I find the morning rather leisurely, running as it does on a student-type timetable with breakfast from 8-9pm and no absolute commitment until Lauds at 9.30am. This leaves me the possibility of getting up a little later than usual and still having plenty of time for the morning meditation.
The second talk of the conference was given by Sr Andrea Fraile of the Sisters of the Gospel of Life. She spoke about the proper understanding of inter-religious dialogue and the non-negotiable claims to truth which we make of the Catholic faith. In the question session afterwards, there was an interesting discussion of the particular difficulties of working with Muslims in pro-life work. There were also one or two discussions started on the question of faith and reason.
This afternoon, it was my turn. I had the task of speaking for 45 minutes on "Some common difficulties: How can God have a Son? How can God be three in one?" To be honest, I was not too happy with it at the end. I felt that I had tried to cover too much in too short a time. However, there was some encouraging feedback over dinner from several students which cheered me up a bit. When I get back, I'll do a couple of necessary edits and post a link here to the text.
The second night always sees the Holy Hour with confessions. About 15 or so rooms are found for priests in addition to the three confessionals in the Church and we are kept busy. The evening concludes with a Ceilidh. David Kerr will be there with his kilt to call the dancing. I know the Curé of Ars might have objected but this is much more wholesome (and much more enjoyable) than the entertainment that is generally on offer for many of the youngsters here. They have a whale of a time.
2 comments:
I had once attended a conference on inter-religious dialogue offered by one of our priests. Some seminarians were also in attendance.
The good Father was shocked when some proposal he put forth such as "Jesus Christ is the One and Only Saviour of mankind" and "There is no salvation outside the Church" were rejected by most of those present as false. He had to stress that not only were those 2 proposals a part of the Catholic faith, to deny them would not only make us not Catholic, but not even Christian.
Many of our seminarians are not taught these doctrines. Fr. also related his problem as in our country, the non-Muslim religions have a grouping which regularly organizes communal events. There was one event where all were invited to light a lamp. But it was in a Buddhist temple and the lamps were placed in front of an image of the Buddha. So, the Christian reps were intently looking at Fr. as the Buddhist monk motioned him over to light a lamp. He said he did it as he understood the symbolism and that the Buddha was not viewed as a deity by Buddhists. But the pastor was not convinced =)
Inter-religious dialogue can only happen when 2(hence dia-logos) people bring their convictions with them to the table. If only one side has an opinion, then it becomes a monologue.
Inter-religious dialogue is also another dimension in evangelization, per the CCC.
Many times, I find that Catholics are too eager to abandon or leave their beliefs and convictions at the door when engaging in dialogue.
I'm interested in the talk that Sr. gave that touched in working with Muslim on pro-life issues. Islam does permit abortion is some circumstances.
Thank you Fr. for sharing this with us. Looking forward to the text of your talk.
Just to say how much I enjoyed my short stay yesterday. There is hope for the church seeing so many young people there.
I enjoyed your talk - just a shame we didn't get the same at seminary lol
fr paul harrison
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