New York Encounter: Crossing the Divide
February 14 – 16, 2020
Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 W 18th Street
“”An annual three-day public cultural event in the heart of New York City, offering opportunities for education, dialogue, and friendship.””
All New York Encounter events are free and open to the public.
No registration is required.
Have a look at this official video published on youtube by New York Encounter
“We climbed up, he first and I behind him… to see again the stars” Dante
NEW YORK—The 2020 New York Encounter, an annual three-day public cultural event featuring panel discussions, artistic performances, and special exhibits, will take place February 14-16, 2020, at the Metropolitan Pavilion at 125 West 18th Street in midtown Manhattan.
- The 2020 theme, Crossing the Divide, draws attention to events and realities in today’s ideology-stricken world that break the bonds of tribalism and expose the deep unity in the common human desire for meaning. The weekend offers scores of events and exhibits that challenge us to follow the thread of those experiences which defy our preconceptions and help us to seek that which lasts and those with whom we can cling to these certainties.
- Participants include cultural and political commentators Sohrab Ahmari, Chris Arnade, Ami Dar, Patrick Deneen, and Christine Emba, and many others. The profound drama of living in contemporary society will be explored through topics such as the economy and entrepreneurship, poetry and music, family, race and class divides, homelessness, incarceration, and artificial intelligence, with this latter topic profiled in its own special exhibit explained by Julia Stoyanovich of NYU.
Now in its 12th year, the Encounter aims to give witness to a new, flourishing life, generated by faith. Supported by the work of 350 volunteers, it catalyzes intense engagement among speakers and attendees from all walks of life, whose common ground is that of inquiry, the desire for dialogue, and, ultimately, hope. Highlights:
- Saturday, Feb. 15, 4:00 pm – IN SEARCH OF THE OTHER AMERICA An interchange between Chris Arnade, writer and photographer, and Patrick Deneen, professor of political science and constitutional studies, University of Notre Dame.
- Saturday, Feb. 15, 6:00 pm – IDEALS VS. IDEOLOGIES: A LOST BATTLE? A conversation on the direction of American politics with Sohrab Ahmari, op-editor, The New York Post, and Christine Emba, columnist, The Washington Post.
- Sunday, Feb. 16, 11:00 am – WHAT CAN FREE US FROM IDEOLOGY? A conversation on the Encounter’s theme in light of Where is God? Christian Faith in the Time of Great Uncertainty (McGill-Queen’s University Press), with its author, Rev. Julián Carrón, president of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, Ami Dar, founder and executive director of Idealist.org, and Aaron Riches, Professor of Theology at Benedictine College (Kansas).
- Sunday, Feb. 16, 2:00 pm – A PAPER-THIN DISTANCE An examination of how the discovery of our common humanity shatters racist ideology with Daryl Davis, musician and public speaker, and Christian Picciolini, author and founder of the Free Radical Projects global network for the prevention of extremism and violence.
- Sunday, Feb. 16, 4:00 pm – OUR TEARS ARE THE SAME An Israeli and a Palestinian share their stories of reconciliation with international spokespersons of The Parents Circle Families Forum, Bassam Aramin and Robi Damelin.
All events are free of charge. No registration necessary.
