The Modern Image and Catholic Truth Series:

The Glass of Absinthe and the Rules of the Game

Modern man has a positive image of himself that has been shaped and very effectively propagandized since the time of the Renaissance. The Roman Forum’s Modern Image and Catholic Truth series explores the gap between this image and the true predicament in which both the individual and contemporary society as a whole now find themselves imprisoned.

This year’s series began in November with a conference called The Sleep of Reason, designed to underline the fact that modern naturalism ends with the destruction of the rational in man, achieved in a variety of different ways depending upon the particular approaches of the thinkers and activists concerned.

 The Glass of Absinthe and The Rules of the Game were originally intended to be two separate conferences---the first focusing on the destructive aspects of the naturalist separation of the individual from society and his own past; the second on the intellectual, artistic, psychological and socio-political obstacles placed in the path of identification of the disease that afflicts us. These have now been combined into one session--- the last Roman Forum event in the United States in the 2007-2008 academic year.

PROGRAM

Saturday, May 3^rd, 2008

9:00 A.M.—5:00 P.M.

9:00-10:00 A.M.: Registration and Coffee Hour

10:00 - 11:00 A.M.: The Glass of Absinthe and the Rules of the Game

Dr. John C. Rao

St. John’s University, Director of Roman Forum

11:15 A.M. - 12:15 P.M.: The Empire of Nothingness

Christopher A. Ferrara, Esq.

President, American Catholic Lawyers Association

12:15 P.M. - 1:45 P.M.: Luncheon

1:45 P.M.-2:45 P.M.: Citycraft and Soulcraft

Dino Marcantonio, AIA

Architect and Lecturer at the Yale School of Architecture

3:00 P.M.-4:00 P.M.: Reason Gone Mad

James Kalb, Esq.

International Catholic lecturer and writer; author of:

The Tyranny of Liberalism: Understanding and Overcoming

Administered Freedom, Inquisitorial Tolerance, and Equality by Command

(Fall, 2008, ISI Books)

4:00 P.M.-5:00 P.M.: General Discussion

Reserve by April 28^th, 2008:  $35 for entrance and luncheon

Pay at the door:  $10 for entrance alone

Checks payable to The Roman Forum

 11 Carmine Street, 2C, NY, NY, 10014

Catholic Center at New York University

238 Thompson St. (Between Washington Square South and West 3^rd St.)

A, B, C, D, E, F, V trains to West 4^th St.; R to 8^th St.; 6 to Bleecker St.

For further information: www.romanforum.org

Roman Forum Spring Ball

to honor

THE BIRTHDAY OF ROME: 753 B.C.-2008 A.D.

Saturday, April 26^th, 2008, 7:00 P.M. through Midnight

Feast translated from April 21

7 Piece Rich Siegel Ballroom Orchestra

Grand Imperial Buffet and Dessert

BYOB

Well Done Roma! Festivities and Spontaneous Outburst of Joy

10:00 P.M.

On Rome's Birthday (April 21, 753 B.C.) and the Parilia

    According to tradition, Romulus took up his trusty plow and marked out a sulcus around "Shepherds' Hill" on the twelfth day before the Kalends of May, i.e., a.d. XII Kal. Mai-a date which, give or take eleven or twelve days, roughly corresponds to what we call April 21st. Conveniently, the date was also the festival of the shepherd goddess Pales (the Parilia), in whose honor the hill, chosen by Romulus, had been named the Palatine.      

    When the festival was adopted by city dwellers, the date was set to coincide with the date of the traditional founding of Rome. Each area of Rome set up festivities, much like a block party. Bonfires were set onto which offerings were thrown. The event concluded with a bountiful feast set up out of doors. Catholics, for obvious reason, can also commemorate the day due to Rome’s Christian meaning.

    Two songs will be sung at the 10:00 P.M. festivities: The papal hymn, Roma Immortale, and Rome’s Birthday Song, the latter to the tune of Oklahoma, with lyrics by Judy Hallet. See the back of this announcement for the words.

Reserve by April 21st, 2008

$50 per person—children 16 and under enter for free will donation only

(jacket and tie or dinner jacket for men required)

Make checks payable to The Roman Forum

11 Carmine Street, 2C, NY, NY, 10014

Catholic Center at New York University

238 Thompson St. (Between Washington Square South and West 3^rd St.)

A, B, C, D, E, F, V trains to West 4^th St.; R to 8^th St.; 6 to Bleecker St.

For further information: www.romanforum.org

Texts for Well Done Roma! Festivities

Roma Immortale

Roma immortale di Martiri e di Santi,
Roma immortale accogli i nostri canti:
Gloria nei cieli a Dio nostro Signore,
Pace ai Fedeli, di Cristo nell'amore.
A Te veniamo, Angelico Pastore,
In Te vediamo il mite Redentore,
Erede Santo di vera e santa Fede;
Conforto e vanto a chi combate e crede,
Non prevarranno la forza ed il terrore,
Ma regneranno la Verità, e l'Amore.

Salve Salve Roma, patria eterna di memorie,
Cantano le tue glorie mille palme e mille altari.
Roma degli apostoli
Madre e guida dei Rendenti,
Roma luce delle genti, il mondo spera in te!

Salve Salve Roma, la tua luce non tramonta,
Vince l'odio e l'onta lo splendor di tua beltà.
Roma degli Apostoli
Madre e guida dei Redenti,
Roma luce delle genti, il mondo spera in te!

Rome’s Birthday Song

O! Nostra Roma Urbs Aeterna Septem Collium.

Huc viae ducunt, aquae fluunt, et stat vetus Capitolium!

O! Nostra Roma, olim servata ab ansere, latericia marmorea fiebas Augusto principe.

Amor (tuum nomen retro) plus mansit hic uno saeculo.

Proclamemus "Roma, te salutemus, non morituram,

Maete virtute sis, Roma! Nostra Roma, ave!

Roma, Roma, Nostra Roma

Amor (tuum nomen retro) plus mansit hic uno saeculo.

Proclamemus "Roma, te salutemus, non morituram,

Maete virtute sis, Roma! Nostra Roma, ave, ave R_O_M_A,

Nostra Roma