Catholic Interfaith Relations

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Mission Month of October and Interfaith Gatherings Coming Up

Catholics and Muslims in Dialogue

Season 2 of the Window Light podcast begins with an interview with Jordan Denari Duffner, a theologian, speaker, and scholar focusing on interreligious dialogue between Catholics and Muslims. She is the author of Finding Jesus Among Muslims: How Loving Islam Makes Me a Better Catholic and Islamophobia: What Christians Should Know and Do About Anti-Muslim Discrimination. Jordan and I talked about her work, Pope Francis’s dialogue with Muslims, how Catholic parishes can promote dialogue with Muslims in their community, and how to raise children rooted in the Catholic tradition but open to religious pluralism.

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Interfaith Gathering at Fatima Shrine for the Breaking of the Fast of Ramadan

On March 29, 2024, peoples of different faiths gathered with our Muslim neighbors at Fatima Shrine, during the holy month of Ramadan, to break the fast of the day together. The collaboration between the Peace Islands Institute and our Metrowest Interfaith Community was the first, with the hope that we may continue the tradition. Friends of Temple Beth Torah, our Christian communities, Baha’i and Sikh communities joined us.

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Check out the Work of our Metrowest Interfaith Community

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Download the Interfaith Calendar 2024 here

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The Humanity of Muhammad: Two Christian Views

The Interfaith Book Club of the Islamic Center of Boston, Wayland, Massachusetts, sponsored a book reflection on Dr. Cragid Considiine’s book, The Humanity of Muhammad: A Christian View. Rev. Dr. Ian Mevorach of Common Street Spiritual Center, Natick, and Fr. Carl Chudy, D. Min. of the Metrowest Interfaith Community of Holliston, offered their perspectives as we learn to build bridges in our communities. Shaheen Akhtar, coordinator of the book club, moderated the event. It was held on Saturday, November 11th, from 3 pm to 4:30 pm.

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The Virgin Mary: Bridging Catholics and Muslims

The Journal of Social Encounters published Fr. Carl Chudy’s comparative study on the description of Mary in the Gospels and the Qur’an that “opens us up to the profound mystery of God that transcends the boundaries of both of our faiths…” Access the Journal here.

Being Catholic with Other Faiths

Although Vatican II opened a new door for the Catholic Church to our relationship with other faiths, it did not yet go as far as to say that interreligious dialogue is part of the evangelizing mission of the church. This came through the Pontificate of John Paul II through three subsequent documents: Dialogue and Mission (1984), the mission encyclical Mission of the Redeemer (1990), and Dialogue and Proclamation (1991). These teachings reflect the growing awareness of the centrality of interfaith dialogue in the very mission of the church. For Pope John Paul II, dialogue is fundamental for the Church, based on the very life of the Triune God, as well as on respect and love for every human person: “As far as the local churches are concerned, they must commit themselves in this direction, helping all the faithful to respect and to esteem the values, traditions, and convictions of other believers.”

This dialogue is not a mere discussion about each other’s beliefs. For the church there are several ways this dialogue can play out.

• The first is the dialogue of life where believers of different religions bear witness before each other in daily life to their own human and spiritual values, and help each other to live according to those values in order to build a more just and fraternal society.
• The second is the dialogue of works and action where collaboration with other faiths is opportune in the social, economic and political to build a more humane society.
• The third is the dialogue of theological exchange and often involves specialists and leaders in different faith traditions in search for ultimate truth.
• Finally the dialogue of religious experience is an opportunity to share prayer and religious experiences in our common search for the Absolute.

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The Teaching of the Catholic Church on Interfaith Dialogue

• Vatican II: Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions
• Vatican II: Mission ad Gentes
• Redemptoris Missio
• Dialogue and Proclamation

US Catholic Bishops on Global Mission and Interfaith Dialogue

• Teaching the Spirit of Mission ad Gentes: Continuing Pentecost Today
• Best Practices to Teach the Spirit of Mission
• Interreligious Dialogue in the USA
• Resources
• Videos

Interfaith Organizations to Connect With

• Interfaith America
• Hartford International University of Religion and Peace
• North American Interfaith Network
• Peace Islands Institute
• World Parliament of Religions
• The Common Word
• United Religions Initiative
• Religions for Peace
• The Religious Pluralism Project of Harvard University
• Interfaith Radio
• Scarboro Missions of Canada
• Shoulder to Shoulder
• Islamic Network Group
• The Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University

Interfaith Journals

• The Interfaith Observer
• Inter-religious Studies
• Current Dialogue Magazine – World Council of Churches
• Evangelical Interfaith
• The Muslim World Journal

Essays on Dialogue by Fr. Carl Chudy, SX

• Redemptive Suffering Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
• A Catholic Approach to Islamophobia
• Mary: A Bridge Between Islam and Catholicism 
• Jesus as a Gulf and a Bridge in Christian Muslim Understanding
• See, Judge, Act: A Model for Catholic Communities to Engage in Refugee Ministry
•  Faith and Doubt in a Secular Age
• My Interfaith Dialogue Journey: God Between the Lines
• The First Proclamation and the New Evangelization in the United States
• Common Ground: Conversations Among Humanists and Religious Believers

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