Sherri Ellerbe

Pope to Convene with Artists

Posted by Sherri Ellerbe, Nov 12, 2009 1 comment


Sherri Ellerbe

Have you been invited to Rome to attend the Pope’s upcoming arts event?  The Catholic News Service reports in an effort to "renew friendship and dialogue between the church and artists and to spark new opportunities for collaboration,” Pope Benedict XVI will be meeting with artists from around the world November 21 inside the Sistine Chapel.  The guest list is comprised of 500 representatives from the visual and creative arts, architecture, literature, poetry, music and the performing arts.  At press conferences leading up to the event, Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museums, said, “Over the last century,…artistic excellence and faith have separated and it's the job of people of culture to try to mend the rift.”  Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, announced that next week’s meeting was to be the "first of many initiatives aimed at bridging the gap that has developed between spirituality and artistic expression." 

As a graduate student at a Washington, DC seminary majoring in religion and the arts, I find this effort by Pope Benedict to be a move in the right direction.  For me, the operative phrase and words are renew friendship, dialogue, collaboration, mend, initiatives, and bridging.  They  describe the kind of work I am seeking after graduation, which is to increase the public visibility of joint projects involving arts-related and spiritual-based organizations.  It seems to me that the Pope’s invitation to the arts community could have some successful outcomes, especially since the invitations were based on ‘leadership in the field and not religious backgrounds.’

To read more, click here: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0904049.htm

TAGGED WITH:
1 responses for Pope to Convene with Artists

Comments

Marie P. Braxton says
November 12, 2009 at 1:44 pm

Greetings, Sis. Sheri,

Rejoice! It was great hearing from you via your blog. I'm interested in knowing more about how you are faring these days. Where are you worshipping? I look forward to hearing from you again.

God bless.

Rev. Marie

  • Please login to post comments.