The Lay Centre community held, on Nov. 30, the “Dies Academicus 2024,” an open day in which they welcome visitors and engage in fruitful intellectual dialogue.
Five Lay Centre residents presented topics they have been studying and discussed them with those present in the audience. This is an annual event organized by The Lay Centre to encourage our residential scholars to share the fruit of their research with our friends in Rome.
- ‘Do we need to build bridges?,’ by Karina Gandur
- ‘Community as a Heritage,’ by Luiza Della Giustina Da Correggio
- ‘The Consequences of Not Rhyming,’ by Joshua Pyle
- ‘The Catholic Church and International Law,’ by Lourdes Spossito
After the sessions, guests joined the community for lunch. The presentations were very diverse and included topics in history, culture, psychology, theology, and spirituality. The fourth speaker was Sara Staiano, from Sorrento (Italy).
Sara is a social worker and, currently, she is a second-year student of the Master’s degree in Safeguarding at the Pontifical Gregoriana University in Rome. previously, she wokred for four years in home caring services for minors and families with special needs. She was also a youth leader in her parish for ten years. Her dream is to continye working in the Catholic Church to create safer environments for minors and vulnerable people.
In her talk, she spoke of prevention as a way to reduce abuse within different institutions. “In my academic work, I chose to focus on the institution of the Catholic Church and I developed a prevention plan,” she says. Sara used the Archdiocese of Sorrento – Castellammare as a case study for her plan.
“The prevention plan is a procedure that is designed and written to reduce the risks that may threaten vulnerable people in a specific context. It is based on concrete actions that must be implemented to prevent all forms of abuse,” she adds.
Photos: Biagio Tamarazzo