A Catholic Polish university has initiated unprecedented debates between universities.
The University Areopagus is an unprecedented initiative of the Catholic University of Lublin, whose partners have become other leading Polish universities: the University of Warsaw, the Jagiellonian University, and the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. The main idea of the Areopagus is to conduct a public debate on the challenges of the present day, in an academic environment, with the participation of any interested parties. The first of these debates took place on 18th October at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin.
Four universities, their rectors, experts, scientists – authority figures in their fields of study, students, and invited guests will be the participants in a series of four meetings, during which various topics will be discussed, from medicine to humanities and social sciences, economics, economic activity, and management. “Universities should be a place for discussion and exchange of arguments on topics related to important, current issues. The developed theories and conclusions may constitute the basis for media messages and direct the social discourse based on knowledge, science, and experience “- emphasized the Rector of the Catholic University of Lublin, Rev. Fr. prof. Mirosław Kalinowski.
The first debate “The System of Values and the COVID Era” was held on Monday, 18th October at the Knowledge Transfer Centre of the Catholic University of Lublin. Opening the debate, the Rector of the Catholic University of Lublin, Fr. Prof. Mirosław Kalinowski emphasized the importance of dialogue. “Maybe we will not find answers to the questions that will arise, but we will find more elements that unite us than divide us,” he said.
“The pandemic revealed to us the value of love, which takes many different forms: compassion, understanding, help, brotherhood, patriotism, longing for closeness,” said one of the experts, Rev Fr. Dr. Hab. Cezary Smuniewski from the University of Warsaw. In the professor’s opinion, thanks to the pandemic, the values people hold have been revealed with new clarity, in the same way as with the uniqueness of each person. This is a chance to re-focus on personalism, which has the power to protect us from the Scylla of individualism and the Charybdis of collectivism. It is also an opportunity to rethink the importance of our ability to enter into relationships – he emphasized.
“We are fed with mediocrity, and as a result, we slowly lose the taste of good” – said another expert, Prof. Leszek Sosnowski from the Jagiellonian University.
In turn, Prof. Zbyszko Melosik from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań noted that from the perspective of history, the pandemic is not an isolated incident. – The epidemic showed that the human condition is very fragile and has hit its arrogant conviction that man has already tamed nature – he emphasized. In his opinion, the pandemic will not permanently change the world of values held by modern man, it is only possible in the case of people who have suffered an individual tragedy, e.g. the death of a loved one. – Our system of values has remained largely unchanged in the social sense, and people have returned to the consumptive lifestyle – he said. He added that humanity has never been and will never be oriented only on lofty values, but it cannot be said that today we are dealing with the bankruptcy of humanity and its ideals, and the permanence of values which is proved by the passion that is constantly present in the life of the academic community.
The meeting was open to the public, therefore, apart from the academic community, all interested parties were invited. The Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland took the honorary patronage over the Areopagus of Universities.
The topics of subsequent debates will be: “Medicine, public health, science, health”, “Humanities and social sciences, social relations”, “Economics, economy, finances, management”.
Press Office of the Catholic University of Lublin / Family News Service
