ECUMENISM

This last week, we continued our course on Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue. Our time in Jerusalem has been marked by encounters with Jewish, Christian, and Muslim adherents. It is not uncommon to see the different dress marking a person’s religious beliefs.

As Catholics, of course, we recognize the elements of truth in the various religious systems while not compromising our own beliefs when encountering these other religious groups.  Most religious people in the Holy Land, for example, recognize and acknowledge the oneness of God (Monotheism). We all share this doctrine. How each group understands this doctrine, however, is a completely different question.

We should encourage all faiths to define themselves in their own terms.  We would discourage, for example, Protestant Christians identifying themselves as “non-Catholics.”  We would encourage them to embrace their own uniqueness. It is only in this recognition that we can move closer to Christ’s exhortation that we all be “one” (John 17:21).

It is our prayer that our religious encounters will only enliven our own experience in the Holy Land.