Secular Humanists and Religious Believers Connecting on Common Ground
By Fr. Carl Chudy, SX The Xaverian Missionaries USA are pleased to announce a conference of dialogue between secular humanists and religious believers called COMMON GROUND: GROWING UNDERSTANDING & COOPERATION BETWEEN RELIGIOUS BELIEVERS AND SECULAR HUMANISTS. It will take place October 8 at Rutgers University, from 8 am to...
The Whirlwind–Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran
By Father John Crossin, OSFS A small but powerful whirlwind blew through Washington a few weeks ago in the person of Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. His visit included major addresses at the Nostra Aetate Symposium at the Catholic University of America, and...
Pope Francis & Rabbi Skorka: Forging a Deeper Relationship
Ruth Broyde Sharone – TIO Correspondent “The Grandeur that You See in the Other” There may come a moment in long-standing interfaith friendships when individuals deeply devoted to their religious traditions notice how the differences that separate them from their dialogue partner begin to recede or even dissolve. While recognizing...
Pope Francis & Rabbi Skorka: Forging a Deeper Relationship
Ruth Broyde Sharone – TIO Correspondent “The Grandeur that You See in the Other” There may come a moment in long-standing interfaith friendships when individuals deeply devoted to their religious traditions notice how the differences that separate them from their dialogue partner begin to recede or even dissolve. While recognizing...
Schools in Sierra Leone Open Sporadically After Nine Month Ebola Shutdown
Fr. Franciskus Xaverius Sudarmanto (pictured above saying mass), or as his friends call him, “Sudar,” reports on the spotty opening of schools after being shutdown throughout the country for nine months due to the Ebola Crisis. Presently, even though neighboring Liberia, Sierra Leone has not been declared Ebola free...
An Easter Reflection on What Christians and Atheists have in Common
In light of our dialogue work with Atheists and Humanists, we found this article by John L. Allen, Jr. in Crux to be quite thought provoking. We re-present his article for you here with the one caveat. Mr. Allen seems to naively equate Atheists with Richard Dawkins or Christopher...
The Urgency of Catholic Interfaith Advocacy
On March 30, 2015, the Xaverian Missionaries throughout the world, along with many lay people who collaborate with us globally, will celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of St. Guido Conforti, founder of the Xaverian Missionaries in 1895. His legacy lives on today in the the desire of the Church...
Does Cardinal Turkson Hint to the Upcoming Human Ecology Encyclical of Pope Francis?
Recently Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace spoke to the Irish Bishops at the Trocaire 2015 Lenten Lecture. The Irish Bishops had just issued their “The Cry of the Earth” and the Irish development agency, Trocaire (Mercy in Irish), has been resolute in...
Lent is not only a time for personal conversion…
“Dear friends, Lent is not only a time for personal conversion. It’s not about becoming ‘better', but it’s about overcoming the 'noonday devil' that wants to keep us from believing and living in the certainty that we are one Church, one human family and one Body of Christ with...
Newest Mission in Sierra Leone, West Africa
The Xaverian Missionaries have been working in Sierra Leone, West Africa since the early 1950’s. In recent times we have moved to the peripheral area of Mongo Bodugu. The mission of Mongo Bendugu is settled by the Koranko Tribe, traditional Muslims who migrated from the nearby borders of Guinea in...