Center for Cultural & Pastoral Research (CCPR)
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The purpose of the Center is to reflect on all the issues that fall within the purview of the mission of the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, examining such issues in light of their implications for human life at its most innocent and vulnerable—above all for children, but also for those suffering serious afflictions or terminal illnesses. Of particular interest is research in the fields of medicine and the natural and social sciences as it bears on these issues. Promoting and critically engaging such research, the Center ponders its significance in light of its underlying philosophical and theological assumptions, for the sake of meeting the demands of the contemporary cultural situation in the most adequately human and Christian terms. The Center is guided in its reflection especially by the anthropology of love and the theology of the body developed in the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI in light of the Second Vatican Council, and indeed of the whole of the Catholic tradition. Topics of particular interest include
- Problems surrounding the meaning of marriage, patterns of courtship, "parenting" (i.e., the meaning and roles of paternity, maternity, filiality), adoption, "reproductive technology," abortion, cloning, same-sex unions, and the like.
- Civilization of love, culture of life: what are these? What is the nature of law, rights, religious freedom, and the like?
- Ecology-environment, food, medicine: what is the meaning of health and healing in light of wholeness and holiness?
- Physiological-chemical aspects of sexual relations, birth, abortion, etc.
The Center's method lies principally in the promotion of conversation (among natural and social scientists, physicians, theologians, philosophers, and other scholars), leading to publication where helpful, as well as to further initiatives emerging organically out of conversation, such as research projects, (international) conferences, (local) workshops, and the like.
