On 23 March, the University of Coimbra welcomed more than 350 people for the 28th Faith and Culture, an event organised since 1981 by CUMN (Centro Universitário Manuel da Nóbrega), the Jesuit centre for university students in Coimbra, motivated by the belief that that the dialogue between faith and culture is possible and necessary 

“Toxic” was elected as Word of the Year 2018 by the Oxford Dictionaries. Toxicity is present in various dimensions of our lives today: it affects our planet, the structures of our societies, our relationships… Therefore, we need to learn - through discernment - how to choose what is essential for our own way of identity and happiness. We need to know what to leave and what to keep. Hence, the challenge for this year’s meeting: “Detox - what do you keep in your heart?” Throughout the day, divided in three parts - centring, fixing, focusing - we discussed how to detox. The full programme is available on the event’s website.

In the morning, the Faith and Culture “band” Je Suis Tas animated the participants before the beginning of the talks and Fr. Nuno Branco SJ, CUMN’s director, was in charge of the welcoming speech.

Fr. José Frazão Correia SJ, the Portuguese Provincial, was the first guest speaker and reflected on how to cultivate an attitude that helps us focusing on the essential. He drew our attention to the paradox that nowadays even the desire of detoxing may become toxic…

After that, the morning panel had the mission of “centring” us, with the participation of Paula Moura Pinheiro, journalist of the Portuguese public TV broadcaster, Adriana Calcanhotto, a Brazilian singer, and Jacinto Lucas Pires, writer and columnist.

In the end of the morning and the beginning of the afternoon, participants were divided in various workshops in order to find ways of “fixing” different aspects of our lives. Environment, communication/media, politics, relationships, education and religion were the topics discussed with guest speakers working on each of these areas.

To close the talks, in the last panel, we “focused” on detoxing our Common Home, our body and our spirit, with the contributions of Paulo Magalhães, environmental jurist of the Law School of the University of Porto, Chef Kiko Martins, a well-known Portuguese chef, and Sr. Irene Guia ACI, currently living in Dublin and collaborating with the JRS.

Before going back home, to clean our souls, Fr. Duarte Rosado SJ sang us the poetry of the prophet Isaiah, painted live by Fr. Nuno Branco SJ. You can listen and watch this artistic moment here.

The consolation felt by the end of the day is the best evidence that it is worthy to “relish interiorly” what has been said.