Vatican City, May 27, 2012 / 16:15 pm
This coming September an international colloquium in Vatican City will consider how men and women become "one flesh" in marriage, and examine the "language of the body" from Christian perspectives.
"What type of union is the conjugal union, which comes about when a man and a woman become 'one flesh'?" asks the conference announcement.
The Vatican City-based Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family is hosting the Sept. 20-21 colloquium, titled "One flesh: the Language of the Body and the Conjugal Union."
The colloquium's title draws from Pope Benedict XVI's May 13, 2011 address to the institute in which he reflected on the creation of Adam and Eve.
"The flesh received from God is required to make possible the union of love between man and woman and transmit life," he said. "Before the Fall the bodies of Adam and Eve appear in perfect harmony. There is a language in them that they did not create, an eros rooted in their nature which invites them to receive one another reciprocally from the Creator, so as to be able to give themselves."
The conference will examine and deepen the understanding of the "one flesh" union in both its "biblical and patristic richness" and in theological reflection.
The conference announcement said it is necessary to distinguish the conjugal union from "substitutes" in a society that has lost the sense of what it means to become "one flesh."
This union "consummates love," unites the persons "in a unique way" and opens "a fruitful journey towards the total unity of life."
Colloquium topics include marital intercourse as an "interpersonal" union, the "one flesh" union and the Creator, and how fruitfulness relates to the "one flesh" of marriage. Speakers will consider the topic from theological and psychological perspectives as well as from the perspective of canon law.
Professor David Crawford of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute in Washington, D.C. will speak on the topic "The 'one flesh' in time: mutual promotion of the spouses."
Colloquium sessions will have simultaneous translation into English, Italian and French.
Online registration is available through the Vatican City John Paul II institute's website at http://www.istitutogp2.it
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