The number 728 of Omnesfor the month of June 2023 is now available for web subscribers and will be delivered to the homes of paper subscribers in the coming days.
Many topics are covered in this issue, which includes experiences of communion and marriage formation, an interesting report on the so-called "chemical abortion" and important interviews.
Sacred architecture under debate
The main theme of this issue is dedicated to sacred architecture today. The debate and the different opinions on sacred projects and constructions: temples, places of worship, etc., especially since the Second Vatican Council, was highlighted in the Omnes Forum which was held on May 16 in Madrid, and whose main lines are included in the pages of this month's magazine.
Architects Felipe Samarán, Ignacio Vicens and Emilio Delgado, and the priest Jesús Higueras, parish priest of Santa María de Caná, presented, in what was an interesting and dynamic conversation, their personal ideas and points of view, not always coinciding, on the functionalities of sacred space, the personal imprint of the architect or the nature of sacred space and its reception by the faithful. All of this is extensively detailed in the June issue.
Omnes also includes a practical reflection by the architect Esteban Fernández Cobián, professor at the University of La Coruña, expert in sacred architecture and coordinator of the International Congresses on Contemporary Religious Architecture (CIARC). Fernández Cobián approaches the subject from a professional perspective and reflects on the principles of an architect when faced with the project of creating a sacred space today.
Likewise, and from a totally different perspective to many of the opinions expressed, for example, in the Omnes Forum on sacred architecture, Steven Schloeder, architect and theologian, describes his vision of the last decades of sacred architecture, stating, for example, that we must "recover a way of expressing the different meanings of the baptistery" or the return to the idea of baroque confessionals, where the priest is at the center.
A mosaic of opposing opinions on a subject that is always controversial and multifaceted, to which are added brief explanations of some of the latest projects of this nature that have been erected in various parts of the world, from the chapel of Notre-Dame du Haut by Le Corbusier to the Sanctuary of the Lord of Tula developed by the team composed of AGENdA Agencia de Arquitectura | Camilo Restrepo (Colombia) and the firm of Derek Dellakamp and Jachen Schleich (Mexico), with Francisco Eduardo Franco Ramirez.
Synod and communion
From Rome, the head of communications of the Synod of Bishops 2021-2023 of the Vatican, Thierry Bonaventura, refers to the key points of the communication that the Holy See is carrying out in relation to the Synod of Synodality. In this regard, Bonaventura even affirms that "those who actively participate in the life of the Church, but also those who have distanced themselves for different reasons, have been listened to. We have also listened to the silences of those who have not felt challenged and those who have not wanted to be involved in the synodal process".
From the diocese of Ibarra, Ecuador, comes an interesting testimony of communion and popular piety during Holy Week. Lay people from Regnum Christi together with students and teachers from the La Salle Educational Unit and Salesian Sisters, prepared the various Holy Week celebrations in the different towns to which they were sent, performing the Liturgy of the Word in the small chapels or communal houses. An initiative that complements the interview with Fernando de Haro, author of a recommendable biography of Luigi Giussani, founder of Communion and Liberation, which highlights the relevance of the method of education in the faith that Giussani started and that, today, continues to be equally valid and active.
Hans Urs von Balthasar and St. Basil the Great
The section of Reasons also includes an interesting article by professor and theologian Juan Luis Lorda on Only love is worthy of faitha decisive book by Hans Urs von Balthasar. Lorda unravels the fundamental lines of a key work of von Balthasar in which he exposes his idea that Christianity is that dazzling novelty, which demonstrates itself by overcoming and transforming every human conception.
Omnes also approaches the figure of St. Basil the Great, whose humanistic sensibility and thought on the service of the poor are clearly shown in the communities that follow his rule, which is today the basis of monasticism in the Orthodox Church.
Abortion pill
The June issue also brings with it an extensive and documented report on chemical abortion, or in other words, the abortion pill, whose serious consequences for women's health have once again been brought to light in the wake of the recent rulings on the legality of mifepristone in the United States.
Jacques Maritain
The 50th anniversary of the death of Jacques MaritainThe author, Jaime Nubiola, briefly recalls the key events and lines of thought of this author who developed an analysis of the society of his time, highlighting how a new Christian culture can transform the structures of social life.
All of this and much more make up the issue of Omnes June 2023. Remember that, if you are a subscriber, you can access these contents through your personal area and if you are not yet a subscriber, you can sign up for one of the various forms of subscription of the magazine through the web.
