CONTACT: Donald M. Reynolds
(212) 643-8730
DonRey1@msn.com

       Why does a firefighter rush into a burning building to save someone he or she doesn’t know?  Why do some men and women choose to spend their lives working with the handicapped?  What motivates someone to become a priest, minister, or rabbi?  

       On Friday, March 18th, 2011, The Monuments Conservancy will present its 21st Annual Symposium at the Time & Life Building, Rockefeller Center, 1271 Avenue of the Americas (at 50th Street), Henry Luce Room (second floor), 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 pm, to explore these questions.   

       Firefighters, police officers, astronauts, and miners are among those who exemplify the ideas of love and caring.  In the words of St. John, “Greater love hath no man than that he lay down his life for his friend.”

       In this yearly tribute to renowned art historian Rudolf Wittkower, psychiatrists, anthropologists, members of the clergy, and other professionals are gathering to discuss the nature, origin, and meaning of caring, love, and reparation and how they are fundamental to human nature, regardless of one’s creed or belief. 

       The idea for this year’s Symposium came to Donald Reynolds as he pondered the egregious betrayals on the part of many priests, religious, and ministers of the Roman Catholic Church.  He concluded that change could only happen from the ground up.  To that end he wrote to Pope Benedict XVI to propose a year of atonement worldwide in reparation of these outrages.   Inspired by this suggestion, Rev. Thomas Kallumady, Pastor of Holy Innocents Church in New York City, with the blessing of Archbishop Dolan, held a novena of Masses in atonement for “the sins born within the Church.”  During just nine weeks of Masses, his parishioners responded with an astonishing 314,196 personal acts of atonement for the sins of those who failed their calling so gravely.  

       The renowned American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr noted that “No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint.  Therefore, we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.” 

LIST OF SPEAKERS AND THEIR TOPICS FOLLOWS
In order of appearance

PILAR JENNINGS, Psychotherapist and Psychoanalyst, Harlem Family Institute, New York City:  FOUNDATIONAL THEMES OF CARING, LOVE, AND REPARATION. 

IAN TATTERSALL, Paleoanthropologist, Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York City:  EVIDENCE FOR CARING AMONG EARLY HUMANS.

RICHARD MILNER, Historian of Science, Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York City: AN ANT AT THE PICNIC.

VINCENT DUNN, Deputy Chief, FDNY (Ret), New York City: DUTY AND SACRIFICE, FOUNDATIONS OF LOVE AND MORALITY. 

WILLIAM LEAHY, Firefighter and President, New York Firefighter’s Burn Center Foundation, New York City: NEW YORK FIREFIGHTER’S BURN CENTER FOUNDATION: ITS ROLE AND MISSION. 

BRUCE JENNINGS, Director of Bioethics, the Center for Humans and Nature, Senior Consultant, The Hastings Center, New York: DEMENTIA AND THE HUMAN GOOD: CARING, MEANING, AND REMEMBERING. 

NANCY Z. REYNOLDS, Senior Editor (Ret.), Moody’s Investors Service, New York City: LILLIAN MOLLER GILBRETH: A PROFILE IN CARING. 

DAVID KRAEMER,  Joseph J. and Dora Abbell Librarian, Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, The Jewish Theological Seminary, New York City: WHAT TO DO WHEN A RELATIONSHIP GOES BAD: REPENTANCE AND ATONEMENT AS ACTS OF LOVE IN HUMAN AND DIVINE RELATIONS. 

DONALD M. REYNOLDS, Art Historian, New York City:  A PARADIGM OF ATONEMENT FOR “THE SINS BORN WITHIN THE CHURCH.” 

THERE  WILL BE A BRIEF Q&A SESSION AFTER EACH TALK, FOLLOWED BY A PANEL DISCUSSION OPEN TO QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE.

*The symposium was founded in 1991 by Donald M. Reynolds on the 20th anniversary of Rudolf Wittkower’s death, and made possible this year through bequests of Elaine Skinner, Joan Gdosky, and John Leo Zlobik, and the generosity of Nancy Z. Reynolds and Richard L. Reynolds.