By Brianna Milano
Staff Reporter
On Wednesday, October 17, 2018, Sacred Heart University welcomed guest speaker Stephen Pope, Ph.D, a professor of Theology at Boston College. His colloquia spoke about the different types of love and how they affect our everyday happiness.
Pope spoke about 4 different types of love and how each of them relay into either creating an overall happy life or being miserable. He also made points about relationships and how there are instabilities through being in love.
“Although love can make you feel great, it can also hurt,” said Pope.
Students responded in an extremely positive light to this type of colloquia because they enjoyed learning about being in love and how there are so many different factors that feed into a loving and happy relationships and life in general.
“I think it was amazing hearing the differences of love and happiness from an expert because, personally, I know a handful of girls that struggle with the same concept who just do not understand what to do,” said sophomore Sarah Tedesco.
This colloquia was a good topic for students who are college aged because that is when they typically first start to struggle with relationships and the idea of love.
“I have always wondered about what brings true happiness,” said sophomore Ava Fusaro. She explained that there were so many different points in Professor Pope’s lecture that ultimately helped her understand that there is so much more in between love and happiness.
“Sometimes romantic love brings rise to more long lasting intimacy,” said Pope. He emphasized the factors that can lead to pursuing a life of love and happiness.
“The speaker, Professor Pope, really shed light on relationships, especially college relationships. He explained the difference between a good love and a bad love,” said Tedesco.
Students enjoyed learning that there is more of a grey area between love and happiness in many situations.
“I really enjoyed the speaker and I thought he did a great job supporting his thesis. I also agreed with a lot of what he said. Professor Pope really emphasized that love brings happiness if it is healthy and stable, but it can also make one miserable” said sophomore Brittany Coyne.
The students that attended the colloquium thought that it was beneficial because they never really thought about this topic before going.
“I have never thought about this before the colloquium because I always assumed that love and happiness went both hand in hand,” said sophomore Alyssa Zarcone.
Zarcone also enjoyed that he did not sugar coat love and happiness, but rather showed that there is also a negative side to it as well in some situations.
Pope also talked a little bit about what true happiness entails.
“Happiness as human flourishing, living a good life, giving and receiving love, et cetera” said Pope.
“I never thought about all the different types and kinds of love we have in our lives until going to this colloquium. We are surrounded by various types of love that brings us to different types of happiness for each individual” said Tedesco.
The lecture left off with Pope’s thesis about love and happiness. “Love can lead to abiding and deep happiness when it is good, virtuous, and mature, but it can make people miserable when it is not,” said Pope.
