In order to be decisive, we must first know what we want; then, we have to make a conscious decision. If we want to “live freedom decisively,” we first have to learn how to be free. Many of the suggestions in the Congress webpage give ideas of how to do precisely that.

What is UNIV?

UNIV is a meeting in Rome that brings together thousands of university students from all over the world. It began thanks to the initiative of Saint Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei.

In the last few centuries, nothing has been more valued than freedom.  At the same time, however, nothing has been more threatened. Together with an exaltation of personal liberty on the part of many, there have also appeared schools of thought which limit and even deny human freedom. Some thinkers thus understand personal decisions merely as side effects determined by one’s culture, by economic factors, or even by physical processes. Others, by contrast, affirm freedom but understand it as a completely undetermined capacity. Freedom thus comes to mean being entirely unbound and all forms of personal commitment or determination consequently become viewed as hindrances and limitations of one’s freedom.

The 2011 UNIV Forum wants to contribute to the ongoing contemporary reflection on freedom, commitment, and the value of personal convictions, while doing so from a perspective which is both profound and practical. The following are possible fields of enquiry:

- daily personal decisions: their necessity and relevance, especially in fields like medicine, business, public opinion, etc.;

- freedom’s dimensions: freedom from and freedom for, What role do personal convictions and the moral virtues play in making daily choices?;

- business ethics: responsible decision making, the value of loyalty;

- university education and the formation of convictions;

- freedom and history: big and small decisions that have changed history, concrete examples: the dedication of Petrarch or of Alexander Fleming; work and inspiration: their role in the great scientific, artistic, cultural and social revolutions;

- the youth and serious decisions: Can young people make important and lasting decisions?; concrete examples: George Washington, L. Braille, Thomas Edison, Alexander the Great, etc.;

- freedom and service: personal commitment and the “new narcissism.”

Main Ideas

• The Birth of Freedom. What is the historical origin of the concept of freedom?  Classical views of man and the cosmos.  The concept of freedom in Oriental cultures.  Is our fate fixed, or determined by our free choices?  The Christian understanding of man: rational, free, responsible, child of God.
• The Value of Making Decisions.  The responsibility of having one’s own convictions.  How to distinguish between important and negligible decisions.  Ways of understanding the relationship between freedom and truth: truth as liberation, freedom’s search for meaning, freedom as a creator of values.  Freedom’s dimensions: ‘freedom-for’—‘ freedom-from’, choice, intention, and self-gift.
• Freedom and commitment. Do commitments limit or positively channel one’s freedom?  Freedom and service: is serving others a way of developing one’s freedom?  The impact of commitment: free choices that have changed the course of history.  Great successes begin with small decisions—the importance of exercising freedom in everyday life.
• Freedom and Youth. Is it possible to make important and difficult decisions in one’s youth?  Outstanding historical examples: George Washington, Ludwig von Beethoven, Louis Braille, Alexander the Great, etc.
• Freedom and Time. Human freedom as a continued process of self-determination.  Freedom’s faithful ally: perseverance.  Having an end in mind—essential for writing novels and for the novel of life.  The importance of rectifying (while there’s still time).
• Interior Freedom. Living free commitments in the face of opposition.  Recent historical examples: Ernest Shackleton, Edith Stein, Viktor Frankl.
• Emotional Freedom. Freedom and self-dominion.  Freedom and personal toughness.  Christian freedom as freedom from sin.

The UNIV Forum has some very interesting articles. I will post here a brief summary of a few of the most recent posts (unfortunately, some of the most interesting are in Spanish!)

Culture and University Life

Friendship: The Key to the Evangelization of Men.

By John McCloskey

Our society must recovery the sens of friendship. Besides the joy of its existence, friendship reveals itself as a key to evangelization, from the early times of Christianism. The exemple of saints let us know the two senses of this essential way of human relationship.

The Ways of Denial

Karol Wojtyla

In 1976 the man who would become John Paul II analyzed contemporary culture’s tendency towards a general denial of God. In light of the Bible’s account of original sin, Cardinal Wojtyla warned that the desire for absolute freedom can turn against contemporary man even more drastically than at the beginning of human history.

John Paul II and the UNIV

In 1985, talking to UNIV Participants, John Paul II said: “It’s a great idea to have this annual international meeting of students from around the world and it’s good that you have the chance to get together in this way and to sing together. It’s a great joy. For me, it’s a great joy.”

Filosofía y Libertad (Philosophy and Freedom)

La filosofía ha sido entendida desde antiguo como la más libre de las artes liberales. Quien filosofa no reconoce más restricciones que las que derivan de su compromiso serio con la búsqueda de la verdad. From ancient times, philosophy has been known as the most free (liberal) of liberal arts. The philosopher does not recognise restrictions other than those that derive from his own firm commitment to the search for truth.

Laicidad y pluralismo (Laicism and pluralism)

La laicidad del Estado se invoca con frecuencia de manera ambigua e impropia y, a veces, hasta para enmascarar actitudes o recursos poco respetuosos hacia la sensibilidad religiosa de los ciudadanos. Sin embargo, la laicidad constituye un valor positivo, que no debería generar desconfianza o sospecha. Lo mismo cabe decir del pluralismo político, consecuencia inmediata de la libertad, que el Estado reconoce a todos los ciudadanos y la Iglesia católica a sus fieles. State laicism is frequently invoked in an ambiguous and improper sense and, even with the aim of hiding attitudes or means disrespectful towards the religious sensitivity of citizens. Still, laicism is a positive value, which should not cause mistrust or suspicion. The same might be said of political pluralism, an immediate consequence of freedom, which the State recognises for all its citizens and the Catholic Church for all its faithful.

On this link you’d find a selection of texts from the discourses and public appearances in which the founder of Opus Dei spoke concerning the value of university education.  This work was produced by the University of Navarre on the occasion of the beatification of its Founder and first Grand Chancellor. In this volume you’d find, among others, the speeches delivered by the Founder during the investiture rites conferring doctorates honoris causa upon eminent and prestigious persons, in recognition of their valuable contributions in various areas: scientific research, defense of life from its origins, human resources training and development, etc.

We have attempted a freelance translation to English of excerpts of a few chapters of this volume:

• Prologue (by Bishop Alvaro del Portillo): The University in the thought and apostolic action of Msgr. Josemaría Escrivá
• 1974, conferral of doctorates honoris causa: In defense of life
• 1965, inauguration of Centro Elis: Educational and pedagogical value of Freedom
• 1967, conferral of doctorates honoris causa: The value of human resources

We would appreciate you telling us if you find on the web the official translation to English of these texts, and we shall replace this post…  These texts (in Spanish) are also found, divided up into separate .pdf files, on the University of Navarre site.

Here’s a link to a video: St Josemaria and the University:

Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D. is the founder and President of the Ruth Institute. Dr. Morse brings a unique voice to discussions of love, marriage, sexuality and the family. A committed career woman before having children, she earned a doctorate in economics, and spent fifteen years teaching at Yale University and George Mason University. In 1991, she and her husband adopted a two year old Romanian boy, and gave birth to a baby girl. She left her full-time university teaching post in 1996 to move with her family to California. She was a Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, and at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. Until August 2006, Dr. Morse and her husband were foster parents for San Diego County. In the summer of 2008, Dr. Morse founded the Ruth Institute, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to bringing hope and encouragement for life-long married love.

What I wish to highlight here are characteristics that I think set the Institute apart from other pro-family organizations that defend and promote marriage as a natural institution: its grounding in honest-to-goodness research as well as its special focus on young people, especially university students.  For instance, recently some students’ essays at a Conference called “Stand For Family” have been awarded for being the best research outputs for topics ranging from Parenting and Marital Relationship Quality, to Family and the Natural Law, to the phenomenon of Same-Sex ‘Marriages’.  The essays have been made available here.