Pontifical Council for Culture to host Hollywood dialogue event

Atlanta, Ga., Nov 16, 2010 / 01:10 am

The Pontifical Council for Culture and the Camartis Institute are calling for more North American partners and sponsors for an event aimed at bringing together people from the Hollywood movie industry and the Catholic Church.

The overall initiative, called “From Sea to Shining Sea: Faith and Culture in North America,” is intended to bring together leading North American Catholics and leading non-Catholic intellectuals to discuss themes such as the human experience, technology, politics, the arts and science.

The next event of the initiative, planned for March 2011 in Hollywood, California, will focus on the arts. The event will bring together filmmakers, movie studio executives and church leaders.

Organizers are seeking to cooperate with institutions and organizations regardless of religious or secular affiliation to bring the event to fruition.

"The influence of cultural tendencies in the United States has a ripple effect throughout the world. That's why it's so important for the Church to begin a new dialogue with culture in the United States,” explained Msgr. Melchor Sanchez de Toca y Alameda, the undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

"We are trying to bridge what (Pope) Paul VI called 'the great divide between the Church and culture.’ He called this a drama, the drama of our time."

Dr. Max Bonilla, president of the Camartis Institute and spokesman for the series, said the initiative will appeal to many because it intends a “serious and sincere dialogue where the truth can be pursued without bias of any type.”

“Always respectful, yet intensely sincere conversations are the main goal of the series,” he added.

Proposals from prospective partners will be accepted through Jan. 17, 2011. More information is available through the “From Sea to Shining Sea” website at http://intelligentdialogue.org/