Originally published at National Catholic Register
Plans are underway at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio for the launch of an initiative that will address what it means to be human amid “ever-growing confusion in our world” about gender.
Franciscan University Franciscan President Father Dave Pivonka announced the launch of the Institute for the Study of Man and Woman during the Oct. 24-26 “Man and Woman in the Order of Creation Conference.”
The Washington, D.C., conference featured scholars from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), including Francis Maier and Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, as well as Angela Franks, senior fellow at the Abigail Adams Institute, and other academics.
“Franciscan is excited to be a voice of reason and faith in a discussion that is often lacking in both,” Father Pivonka told CNA.
“‘What does it mean to be human?’ This question has been asked for millennia, but with the ever-growing confusion in our world, it has taken on greater importance today,” Father Pivonka said.
The priest said the initiative “isn’t an institute to study gender, or only women, or only men.”
“To come to understand the human person more deeply, we believe we must take seriously the reality that God created both male and female —
