VATICAN: Vatican Official Says Interreligious Dialogue is a Pastoral Concern
Participants during Inter-religious Dialogue
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
A Vatican official at a conference aimed to bring together believers of different religious backgrounds to mutual conversations, has expressed that Interreligious Dialogue is a pastoral concern that religious leaders need to address.
In an address read on behalf of the Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, a member of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ), dialogue between Christianity, Islam, and African Traditional Religion (ATR) goes beyond intellectual exercise and is “a pastoral concern.”
According to the Secretary of the Dicastery Monsignor Indunil Kodithuwakku Janakaratne who read the message to over 30 participants on Tuesday, April 9, “Interreligious Dialogue is a moral imperative, a call to come together as believers and embrace our shared humanity, working together for the greater common good.”
The Vatican representative at the two-day conference (from 9th to 10th) held in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi at Donum Dei, reminded the participants that as the group addresses the challenges being experienced because of different religious beliefs and acknowledges the achievements and opportunities for interreligious dialogue, it is necessary to do so with courage and unwavering commitment to peace and fraternity among Africa’s diverse religious communities.
He further notes that harmonious coexistence between religions “Can offer opportunities for cultural exchange, dialogue, mutual understanding and respect of religious traditions.”
Mgr. Indunil, a member of the clergy of the Diocese of Badulla, Sri Lanka who has been the Secretary of the Dicastery since 2019, points out that the diversity of African religions can enrich African societies by promoting respect for religious differences.
Giving reference to the African Traditional Religion in his presentation to participants from various African countries including officials from the Vatican, the Sri Lankan cleric underscored that this religion “Can provide opportunities to reclaim indigenous knowledge, rituals and wisdom hence preserving and revitalizing its contributions to cultural heritage and identity of the African people.”
Being a pastoral concern, he said that religious leaders and organizations can help in addressing common challenges and seize the opportunities for a greater visibility of interreligious activities.
He references Pope Francis who said, “As religious leaders, we are called to be true people of dialogue to cooperate in building peace not as intermediaries but as authentic mediators.”
Msgr. Indunil distinguished intermediaries and mediators, expounding that intermediaries give everyone a discount to gain something for themselves while mediators retain nothing for themselves but “spends himself generously until he is consumed, knowing that the only gain is peace.” Therefore, he continued borrowing information from Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti, “By addressing challenges and embracing the opportunities, African societies could easily work towards peace, reconciliation, and fraternity.”
The Vatican representative narrated that the two-day conference themed: Christianity in Dialogue with Islam and African Traditional Religion: Challenges and Opportunities, should enrich dialogue with people of various religions knowing that the “road to peace, reconciliation, and human fraternity passes through constructive dialogue and multi-religious witnessing communities.”
“Through constructive interfaith relations, we can continue to respond in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the light of the Church’s magisterial documents, to the challenges posed by the Second Vatican Council and people today,” he concluded.
