Interfaith dialogue

It refers to “cooperative, constructive and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions (i.e., "faiths") and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels.

Religious traditions (i.e., "faiths”) are born from an intense Religious experience of the “Numinous” or “Das Heilige” and, through Rituals and Myths, help followers to achieve and keep alive a similar experience.

Thus the different Religious traditions

Muslim tradition

“To each of you We prescribed a law and a method. Had Allah willed, He would have made you one nation [united in religion], but [He intended] to test you in what He has given you; so race to [all that is] good. To Allah is your return all together, and He will [then] inform you concerning that over which you used to differ.”

Quran: Surat Al-Maaidah (5:48):

Christian tradition: the Trinity

“Deus caritas est” means that “God/love must lean towards another” (St. Gregory the Great).

For many Trinity is nothing more than a truth to be believed,

yet, it becomes the pattern of our existence and behavior

One God, in communion of love, as All-Vulnerable, All-Embracing, and All-Given to you and me creates a community of believers with similar traits.

Dialogue is in our genes.

Christians experience God as Community…as Friendship…as Dance.

Ην αρχή ο διάλογος

John 1:1 “ In the beginning” could be rendered:

“In the Beginning was the dialogue… and God is Dialogue”

In his innermost being, God is a dialogue: i.e. a life of love among the three Persons.

“Tell me who is your God and I’ll tell you who you are”

God is not solitude but communion, and when God says: “Let us make man in our image and likeness”, he speaks about our inner natural of beings in relationship.

Thus, the questions and the answers about God are of fundamental importance to understand man.

Why Humans feel an irrepressible yearning for community,

The answer is quite simple:

because we share in the same DNA of God:

the Holy Spirit.

Becoming what we are: through contemplation

What contemplation is:

The root of the word is that of the Latin word “templum”, a piece of ground consecrated for the taking of auspices, or a building for worship. In turn it is derived from Proto-Indo-European base *tem- "to cut", and so a "place reserved or cut out”.

To remain in the ‘templum”:

Remaining motionless in the flow of time

Contemplation is experiencing God can only be known experientially

(Contemplation), and that is why we (at Wayne) practice/teach: contemplative prayer and quiet:

where our ego identity falls away,

where our explanations don’t mean anything,

where our superiority doesn’t matter and we to sit there in our naked “who-ness.”

What Dialogue is in the mind of the

Church/Congregation:

“is part of the Church’s evangelizing mission” (Red.Mi 55),

“it does not originate from tactical concerns or self-interest” (Red.Mi 56) and

it is an essential element of the mission.

What Dialogue is not:

An activity entrusted solely to the personal sensitivity of some missionaries;

Thus: Dialogue must be:

1. inserted into the missionary project of every Province

2. and given the necessary personnel and resources.

3. The General Direction is in charge to promote the development and coordination of the Centers for intercultural and interreligious dialogue, so that they and offer new proposals of missionary methodology to the confreres.

The Church’s teaching on dialogue:

Vatican II Documents and in Evangelii Gaudium:

1. Dialogue with Christ is the source of every form of dialogue (EG#120).

2. Dialogue is first and foremost, communion: «through the medium of words dialoguing persons share themselves » (EG#142).

In this spirit, initiatives and activities are undertaken in the fourfold field of Dialogue:

1 dialogue of life

2 dialogue of action

3 dialogue of theological exchange

4 dialogue of religious experience

Dialogue in action

What unites us is stronger that what keeps us apart

Three popes and one patriarch

“Ecumenism of blood”

In Cairo, Francis reprised a phrase about an “ecumenism of blood” between Catholic martyrs and Orthodox ones while signing an important joint declaration with the Coptic Orthodox pope, Tawadros II. In that accord, they recognized a common baptism among their believers.

+ Dialogue and cultural encounter in the Xaverian tradition

- The Founder:

Although he never used the words dialogue, acculturation and inculturation, he promoted a conscientious cultural commitment among his missionaries.

He invites his missionary «to acquire a varied cultural formation, appropriate for the ministry to which he is called to dedicate his entire life» (FR 23) and also equip the Congregation with «some ethnographic museums, containing interesting artifacts from the various missions regarding customs, art, religion, flora and fauna» (FR 59).

Xaverians

A. Studies: It is quite impossible to give a complete account of what our

confreres have achieved in this field of missionary work since our Congregation began. There has been a great production of studies on customs, local art, language (grammar books and dictionaries), religious rituals, etc.,. kept in our archives.

This bears witness to our confreres’ love for the cultures and the peoples among whom they worked, or are still working today. We should treasure this precious legacy.

B. Publications - We remember how Fede e Civilta, today’s Missione

Oggi played an important part in promoting knowledge of the Chinese world.

- The publications of the

a. Asian Study Center (Quaderni, Monographs, Monumenta Missionalia) and more recently, of

b. Magazines of the African and Latin American Study Centers.

C. Chinese museum The Chinese Art and Ethnographic Museum of

Parma desired by the Founder and The Museum of the Kivu, at Bukavu, DRC.

D. In the missions: Asia

there are many Dialogue activities, especially with Hinduism, Buddhism and Shintoism.

A certain degree of progress has also been made in the dialogue with Islam. Ex: The Center of Jakarta in dialogue with Islam.

Dialogue with Buddhism and Shintoism is the main purpose of the Shinmeizan Center in Japan.

Fr. Luigi Menegazzo “Master of the tea ceremony” Chado

Fr. Franco Sottocornola and Ven. Tairyu Furukawa Dialogue of Religious Experience

Africa and Latin America

Our confreres have given life to a dialogue of action. Attention to the poorest resulted in “Dialogue in Action”.

USA and Scotland

The United States of America and the United Kingdom have opened a dialogue with non-believers, people of other faiths and with atheism.

Europe

- The great migratory movements in Europe commit us further to dialogue and cultural and interreligious encounters

- “Gospel and Zen” at Desio (Mi) was founded by Fr. Luciano Mazzocchi on 1987 and we shall hear later on by Father himself.

Dialogue of action: Fr. Tony Senno Taranto (Italy)

Italy has struggled to find the right approach toward immigration.

In the 1980s, Italy found itself transformed from a country of emigrants to a receiver of immigrants.

The southern border has made it an easy target for undocumented immigrants,

both as a final destination and as a bridge to other countries of the European Union.

While immigrant labor is increasingly needed, public opinion has continued to associate high immigration levels with increased crime and poverty.

Italy will have more immigrants and fewer Italian workers in the years to come.

Managing immigration flows will remain a challenge for the Church and the Government.

Fr. Raimondo Sommacal "The foreigner residing among you must be treated as

your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God". (Lv. 19,18)

Fr. Raimondo has been appointed “Episcopal Representative for the immigrants”.

In January 2016 over 446.987 Parma residents, 59.903 belonged to 140 different nationalities.

The Muslim population counts roughly 18.000 people.

The ‘Migrants” Office is the pastoral organization that:

Advocates: Protection for refugees, victims of human slavery, and other people on the move, through both direct advocacy and grassroots level organization.

Communicates: Through the use of various media platforms the church seeks to better communicate the social teaching on migration.

Educates: Educating people to form a culture that is more welcoming of the stranger and willing to provide support to those most in need.

Collaborates:it is important for the Church to collaborate with other organizations of good will. These include parishes, diocesan structures, state conferences, religious orders, universities and affiliated organizations.

NB: In addition, the Church is open to working with non-Catholic organizations whom share a similar moral vision and uphold policy objectives that are compatible with the Church's own.

“Centering Prayer and Buddhist Meditation”. A. Centering Prayer

It is a method of silent prayer that prepares us to receive the gift of contemplative prayer. It is a kind of prayer in which we experience God's presence within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself.

This method of prayer is both a relationship with God and a discipline to foster that relationship.

It adds depth of meaning to all prayer and facilitates the movement from more active modes of into a receptive prayer of resting in God.

It is a movement beyond conversation with Christ to communion with Him.

In Wayne, NJ we promote “Dialogue of prayer” through:

Christian contribution 1.The source of Centering Prayer is the Indwelling

Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit or “Theosis”, ”Sfraghis”, “Wound”,”Seal” received at Baptism.

2.The focus is the deepening of our relationship with the living Christ.

3.The effects of Centering Prayer are ecclesial, as the prayer tends to build communities of faith and bonds the members together in mutual friendship and love.

Buddhist Contribution: “Buddhist meditation” refers to the meditative practices associated with the

religion/philosophy of Buddhism.

Buddhist meditation techniques have become increasingly popular in the wider world, with many non-Buddhists taking them up for a variety of reasons.

Specific Buddhist meditation techniques have been used to remove unwholesome qualities, thought to be impediments to spiritual liberation, such:

- Loving Kindness (Metta) to remove ill-will, hate, and anger,

- equanimity to remove mental clinging,

and

- impermanence (annica) which is reflection on parts-of-the-body and corpses to remove sensual lust.

Some questions by the DG: What impression do we have of all these activities and

how do we judge them?

What do we see happening today in the Xaverian world?

Where are the interests of the new Xaverian generations being channeled?

Are dialogue and acculturation truly focal points for us?

Focusing on the most Recent Xaverian document: The Sixth Circular letter

Of the General Direction on “Dialogue and Acculturation in the Xaverian Missionary Praxis” of May 29th, 2016

From the Church Documents and our Constitutions

«Anyone who is going to encounter another people

should have a great esteem for their patrimony and their language and their customs». Ad Gentes 26

“We commit ourselves to (know), understand and

accept our non-Christian brothers with their values and their religion.

We strive to promote the common values of the Kingdom through a fraternal and qualified dialogue of faith and life. Constitution #13

We are invited by the DG to ask ourselves:

1. Am I open to dialogue and to cultural encounter?

2. What conversion must take place within me so that I

can be an instrument of dialogue?

3. Are we prepared to become all things to all men (1Cor 9:22), or do we expect others to live up to our own expectations?

The XVI General Chapter #49 tells us:

“ Dialogue is not looked upon as an activity, but, first

and foremost, as a spiritual and human attitude, a mature fruit of a profound humanity, which is understood, not as self-fulfillment, but as a gift for others.

Dialogue is therefore made possible by the

A. maturity of faith and B. human maturity.

It is the result of a constant process of personal growth.

It happens when the missionary:

cultivates himself, his faith and his humanity, thoroughly, and by allowing himself

to be guided and

corrected, by examining himself with courage and

by choosing a very demanding personal life project.

Dialogue is closely related to spiritual life, prayer, meditation and self-renunciation.

The circular letter quotes also “Misericordiae Vultus”# 23 which advocates

1. An even more fervent dialogue

2. so that we might know

3. and understand one another better;

4. may it eliminate every form of closed-mindedness and disrespect and

5. drive out every form of violence and discrimination.

Our Xaverian Family has made a great progress in this field. Nevertheless, much remains to be done to keep the spirit alive.

“Caritas Christi Urget Nos”

Our communities, are the acid test for measuring our effective ability to dialogue with the others.

If this kind of dialogue does not happen all our missionary activity is like «running aimlessly» (1Cor 9:26).

In the field of dialogue, every project that is not spiritual is not fit for purpose

History bears witness that dialogue finds its consistency and efficacy only in the faith of the missionary.

St. Guido Maria Conforti: Pray for us!

A Production of the Xaverian Missionaries USA Province

www.xaverianmissionaries.org

Author : Fr. Michael Davitti, SX © 2017

Make of the world one family!