catholic Social Teaching (What is poverty?) | ||||
| Sophia Aguirre | Measuring Progress – An Integral Approach | ||||
| 10:45 AM – 11:00 AM | Break | ||||
| Poverty and | the Family | Problems and Solutions | |||
| 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM | Panel II | Marriage | |||
| Helen Alvare
Meg McDonnell |
Marriage: Out of Reach for the Poor? | ||||
| Hilary Towers | Reviving Marriage: A Means of Reducing Poverty | ||||
| 12:15 PM – 1:30 PM | Lunch and Talk | ||||
| Nora Urrea | Poverty and the Latina Experience | ||||
| 1:30 PM – 2:00 PM | Break | ||||
| 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM | Panel III | What About Men? | |||
| Deborah Savage | Men at Work: Poverty, Families, and the Assault on Masculinity | ||||
| Rachel Lu | Criminal Justice, Mercy, And Second Chances | ||||
| 3:15 PM – 3:30 PM | Break | ||||
| 3:30 PM – 4:45PM | Panel IV | Culture Considerations and Government Solutions | |||
| Elizabeth Kirk
Leigh Snead |
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| Angela Rachidi | Safety-net Solutions to Poverty | ||||
| 4:45 PM – 6:00 PM | Break | ||||
| 6:00 PM – 6:45 PM | Cocktails | ||||
| 6:45 PM – 9:00 PM | Dinner and Talk | ||||
| Luanne Zurlo | Education: An Elusive Key to Poverty Alleviation | ||||
March 31, 2017 |
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| 8:15 AM | Mass | Celebrant: Fr. Justin Huber | |||
| 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM | Breakfast | ||||
| Poverty: Special Considerations | |||||
| 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM | Panel I | Health Care Considerations | |||
| Sr. Hanna Klaus | Contraception and the Plight of the Poor | ||||
| Sr. Diana Dreger, OP | Health Care for the Poor, Two Approaches (secular v faith-based) | ||||
| 10:45 AM – 11:00 AM | Break | ||||
| 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM | Panel II | Human Dignity in the Face of Poverty | |||
| Susan Selner-Wright | Ontological Poverty and Our Attitude towards the Impoverished, Dependent, and Disabled | ||||
| Suzanne Hollman | Emotional Affliction and Poverty: Locating Human Dignity on the Margins of Society | ||||
| 12:15 PM – 1:30 PM | Working Lunch | ||||
| Elizabeth Schiltz | Messaging ‘the Feminization of Poverty‘ | ||||
| 1:30 PM – 1:45 PM | Break | ||||
| 1:45 PM – 3:00 PM | Panel III | Spiritual Perspectives on Poverty | |||
| Pia de Solenni | Spiritual Poverty Amidst a Materialistic Culture | ||||
| Amber Lapp | Let the Poor Evangelize Us | ||||
| 3:00 PM – 4:00PM | Wrap Up | ||||