Cardinal Renato Martino to speak at Oct. 24 St. Olaf ‘Faith and Work Breakfast’
Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace as well as the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, will give the first breakfast talk in a series co-sponsored by St. Olaf Catholic Church and the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought at the University of St. Thomas.
Cardinal Renato Martino
The ecumenical “Faith and Work Breakfast” will be held from 7 to 9 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24, in Fleming Hall of St. Olaf Catholic Church, 215 S. Eighth St .
In his talk on “The Compendium and the World of Work: What Does the Church Have to Say to Those Who Work?” Martino will discuss the Catholic Church’s social, economic and spiritual perspectives on the role of work. Under the cardinal’s direction, the Pontifical Council in 2004 published the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, a summary of Catholic social teaching.
Martino, 73, is a native of Italy. During 16 years at the United Nations as papal observer of the holy see, from 1987 to 2002, he participated in conferences on a range of topics: disarmament, development, poverty, the rights of minors, the rights of Palestine refugees and religious liberty. He became head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in fall 2002.
Now in their 13th year, the Faith and Work Breakfasts deal with the personal challenges of faith-and-work integration and are designed for professionals from all faiths. The theme of this year’s series is “Scarcity and Abundance: Faith, Work and Poverty.”
Other speakers in the series will be Earl Schwartz, who teaches religion and social justice at Hamline University, on Nov. 30; Lynn Casey, chief executive officer of Padilla Speer and Beardsley, on Jan. 18, 2007; Gloria Perez Jordan, executive director of the Jeremiah Program, on Feb. 15, 2007; and the Rev. John Estrem, chief executive officer of Catholic Charities for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, on April 19, 2007.
The cost of each Faith and Work Breakfast is $20, which includes a continental breakfast. Pre-registration is encouraged; a large audience is expected for the Martino talk. To make a reservation or for more information, call St. Olaf Catholic Church at (612) 332-7471, Ext. 255, or send an e-mail to cbishop@saintolaf.org. Information also is available on the Web at https://www.saintolaf.org/FaithWork.
The breakfast series is presented in cooperation with Catholic Charities and the Center for Lifelong Learning at Luther Seminary.
