Successful Conference on May ’68 at the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria

The event was attended by close to 350 people from different countries around the world.

The Universidad Francisco de Vitoria in Madrid, member institution of ICUSTA, held the very successful international and interdisciplinary Conference “50 Years After May 1968: A Time of Changes, A Change of Time,” which was attended by close to 350 people from different countries around the world.

On this occasion, our organization was represented by its Past President, María del Rosario Sáez; a member of our Council of Honor, Lydia Jiménez; and by the Director of Extension Services of the Universidad Católica de Ávila, Sara Gallardo.

With respect to the Conference, María del Rosario Sáez, who is also the Rector of the Universidad Católica de Ávila, affirmed that “it had an extensive and high-quality program, with international speakers from France, the U.S., Germany, Belgium, Italy and Spain giving lectures and participating in round table discussions, as well as workshops and a variety of papers read. During the three days people from distinct universities and institutions from various countries attended, mostly from Spain and Latin America”.

Moreover, she stated that “the lecture by Dr. Morse was particularly relevant, which was on the ‘victims’ of the sexual revolution, such as children of divorced parents, homosexual couples, women who have aborted, people who have changed their sex, those who are the fruit of artificial insemination, etc. The scientific view of sexual identity shed much light on the discussion, from the perspectives of genetics, public health and psychopedagogy, in a very interesting round table with Nicolás Jouve, Jokin de Irala and María Calvo”.

For his part, the Rector of the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Daniel Sada, indicated that through events like these, “we want to shed light, because the University exists to search for the truth, which does not mean to rummage in the past but rather to attempt to understand it in order to live the present with more fullness and to contribute to the future”. While the President of the Conference, María Lacalle, affirmed that even if “there are many lights, there are also some shadows in the legacy we have received from ’68. Is there more justice today? More equality? Do we have the strength to acknowledge it? We want to propose something better, approaching it with an open Reason, which characterizes the University, and to offer the world a conception which respects the fullness of human love”.

The Conference had much coverage especially by Catholic media. The presentations first offered a panorama of the history and philosophy of May 1968, analyzing the roots and causes of the phenomenon and also the consequences. The ideology as a political and economic directive was highlighted in the round table with Marguerite Peeters and Juan José Daboud, who realized his lecture by video conference from Washington D.C. Also, light was seen amidst these shadows, with lectures on Genesis, the revalorization of the person, the greatness of human sexuality (a lecture by José Granados from the John Paul II Institute in Rome), education and companionship. Fabrice Hadjadj from the Institut Philantrophos in Fribourg closed the Conference with a profound and very enlightening lecture, “The Restoration of the Flesh.”