Crossroads Cultural Center is a non-profit cultural organization established in New York in 2004 at the initiative of members of Communion and Liberation

Communion and Liberation

Communion and Liberation, or CL, is a lay ecclesial movement within the Catholic Church.-Overview:CL grew out of the educational and catechetical methods of Msgr. Luigi Giussani, who founded the movement...

, the international movement in the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 that was founded in Italy by Father Luigi Giussani

Luigi Giussani

Monsignor Luigi Giovanni Giussani , Italian Catholic priest, educator, public intellectual and founder of the international Catholic movement Communion and Liberation .-Biography:...

. Crossroads currently operates in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 through local branches in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Washington, DC, Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, MA, and Houston, TX.

Mission

Crossroads organizes panel discussions, debates, conferences, lectures, seminars, artistic performances and presentations, concerts and interviews which fall under one of four categories: Human Affairs, Memory and Identity, Face to Face with…, and Beauty Will Save the World.

The main interest of Crossroads Cultural Center is in the relationship between religion and culture, more specifically on the ways in which Christianity, by revealing the ultimate meaning of reality, gives new impulse to the human desire for knowledge. The goal is to offer opportunities for education, making it possible to look with openness, curiosity and critical judgment at every aspect of reality.

Crossroads ideals are summed up by the suggestion of Saint Paul: "Test everything; retain what is good." According to Crossroads Cultural Center mission statement, "the mark of a Christian culture is that it fosters interest in the full spectrum of reality, rather than focusing on a predetermined set of 'religious' issues. A sign of its authenticity is the ability, or at least the desire, to encounter people from all walks of life, and to look for and appreciate everything that is true, good and worthwhile in the various expressions of human life. These expressions include science, the arts, politics, journalism and the media, theology, history, economy, sociology, and education."

Speakers

Among the speakers that have been protagonists in Crossroads events, there are Peter Beinart

Peter Beinart

-Early life and education:Beinart was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of South African immigrants. His mother, Doreen, works at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and his father, Julian Beinart, is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His stepfather is theatre...

, Dana Gioia

Dana Gioia

-Poetry:It was as a poet that Gioia first began to attract widespread attention in the early 1980s, with frequent appearances in The Hudson Review, Poetry, and The New Yorker. In the same period, he published a number of essays and book reviews...

, Michael Novak

Michael Novak

Michael Novak is an American Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. The author of more than twenty-five books on the philosophy and theology of culture, Novak is most widely known for his book The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism...

, Anne Krueger, Paula Zahn, Paul Berman

Paul Berman

Paul Berman is an American writer. His articles have been published in numerous periodicals, such as: The New Republic, The New York Times Book Review and Slate...

, Richard John Neuhaus

Richard John Neuhaus

Richard John Neuhaus was a prominent Christian cleric and writer. Born in Canada, Neuhaus moved to the United States where he became a naturalized United States citizen...

, Edward Egan, Angelo Scola, Carl Anderson

Carl Anderson

Carl Anderson may refer to:*Carl Anderson , American college football coach*Carl Anderson , American art director*Carl Anderson , North Dakota State Treasurer...

, Joel Meyerowitz

Joel Meyerowitz

Joel Meyerowitz is a street photographer who began photographing in color in 1962 and was an early advocate of the use of color during a time when there was significant resistance to the idea of color photography as serious art...

, Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Seyyed Hossein Nasr is an Iranian University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University, and a prominent Islamic philosopher...

, John Allen

John Allen

-Politicians:*John Allen , U.S. Representative from Connecticut*John B. Allen , first U.S. Senator from Washington*John Clayton Allen , U.S. Representative from Illinois...

, George Weigel

George Weigel

George Weigel is an American author, and political and social activist. He currently serves as a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Weigel was the Founding President of the James Madison Foundation...

, Tony Hendra

Tony Hendra

Tony Hendra is an English satirist and writer who has worked mostly in the United States. Educated at St Albans School and Cambridge University, he was a member of the Cambridge University Footlights revue in 1962, alongside John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Tim Brooke-Taylor.-Career:In 1964 Hendra...

, Samuel Alito

Samuel Alito

Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was nominated by President George W. Bush and has served on the court since January 31, 2006....

, Hendrik Hertzberg

Hendrik Hertzberg

Hendrik Hertzberg is an American journalist, best known as the principal political commentator for The New Yorker magazine. He has also been a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter and editor of The New Republic, and is the author of ¡Obámanos! The Rise of a New Political Era and Politics:...

, Marcello Pera

Marcello Pera

Marcello Pera is an Italian philosopher and politician. He was the President of the Italian Senate from 2001 to 2006.-Career:...

, Roger Scruton

Roger Scruton

Roger Vernon Scruton is a conservative English philosopher and writer. He is the author of over 30 books, including Art and Imagination , Sexual Desire , The Aesthetics of Music , and A Political Philosophy: Arguments For Conservatism...

 and Mary Ann Glendon

Mary Ann Glendon

Mary Ann Glendon J.D., LL.M., was the United States Ambassador to the Holy See and is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She teaches and writes on bioethics, comparative constitutional law, property, and human rights in international law...

.

Theologian, columnist, and author Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete

Lorenzo Albacete

Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete , a Roman Catholic priest, is an American theologian, scientist and author. A New York Times Magazine contributor, Albacete is one of the leaders in the United States for the international Catholic movement Communion and Liberation...

is the Chairman of the Crossroads Cultural Center Board of Advisors.

External links

• Crossroads Cultural Center official website
• Communion and Liberation International homepage
• Communion and Liberation US homepage