por Sergio Lázaro Cabarrouy Fernández – Fontecha
Fotógrafo Enrique Vilariño
Archdiocese of Havana, Havana, November 25, 2021: “This is a propitious time for civic exercise, more than for any palliative policy, an opportunity to seek a national consensus where we all fit.”
These words of Dr. Roberto Méndez, during the final exchange, can summarize the spirit of the Conference “Cuba of 2021, 200 years from the Chair of Constitution”, fourth in the series “Change of Times”, which took place this 20 November, under the auspices of the Padre Félix Varela Institute of Ecclesiastical Studies, and which coincides this time with the 200th anniversary of the Venerable Priest “who first taught us to think”, founded the first Chair on Human Rights and Constitutionality in Cuba.
The event was attended by students and teachers from the Institute, who saw each other physically after a long period of teacher interaction over the Internet. As usual, other interested parties also attended.
The first act of the meeting was the conference by Dr. Méndez, Professor of the Institute, who offered an overview of the most important events and processes that occurred in Cuba this year, with the sharpness of a historian who is at the same time a witness, and the subtlety of the poet, accustomed to showing the soul of men and things.
A recess followed, after which the excellent choral offer of Vox Cordis, directed by Ramón Leyva, was heard, interpreting his selection “From the Sacred to the Profane in Hispano-America”.
Subsequently, a panel made up of professors from the Institute took place in which the tools of the Social Sciences were applied to the analysis of the main facts and processes presented before, offering brilliant syntheses and useful conclusions for those who want to be the protagonist of their own personal, family life. And social. Dr. Teresa Díaz-Canal analyzed the current Cuban reality from a philosophical point of view; the msc. Mario Rivera did it from the legal field, and Lic. Yosniel García Marrero from the economic reality. Subsequently, there was a rich exchange between participants, panelists and speaker.
These open spaces for the exchange of ideas are part of the training process offered by the Institute of Ecclesiastical Studies Padre Félix Varela to its members and other interested persons, being at the same time a contribution of humanist thought and Christian inspiration to Cuban society.