Catholics and the interfaith conversation

Compiled by the Scarboro Missions Department of Interfaith Dialogue
January/February 2009

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Catholic involvement in interfaith dialogue is the best kept secret on the planet. In the last 40 years, there has been a dramatic opening of the Church to other world faiths.

The religious face of this planet is changing. At a dramatic pace, more and more regions of the world are becoming environments of multiculture and multifaith. At the root of this phenomenon are international patterns of migration. In the last 100 years, the profound and worldwide movement of peoples and cultures has provoked a meeting of religions that is new to history. And this encounter among religions has been intensified by technological advances such as the Internet.

This historic encounter of religions is accompanied by another remarkable phenomenon–the interfaith dialogue movement. The great faiths of the world are now talking to and cooperating with one another in a fashion that is new, exciting, and challenging.

Here are some of the many features of the Catholic conversation with other religions:

The Second Vatican Council (1962-65)

This Ecumenical Council is seen as the watershed event that gave official Church blessing to interfaith dialogue and inspired decades of Catholic involvement in interfaith dialogue. The Vatican II documents have been followed up by numerous Church documents affirming interfaith dialogue. (See "Official Church Documents on Interfaith Dialogue" on facing page.)

Papal Leadership

Pope Benedict XVI and the previous three Popes have provided courageous leadership as the Church journeys through the uncharted territory of interfaith dialogue. (For more on this subject see the centrespread poster "Catholic Milestones in Interfaith Dialogue" in this issue, and the article, "Popes Lead the Way", in the January-February 2007 interfaith edition of Scarboro Missions magazine.) The extraordinary teaching, witness, and action of Pope John Paul II in terms of interfaith dialogue deserves to be viewed as one of the most amazing and influential phenomena of the 20th century. His global interfaith influence has gone far beyond Catholics and has touched people of all faiths.

International Catholic Activity

Catholic theologians around the world are making an enormous contribution to the larger effort to explore the theological meaning of the Christian encounter with other faiths. And Catholics at all levels of the Church are involved in interfaith dialogue, often in leadership roles.

Dialogue and Christian Mission

The Church now considers interfaith dialogue to be part of its mission. This position is strongly supported, for example, by Pope John Paul's 1990 mission encyclical, Redemptoris Missio.

In 1991, a joint statement by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples entitled, Dialogue and Proclamation, asserted that proclamation of the Gospel and interreligious dialogue are distinct but related activities within the Church's mission. Accordingly, one of the goals of interreligious dialogue is a deeper turning to God by each partner in the dialogue. The goal of proclamation is a commitment to faith in Jesus Christ.

Peace, social justice, and the common good

The emerging global interfaith movement is committed to the promotion of justice, nonviolence, equity, and ecological sustainability in all societies. In response to Church teaching, many Catholics involved in interfaith work are likewise embracing these important social values.

Jesus and other religions

As a result of breakthroughs in Biblical scholarship in recent decades, Catholics are learning that there are numerous occasions in the New Testament in which Jesus affirms the faith experience of people of other cultures, religions, and ethnicities. Jesus even presents people who are not members of his own faith as models of faith. These individuals include the Canaanite (Syro-Phoenician) woman whose daughter he healed (Matthew 15:21-28), the Roman centurion whose servant he healed, and the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37).

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