Benedict Institute focuses on best ways for inter-religious dialogue

MADISON  Like with anything, it starts with love.

Before sharing their faith with people of different religious beliefs, Christians first should cultivate with them a “spirit of fraternal love.” This could lead to genuine interreligious dialogue: when people of goodwill join with fellow seekers in a quest for the truth. That’s what Father Rocco Viviano, interreligious dialogue coordinator for the Xaverian Missionaries in Japan, told the audience on the final night of the eighth annual Benedict Summer Institute, held June 7–9, in St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization here.

For those three nights, Father Viviano presented “Truth and Tolerance: Pope Benedict XVI on Christianity and World Religions,” examining the Pope Emeritus’ teachings on the Church’s dialogue with people of other religions. During the last night, he told Christians to foster an atmosphere of love and respect for people of other religions before engaging in dialogue with them. That dialogue could take place on a personal level with a Muslim neighbor across the fence or on an official level as part of a Church council for interreligious dialogue. Christians should strive to share their faith with passion — not to convert the other person to their religion, although that might be a providential result, the priest said.

“First, build a bridge of friendship and dialogue. Accept each other,” said Father Viviano, who also serves as the director of the Commission for Interreligious Dialogue and director for Ecumenical Affairs of the Catholic Archdiocese of Osaka and as a member of the Sub-Commission for Interreligious Dialogue of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan. “Bring Jesus into the discussion. Share the secret of your happiness: Jesus. Through him, God reconciles us to himself. The truth is love,” he said.

In his presentations, Father Viviano examined Scripture; Church documents, such as “Nostra Aetate,” the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions of the Second Vatican Council; Benedict’s speeches and writings; and writings by scholars, including his own. On the first night, he explored the historical and Church contexts for the theological framework of Pope Emeritus’ theology on interreligious dialogue. For the second night, Father Viviano examined Benedict’s theological approach to other religions.

To articulate their love for Jesus, Christians need to strengthen into their own faith by deepening their prayer life, knowledge of the Scripture and Church teaching, and their relationship with Christ. With that foundation, Christians also will be able connect with the beauty of other religions. In addition, people in an interreligious dialogue could discover and share their common values, such as the value of human life, of the traditional family, and of religious freedom. Those connections could lead participants to develop a common mission: “of being called to do something together for others,” Father Viviano said, during final night.

“God can give us a hint of the truth through the experience of others,” said Father Viviano, who conducted doctoral research on the theological-ecclesiological thought of Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI on interreligious dialogue at Hey­throp College, and earned a doctorate from the University of London. “Then together, go deep to discover the love of God and the meaning of human existence,” he said.

But Christians should continue to remain faithful to their beliefs and guard against the relativism that has crept into society and parts of the Church: the idea that every religion offers a path to salvation. Yet as Christians, we recognize the truth: that Jesus offers the only way to salvation — a major sticking point that prevents us from fully coming together with people of other beliefs, the priest said.

“Relativism says that Jesus is an incomplete picture of God, that he is flawed and that he needs parts of other religions to complete him. Christ calls us to protect and promote the Church. Preach that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that the truth is fully revealed in Jesus,” Father Viviano said. He cautioned Christians against debating whether other religions could offer salvation. “We know that God can save. He does not need us to justify or defend him. We are saved now. We are not waiting for heaven. Heaven is here. It already has come to us,” the priest said.

The idea for the summer institute came from a Catholic professional woman who called Father Paul Manning, St. Paul’s executive director and diocesan vicar for evangelization, in 2014. The woman, who wants to remain anonymous, offered funding for a program that promoted the teachings of Benedict. She said that she and her husband “felt that his teachings are brilliant and under-appreciated and that the local Church needed to find a way to promote it and make it more accessible.” Over the past eight years, the institute has welcomed a host of scholars and priests, who have explored various aspects of Benedict’s writings and teachings, Father Manning said.

At the end of the final session on June 9, Father Manning thanked Father Viviano and told him, “You invited us to relate to the world in the way that Jesus did: to have relationships with people with love.”

Afterward, Deirdre Nemeth, director of faith formation at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Stirling, said that she “loved” this year’s Benedict Summer Institute.

“For me, the big takeaway is that interreligious dialogue is about listening to people share their religious beliefs through friendship and then through a dialogue. As a Christian, my responsibility is always to point to Christ as the truth. This is what Christ declares, and I must therefore be faithful to that while listening and dialoguing with others who seek the truth,” said Nemeth, who noted that Father Viviano’s insights will help her as a catechist who is always in dialogue with various people. “I can proclaim the Gospel by first sharing the impact that Jesus has on my own life. It is not about trying to convert the other person, even though the ultimate goal is to lead them to Christ. My vocation as a Christian is ultimately to witness to Christ and his Gospel,” she said.