‘The Abbey’: a Cultural Space of the Sodalit Family for the world
Buenos Aires, 12/01/14 (Sodalit News – Argentina). Celebrating the 10th anniversary of their presence in the country of Argentina, members of the Family Sodalit have presented ‘The Abbey: a Cultural Space’ as a renewed effort in the evangelization of culture.
At the heart of Buenos Aires, a new space has opened allowing culture, art, religion and contemporary thought to come together harmoniously, centering on the individual and social commitment. In this way, ‘The Abbey: a Cultural Space’ was born as new apostolic project of the Sodalit Family in Argentina.
“The Abbey came to us in 2009 when we came into contact with the Benedictine monks, the owners of this site,” says Sebastian Blanco, the current Superior of the Sodalit community in Argentina. He highlighted that the owners had always wanted to “give the abbey a spiritual and apostolic use for all the space of the former monastery of St. Benedict; and they asked us, as a spiritual family and the Sodalitium of Christian Life, to continue a path of rich tradition that it had had in Buenos Aires and in the Church in general.”
The land and the abbey represent a privileged platform for the apostolic work of the Sodalit Family, from which it will seek to provide cultural space and response so that the different cultural manifestations of the city and Latin America can find a space for dialogue in order to form a culture that responds to what is authentically human.
For Renato Alocilla, a Sodalit living in Argentina who has been involved in the development of the project, “each cultural manifestation, as varied as it may be, has something transcendent which can help the human being to reach out to the infinite, to respond to that infinite longing that comes from God.”
The Abbey offers a space for artistic residence, where different Latin American artists, in dialogue with artists from Argentina, can create a culture of encounter through their works. The Abbey will provide the theme for the project as a cultural space, seeking that the artists, from their own identity and creativity, can create works during their residence so that they may be exposed for all Buenos Aires.
The project also seeks to provide a space for art exhibitions of different types. Our dream is to have a permanent collection of art and at the same time to have a dynamic rotation of various exhibitions that have to do with Latin American art, always in dialogue with art from other continents.
“We want the culture and its richest expressions to be accessible to all; that is why the project of the Abbey as a cultural space has, from its origin, a strong social commitment,” observed Sebastian Blanco. He also added that they want to “offer a space to those, who because of their social status, do not have access to the cultural world and so that they may themselves contribute from their talents and gifts to build a culture of the encounter.”
The Abbey, from the Latin American identity, seeks to provide a vital experience of encounter between creators, spectators and promoters of culture in its various manifestations through a space of interpretation, permanent and itinerant artistic exhibits that remit us to the transcendent horizon of the human person. There will be conferences, courses, workshops, film discussions, chats, forums and concerts for the cultivation of the mind and spirit. There will also be a space for the musical formation of children and they will also offer artistic residence in order to promote contact between various cultural elements.
We invite you to watch this video where you can learn more about this important initiative of the Sodalit Family in the evangelization of culture: