What to expect at the New York Encounter, ‘Where Everything Is Waiting for You’

Communion and Liberation’s annual cultural event, the New York Encounter, will begin Friday in the heart of New York City.

The annual three-day cultural event hosted by Communion and Liberation, a movement within the Church founded by Father Luigi Giussani, begins this Friday evening with a video message from Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa.

This year’s New York Encounter will center on the theme “Where Everything Is Waiting for You,” focusing on “the reemerging human desire for authentic belonging amid global isolation, emphasizing how freedom, truth, forgiveness, and dignity foster certainty and openness in true community.”

The event is set to take place Feb. 13–15 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood. Several of the presentations will be livestreamed, but for those who wish to attend in person, the event is free and open to all.

Holly Peterson, one of the event’s moderators, told “EWTN News Nightly” on Feb. 10 that amid life’s challenges and “the angst of the world we live in,” the New York Encounter is “a place to go where everything is waiting for you.”

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“We’ll have amazing speakers who will be able to address some of the challenges that we have today, whether it be social media or AI or whatnot,” she said. “But it’s a place where everyone is welcome.”

Peterson said the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem has recorded a “phenomenal” video that will be aired at the event. She further highlighted several panels and discussions set to take place at the event, including one on just war theory and another featuring Bishop Earl Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio, who will be interviewing two Ukrainian bishops about the situation on the ground in Ukraine.

Dialogue and reflection will focus on urgent questions shaping common life, according to the event’s website. The Encounter plans to bring together leading voices from culture, academia, faith, and the arts to explore how human flourishing is possible in today’s world.

Peterson said she hopes participants will leave the event with “curiosity” and motivated to ask “deep questions and not necessarily find answers, but to be able to address some of the topics that are discussed with friends and family.”

“There’ll be thousands of people there, but it’s all free and everyone will be welcome,” she said.

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