Two local Catholic leaders are scheduled to present at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, held Sept. 22-27.
Teresa Stanton Collett, a University of St. Thomas law professor, is scheduled to present “Digging into Dignity: Promoting the Dignity of the Human Person” Sept. 23.
A member of the Pontifical Council for the Family and director of St. Thomas’ Pro-life Center, Collett will be defining “human dignity” and addressing how the concept shapes “contemporary challenges to the Church’s understanding of the human person in the world,” according to the World Meeting of Families.
The following day, Father John Echert, pastor of Most Holy Trinity and St. Augustine in South St. Paul, will draw on his experience as a military chaplain for the Minnesota National Guard on a panel titled “The Power of Family during Times of Separation.”
He will also chair a session called “Flesh and Blood: Covenantal Love and the Meaning of the Incarnation.”
Held every three years, the World Meeting of Families will be in the United States for the first time since its founding by St. John Paul II in 1994. Its closing festivities, including a Festival of Families Sept. 26 and Mass Sept. 27 on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, will be the capstone of Pope Francis’ visit to the United States.
