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The conference's multidisciplinary panel of scholars will reflect on the nature and significance of the motherhood and consecrated life for contemporary society, the meaning of equality, and societal attempts to redress the disorder between men and women.
In light of analyses about the human person that emerge from "Mulieris Dignitatem," scholars will address how these themes and current issues such as pornography, domestic violence and abortion legislation figure into American Constitutional law, international law, canon law and family law, including pornography, domestic violence and abortion legislation.
While some would struggle to see the relevance of a highly theological text to the study of law, acting dean and associate professor of Ave Maria School of Law, Eugene Milhizer, explained that human law is inseparably linked to natural law: "The American legal culture is steeped in a superficial and partial account of the obligatory nature of the law, namely, that only human -- or positive -- law has full validity and is binding because it comes from a lawfully established human power.
"Ultimately, as Blessed Antonio Rosmini once said, 'The human person is the essence of the law.'"
In "Mulieris Dignitatem," Pope John Paul addressed the challenge of contemporary feminism with a theological reflection on the true meaning of womanhood, the vocation of women, and the role of women in the Church and in society. The letter, issued in 1988 on the occasion of the Marian Year, is written as a meditation on the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, within the context of the mystery of Christ and the Church.