Relationships in Law: is there a place for fraternity?

Thank you to Mark for holding the blog fort with his “Roman holiday” posts.  I’m not sure it was a holiday for me, but it certainly was an amazing event.  Relationships in law: is there a place for fraternity? was a three day conference sponsored by the Focolare Movement's "Comunione e Diritto" (Communion and Law) project, which is working to draw out the implications of the spirituality of communion for legal theory and the legal profession.

 

The event was held in Castelgandolfo, outside of Rome from November 18-20.  Participation exceeded every expectation—reaching almost 700 people from 35 countries and four continents.  It opened with a wonderful panorama in which ten representatives from four continents spoke of the challenges of bringing the ideal of “fraternity” to their own legal systems and environments, and their hopes for the congress.  The US was represented by David Shaheed, a Muslim judge from Indiana who has been involved with Muslim-Catholic dialogue for a number of years.  (he's here in the first picture, on the left, next to representatives from the Philipines and Hungary). 

This was followed by a message from the founder of the Focolare Movement, Chiara Lubich, inviting the participants to reflect on how legal theory and practice might be enriched by the dimension of relationships of mutual love.  To give you a taste:

“Every human being feels the need to be loved and to give to others the love he or she has received.  On the other hand, it is the love that is received and given that allows people to fulfill themselves and also to live in communion with one another.  It is in this sense that fraternity can be understood and practiced.  But this fraternity has an ontological foundation, I dare say, in the love of God who in creating every human being made us brothers and sisters to one another, therefore equal and inclined toward the good of a common family, the human family. . . . 

How can we concretely live out this fraternity in our daily lives?  We have understood that the way is mutual love, lived on the model of the Most Holy Trinity, where the three persons annul themselves out of love for each other, to find themselves again in a continual crescendo of Life—if we can thus say in human terms—always more authentically persons and always more deeply in communion, in unity. 

We, men and women, are called to imitate this sublime model of life in all our relations, in every sphere of social life.  Law, right from its inception, has been perceived as the set of rules governing social life, indeed as the order of society itself.  I would like to see this regulating function vivified by the new commandment of mutual love, to encourage the complete fulfillment of people and the relations they establish.” 

The project is still at the beginning of the enormous task of drawing out a fruitful international exchange between legal systems, and is still working through numerous cultural and linguistic challenges.  But the program reflected a promising start.  In addition to those listed on the program, other brief interventions such as one from Cameroon, gave glimpses of the traumas, hopes and heroism entailed in the efforts to develop functioning legal systems and to protect human rights.

We were 23 professors, lawyers and judges from the US, including six from Fordham, and with MOJ well represented by Mark!  His comments on how the solution to the limitations of homo ecomonicus can be found in Christian anthropology, were very well received.  My brief “Seeds of Fraternity in Corporate Law,” explored themes similar to my earlier essay, “Toward a Trinitarian Theory of Products Liability,” (see side bar under my papers) with further reflections on John Rawls as an unlikely ally in the venture. 

Other US contributions touched on mediation in family law disputes, drug courts’ emphasis on treatment rather than punishment, and the Georgia Justice Project as a successful example of restorative justice and social re-integration.  The final word of the concluding roundtable was given to Fordham's Prof. Russ Pearce, who gave a Jewish perspective on how the concept and practice of love of neighbor could transform legal structures and practice.  (Pictures of some of our group and the roundtable are here)

The Italian and Vatican press gave extensive coverage to the event.  (If you read italian, check out the Avvenire article, “Se la fraternità si sposa con il diritto”).  Doug Ammar and I were also interviewed by the English version of Vatican Radio, I’ll let you know when it runs.  The Italian versions of the presentations will be published in the interdisciplinary cultural review, Nuova Umanità.  Plans for an English version are also underway.

I know that many of you had this event in your prayers - thank you - and we'll keep you posted on the plans for a local follow-up, probably during the next academic year.

Amy