CHRISTIAN UNITY AND INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE
Roman Catholic Church
Teachings and Methods
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Archdiocese of Chicago
This land was and is stewarded by Indigenous people – the traditional land of the Council of Three Fires, the Kickapoo, Peoria, Kaskaskia and Myaamia Peoples.
“The Archdiocese of Chicago is located on the Anishinawbek or the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi Nations. Many other nations such as the Myaamia, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac and Fox also call this area home. We acknowledge all Native people who came before us and who continue to contribute within our archdiocese. We recognize our obligation to respect Tribal sovereignty, defend Native rights, protect and actively promote Native cultural heritage.”
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MISSION STATEMENT Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs
Grounded in our faith in Jesus Christ and in the teachings of the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism and Declaration on NonChristian Religions, the Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (EIA) works to foster Christian unity and to deepen our relationships with Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and followers of other religions through initiatives that resonate on a local and global scale.
As integral to our Catholic identity, and as a path to evangelization most recently articulated in Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium, we assist the Archbishop of Chicago in his ecumenical and interreligious ministry, seeking to nurture understanding and respect among all religious groups through dialogue, formation, prayer and collaboration in civic affairs that promote the common good. We provide expert consultation and resources to support educational and pastoral activities for parishes, schools and other agencies within the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Like previous archbishops of Chicago, Cardinal Cupich is personally and professionally committed to dialogue and relationship building. The Cardinal holds two important positions for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: consultant for the Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and co-chair of the National Muslim-Catholic Dialogue.
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VATICAN II Foundation of the EIA Office Vision and Ministry
Pope Saint John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). He envisioned a “pastoral council” to enable the Church to carry out its mission in the new post-war world more effectively.
Restoration of Christian Unity
Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis redintegratio, urged all Catholics, whatever their status and station, to work and pray that Jesus’s prayer at the Last Supper might come to pass: “that they might all be one.” (John 17:21)
“The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council. Christ the Lord founded one Church and one Church only. However, many Christian communions present themselves … as the true inheritors of Jesus Christ … Such division openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature.”
Unitatis redintegratio, 1.
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Evangelical Catholic Dialogue, University of St. Mary of the Lake Mundelein Seminary
In Lumen gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, the Council declares that all the elements that Jesus Christ willed to belong to his Church exist in the Roman Catholic Church, but many of these same elements also exist in other churches and Christian communities; for example, reverence for Scripture; the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist; devotion to Mary; and lives of faith, hope and charity.
Significant strides have been made to advance the movement toward Christian unity since Vatican II. Today, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity is entrusted with the Catholic Church’s promotion of an authentic ecumenical spirit according to Unitatis redintegratio. For this purpose, a “Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism” was published in 1993.
The Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity is active in all areas that can contribute to the ecumenical movement by strengthening relationships with other Churches and Ecclesial Communities through bilateral and multi-lateral dialogues and collaborations. To learn more please visit the Pontifical Council for promoting Christian Unity at christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/en/dialoghi.html
What is Interfaith Dialogue?
Encounters between Christians, Jews and Muslims, who share a faith in one God.
The Second Vatican Council makes clear there is NO CONTRADICTION between being a faithful Catholic and having respect for the goodness and virtues found in other religions – or seeking to understand them. We are all enriched by encountering one another and grow in our own faith.
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Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Lecture, Anshe Emet Synagogue
Iftar Dinner, Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago
What is Interreligious Dialogue?
Encounters between Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and people of other religious traditions.
Vatican II also changed the Church’s relationship to non-Christian religions. Its Decree on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Nostra aetate, declares that
“The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in other religions and has a high regard for the manner of life and conduct, the precepts, and doctrines, which, although differing in many ways from her own teaching, nevertheless often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all people.” Nostra Aetate, Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (2), 1965
WHY DO WE ENGAGE IN INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE?
• Mutual understanding, respect, collaboration
• Witness, living our faith in Jesus that others will see and will ask about
• Harmony, not unity (not trying to create one world religion)
• Never about proselytizing, the attempt to convert through deception or coercion
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Buddhist Catholic Dialogue, Pope Paul VI Audience Hall, Vatican
As we are called to share the good news of Jesus Christ, our encounters with non-Christians are moments for mutual learning, not opportunities for blatant or subtle attempts to convert them. As Pope Francis has said, “The Church grows, but not through proselytizing: no, no! The Church does not grow through proselytizing. The Church grows through attraction, through the attraction of the witness that each one of us gives to the People of God.” Address in Assisi, Oct. 4, 2013
What Do We Discover When We Participate in Interreligious Dialogue?
• Deepening of our own Christian faith and Catholic identity
• Respect for people of other religious beliefs, moral and ethical principles, prayers and rituals
• Sense of community and social services to those in need
• Evangelizing through witnessing to our faith in Jesus Christ
• Missionary discipleship through actively seeking engagement with those outside our faith community
Interfaith Thanksgiving Service, Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago
How Can We Pray in Interreligious Settings?
Saint John Paul II – Assisi Model of Prayer: “We do not pray together but together we pray.”
World Day of Prayer, October 1986
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• We gather in respect for our common humanity
• We welcome all religious traditions
• Everyone prays in their own religious tradition
• No watering down of language or belief
• No one is asked to say “Amen” to another religion’s prayer
• No one is asked to participate in anyone else’s prayer
Pope Benedict XVI
Meeting with representatives of other religions, April 17, 2008, Apostolic Visit to the United States.
“We have no reason to fear, for the truth unveils for us the essential relationship between the world and God. We are able to perceive that peace is a ‘heavenly gift’ that calls us to conform human history to the divine order. Herein lies the ‘truth of peace.’”
Pope Francis
Pope Francis consistently raises the importance of getting to know one another through interreligious dialogue. He cites three main approaches – encounter, accompaniment and friendship
Encounter: “Culture of Encounter” grounded in the human dignity of all. Accompaniment: Walking together the path of our common humanity. Friendship: Authentically being present for each other in our joys and sorrows.
In his 2020 encyclical Fratelli tutti, Pope Francis stated that the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together “was no mere diplomatic gesture, but a reflection born of dialogue and common commitment”, 5. The Document is a joint statement signed by Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Abu Dhabi, of the United Arab Emirates (February 4, 2019). It reflects their discussion on how people of different faiths can live peacefully in the same world and is meant to be a guide on advancing a “culture of mutual respect.” They “declare the adoption of a culture of dialogue as the path; mutual cooperation as the code of conduct; reciprocal understanding as the method and standard.”
Pope Francis and Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb call on world leaders “to work strenuously to spread the culture of tolerance and of living together in peace; to intervene at the earliest opportunity to stop the shedding of innocent blood and bring an end to wars, conflicts, environmental decay and the moral and cultural decline that the world is presently experiencing.”
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How Do We Begin to Engage in Interreligious Dialogue?
• Dialogue, not debate – listening to understand.
• Recognize commonalities, not focusing on differences. Not trying to create “one religion.”
• Do not draw equal signs between religious ideas.
• Move into our hearts, not heads, to understand another’s perspective.
Forms of Interreligious Dialogue
(from Dialogue and Proclamation, Joint Document of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Interreligious Relations and Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples)
1. The dialogue of life where people strive to live in an open and neighborly spirit, sharing their joys and sorrows, their human problems, and preoccupations.
2. The dialogue of action in which Christians and others collaborate for the integral development and liberation of people
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Buddhists and Catholics marching together in Rome on climate change upon release of Laudato ’Si.
3. The dialogue of theological exchange where specialists seek to deepen their understanding of their respective religious heritages, and to appreciate each other’s spiritual values
4. The dialogue of religious experience where persons, rooted in their own religious traditions, share their spiritual riches, for instance with regard to prayer and contemplation, faith, and ways of searching for God or the Absolute
Buddhist Catholic Vatican Dialogue, Castel Gandolfo
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Buddhist Catholic Dialogue Chicago Panel, Parliament of the World’s Religions, Toronto, Canada
IMPLEMENTING VATICAN II
Today the Roman Catholic Church at the international and national levels, as well as the local level here in Chicago, engages in many important and ongoing relationships and dialogues with other Christian churches and other religious traditions. We cannot be truly Catholic without serious engagement with our Christian brothers and sisters who are not Catholic and our partners and friends of other religious traditions. These relationships must be continually nurtured, developed, and fostered so that together we might not only put an end to the enmities of the past, but work together to build a world of peace, justice, and human flourishing for all.
Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek To be consoled as to console; To be understood as to understand; To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
CONTACT US
If you have interest in learning more about the Catholic Church’s commitment to Christian unity and interreligious dialogue, please reach out to the staff of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.
Email: eia@archchicago.org
Website: eia.archchicago.org
Call: 312.534.5325
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Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs
P.O. Box 1979
Chicago, IL 60690-1979
312.534.5325
eia.archchicago.org