January 12-14, 2018
Metropolitan Pavilion
125 West 18th Street
New York City
NY 10011
What's NEW?
- New York Encounter 2018 Final Statement (PDF)
- New York Encounter 2018 videos are available. Visit our YouTube Channel and subscribe for updates as we are constantly adding videos from all the 2018 events.
- Pope Francis offers good wishes to all gathered at New York Encounter
We naturally yearn for unity and long to be part of a real community: life blossoms when it is shared.
And yet, we live in an age of fragmentation. At the social level, we suffer profound divisions among peoples and religions, and our country is ever more polarized along ideological lines, corroding our unity. At the personal level, we are often estranged from our communities, family members, and friends. When we discover that someone doesn’t think the way we do, we feel an embarrassing distance, if not open hostility, that casts a shadow on the relationship. As a result, either we become angry or we avoid controversial issues altogether, and retreat into safe territories with like-minded people.
But the disunity we see around us often begins within ourselves. We are bombarded by images of what we are “supposed” to be, but they generally do not correspond to who we really are. In fact, our truest self seems to escape us. The full scope of our humanity, with all its vast and profound needs and desires, may suddenly emerge, elicited by memories, thoughts or events, but usually quickly fades, without lasting joy or real change. And unless our relationships are rooted in the common experience of such humanity, we don’t even have real dialogue; we just chat, gossip, text or argue.
In the end, the unity we long for seems impossible.
But what if it is possible? How can it happen?
"You know it well: you can’t manage a thing; you’re tired; you can’t go on. And all at once you meet the gaze of someone in the crowd—a human gaze—and it’s as if you had drawn near to a hidden divine presence. And everything suddenly becomes simpler."
–Andrei Tarkovsky
Join us on January 12-14, 2018 for a weekend of public discussions, exhibits, and live performances to explore these questions together.
All New York Encounter events are open to the public.
No registration IS required.
January 12-14, 2018
Metropolitan Pavilion | 125 West 18th Street, New York City, NY 10011
2018 Sponsors:
