Culture of encounter: Interreligious dialogue

One of the key elements for creating a culture of encounter is to seek out the other and to enter into dialogue with the other.

Jan 19, 2017

One of the key elements for creating a culture of encounter is to seek out the other and to enter into dialogue with the other.

Extremely significant is the discourse that Pope Francis delivered in Sarajevo on June 5, 2014, the city which has symbolised division and distrust for over a century, a place that is at the crossroads of different peoples, cultures and religions.

When he spoke there with members of all religions in that city, Muslims, Orthodox and Catholics, he affirmed that just sitting together is “a sign of our shared desire for fraternity and peace; it is a testimony to the friendship and cooperation that has developed over the years.” In that regard, he affirmed that “interreligious dialogue is an indispensible condition for peace, and for this reason is a duty for all believers.”

The Holy Father, in Evangelii Gaudium (EG), does not deny the challenges that face an authentic interreligious dialogue, even obstacles that he sees as coming from “forms of fundamentalism on both sides” (EG, 250). Nonetheless, he sees our interaction with other religions as essential and obligatory. He points to the particular friendship that should be developed with Islam, which “together with us adore the one, merciful God” (EG, 252 and also from Lumen Gentium, 16).

A very close reading of the many references that Pope Francis has made on interreligious dialogue indicate that he puts emphasis on the concept of the dialogue about life. As he wrote in Evangelii Gaudium, interreligious dialogue, before being a discussion of the main themes of faith, is a “conversation about human existence” (EG, 250).

He developed that idea extensively in his talk in Sarajevo when he said: “This conversation shares the experiences of daily life in all its concreteness, with its joys and sufferings, its struggles and hopes; it takes on shared responsibilities; it plans a better future for all. We learn to live together, respecting each other’s differences freely; we know and accept one another’s identity. Through dialogue, a spirit of fraternity is recognised and developed, which unites and favours the promotion of moral values, justice, freedom and peace.”

His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, in his speech to members of other faiths in London on September 17, 2010, spoke about the beauty of sharing our common joy of knowing God. He affirmed: “On the level of formal conversations, there is a need not only for theological exchange, but also sharing our spiritual riches, speaking of our experience of prayer and contemplation, and expressing to one another the joy of our encounter with divine love.”
In other words, and this phrase is truly outstanding: “Dialogue is a school of humanity and a builder of unity.”

And is there any one better than those who hold the office of Bishop to be true agents and ministers of encounter and dialogue.

Indeed, the very essence of the office of Bishop is to preserve the unity of the particular community over which he presides, to be a sign of reconciliation outside the Church and to strengthen the unity among all the Churches in union with the Bishop of Rome.

As Pope Francis said to the Bishops in the United States during his visit there in September 2015: “Our mission as bishops is, first and foremost, to solidify unity, a unity whose content is defined by the Word of God and on Bread of Heaven” (September 23, 2015). In other words, our very essence is one of communion. --By Archbishop Joseph Marino, Apostolic Nuncio to Malaysia

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