The Faculty of Philosophy Students鈥� Forum (FPSF) organized the First FPSF Conference on Medieval Philosophy that was held at the Martyrs鈥� Hall at the Ecclesiastical Faculties from March 7 to 8, 2019. The conference, held in commemoration of the 475 th Death Anniversary of Saint Thomas Aquinas, was endorsed by Bishop Gerardo A. Alminaza, Chair of the Catholic Bishops鈥� Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Episcopal Commission on Seminaries. Featuring four Plenary Lectures and 13 paper presentations, it brought
together seminarians, teachers and students of philosophy from various institutions.
The opening (first) and closing (fourth) plenary lectures were delivered by Fr. Michael A. Mascari, O.P., J.D. the former Socius to the Master of the Order of Preachers for the Intellectual Life and the current Academic Dean of Aquinas Institute of Theology in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA. His speeches were titled: 鈥淗ere We Stand: The Intellectual Patrimony of the Middle Ages鈥� and 鈥淰oices Past and Present: A Joint Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Truth,鈥� for the first and fourth plenary lectures, respectively.
The second plenary speaker, Assoc. Prof. Jovito V. Cari艌o, Ph.D., spoke on 鈥淪t. Thomas Aquinas and the Contemporary Re(vision) of Catholic Philosophy,鈥� while the third plenary speaker was Rev. Fr. Felix F. delos Reyes, O.P. His topic was: 鈥淧hilosophy in the Service of Thought: Echoes from the Leonine Commission Seminar 2018.鈥�
The topics for the two parallel sessions were: Session 1: Metaphysics, and God and the Human Person, and Session 2: Applications of Thomistic Philosophy, and Ethics and Morality.
Calling for a fresh approach to the wisdom of the medieval philosophers in our time, Fr. Mascari enjoined, 鈥淭he great philosophers and theologians of the medieval past have much to teach us, but perhaps what they offer us more than anything else is the deepest meaning they found in their lives by their following of Christ Jesus and sharing him with others.鈥�
