Catholic Religious Australia - Thursday, June 25

EXAMPLES OF DIALOGUE in the Church

Parramatta's Bishop Kevin Manning lead a three-pronged approach which presented practical multi-faith experiences within the Church.

Bishop Manning (pictured left, centre), a researcher within the Parramatta Diocese, Dr Vivienne Keely CHF (right), and the vice-president of Affinity Intercultural Foundation, Zuleyha Keskin (left), gave examples of their own growth in interfaith dialogue and living from personal and profession points of view.

Bishop Manning, although aware of the Vatican II document Nostra Aetate (the Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to non-Christian Religions), did not respond to inter-religious dialogue until invited by the overtues of others following 9/11. "But, once involved, I have remained committed, and, I hope, energetic in promoting good relations with our Muslim and Jewish brothers and sisters," he told the assembly. Today, he believes that a "loving heart is the most important element" in inter-religious dialogue, supported by friendship. "I have made new friends and I thank God for that."

He concluded an enlightening and encouraging address:

"Catholic bishops, Catholic priests and religious are not for the Catholic people alone. Our witness and our love is for all God's people because God loves all without exception and without distinction. This is my ultimate reason for engaging in inter-religious dialogue."

FULL TEXT of Bishop Manning's address

Zuleyha Keskin spoke of three turning points that have drawn her further into inter-faith dialogue.

The first was about 10 years ago when, for the first time, she experienced the breaking of a Ramadan fast at in inter-faith dinner. She found this sharing of such a special moment with people of other faiths as very positive, made more so by the Catholic bishop who encouraged the Muslims not to allow their religion to be hijacked by terrorists. As well as it being one of the few times she had heard the Muslim faith spoken about by other adults, she said that at that moment, she felt understood. "You need to be understood before you can understand," she said.

The second was through a Home Encounters programme. During its six months duration, Muslims and Christians visited each others homes, shared food and drink and talked from both perspectives about given aspects of their faiths. Mrs Keskin said participants made real connections and she discovered that her friends could be from other faiths.

The third experience was about two months ago when a group of Christians and Muslims travelled together to Istanbul and Rome. She said they saw each other in their tiredness, hunger and frustrations. They became very comfortable with each other and let go of many barriers. As they acknowledged their weaknesses, she said, both groups grew; their own identities strengthening.

Mrs Keskin also paid tribute to Bishop Manning for his understanding and open respect for people of all walks of life and of faith.

Sr Vivienne spoke of a Muslim-Catholic study that has been conducted recently in the Auburn area of western Sydney. Published in the latest Compass Review, she said that the study was related to practice rather than theory. "(It) takes as its starting point the idea that there is quite a bit of theory on the official Catholic side about Muslim-Catholic dialogue, and not a great deal about practice."

She said that a finding, that the interest of the Catholic community in aspects of Islamic practice extended other than the wearing of the veil, was an encouraging sign. "(It) gives hope that, in spite of the media's preoccupation with the position of women in Islam and the veiling of women, non-Muslims exhibit interest in Islam over a much broader range. It is evidence of the community's capacity to develop beyond, or refuse, the categories the media seeks to impose."

Sr Vivienne also spoke about a recently-launched booklet, Christian-Muslim Relations: Guidelines for Catholic in the Diocese of Parramatta. The booklet aims at breaking down "the complete lack of awareness - not hostility, but a breathtaking lack of awareness - on the part of most of these Catholics that Catholic-Muslim dialogue was happening around them". Its introduction encourages: "this booklet is designed to help; to reassure you that the Church supports inter-religious dialogue; to remove some of the mystery attached to what Muslims believe and, most of all to encourage you to take some small steps in friendship and dialogue".

She said feedback suggested that a complex subject had been presented in accessible language while retaining the integrity of the topic. "Other feedback suggests that the booklet has been found to be useful in schools, especially for the HSC Board courses in Studies in Religion. It has found its way into the diocesan seminary in Los Angeles, theologates in Ireland, and to houses of study in Malaysia," she said.

FULL TEXT of Sr Vivienne's address includes more details of the study and the booklet

workshops:

Women's Interfaith Network (WIN)

Depth and breadth of worship in Islam

Interfaith household

Parliament of the World's Religions

Prayer in Judaism

Ecology - a common interest

Inter-religious conversation at school level

These workshops took the interfaith understanding beyond the Abrahamic faiths on which the assembly was based.

Women's Interfaith Network: Led by Sue Emeleus, nine members of WIN shared with us their experience of being in a group and how through it they have come to a new appreciation of their own faith. In the friendships that have grown between them they demonstrated the fruition of their aim - to show that different faiths can be a uniting force in our society rather than a dividing one. Mary Cresp RSJ

above and right: the WIN workshop

Fr Nestor Candado SSP who attended the Parliament of the World's Religions workshop said participants left very enthused about the upcoming event after Sister Josefa, a Holy Spirit Sister, and Fr Bill, a Divine Word Missionary, gave an hour's presentation followed by questions and answers for further clarification. The presentation included the origin and history of the movement that began in Chicago in 1893, finishing with details about the organisation and planning towards Melbourne 2009. There was very good interest and interaction from the group, he said. The event is highly recommended for all peoples of various cultures and faiths.

Fr Reg Howard SSC writes about the Interfaith household workshop: Our three workshop leaders (a Catholic priest, a Hindu swamic and a Buddhist monk) enthralled and challenged about a dozen of us as they spoke of their interfaith household in a parish presbytery in Melbourne. Conversation never lagged and the minutes quickly disappeared.

The household evolved over a couple of years almost eight years ago first with Fr John Dupuche and Swamic Samnyasananda. Later they were joined by Venerable Lobsang Tendar, a Buddhist Monk from Tibet, who is a specialist in sacred Buddhist art and a Buddhist Chant Master. All of us found Tendar's chant at the opening of the workshop a new experience. Strangely, none of us thought to explore the significance of chant in the Buddhist tradition during the workshop. We were more at home as the workshop closed with Salve Regina, although I have heard better renditions.

The time went quickly as we explored what in practice the interfaith household meant. Obviously the three men have great respect for and trust of each other. They, the parishioners and the Archdiocese, too, are comfortable with the presbytery hosting expressions and the practice of the Hindu and Buddhist faiths.

We briefly looked at the difficulties involved in a young couple living a practicing interfaith marriage, that brings the challenges of whether one or both faiths should be practiced and by whom and also the faith tradition to be handed on to their children.

The challenge could we setup an interfaith household? seemed a bit much to absorb there and then but we didn't run away from it. Instead we took it quietly away with us.