Interfaith Dialogue - We Can All Get Along - March 12, 2023

First of all, a reminder to move your clocks ahead an hour this Saturday evening, as we spring forward to Daylight Savings Time. Don’t be late for church!

Another date that is coming up for our Moslem neighbors is Ramadan. This holy month of fasting, prayer, reflection and community begins this year on Wednesday evening March 22. It has some similarities to our season of Lent, though it is much more strenuous as good Moslems fast from food and drink from sunup to sundown for the entire month. 

The Vatican Dicastery (a fancy word for Office) for Interreligious Dialogue has just issued a statement entitled: “MESSAGE FOR THE MONTH OF RAMADAN AND ‘ID Al-FITR 1444 H. / 2023 A.D. Christians and Muslims: Promoters of Love and Friendship”. I recommend this message to you. It's about three pages long. If you can get it, it is worth reading. You can find it online at:

 Vatican Dicastery Statement

Interfaith dialogue is important, first of all because we all live on this one planet and must take care of it. All of us are affected by droughts, pandemics, natural disasters, etc., and so we must work together. We also are called by our religion to respect, indeed love, others, even those of other or no religion. And inter-religious dialogue is important not only so that we can live together on the same block, but also because it helps us understand each other and even our own religion better by way of comparison and contrast. 

For example, an interaction I had with Moslem delegates to the World Parliament of Religions when I was on the Interfaith Council in San Francisco, California was a great help to me in understanding the significance and importance of the Doctrine of the Trinity. The Moslem emphasis on the unity of God and the utter otherness of God, deepened in me the appreciation of our Trinitarian belief in God Who is not only utterly Other, but also entered irrevocably and concretely into history in Jesus, and Who is more intimate to me than my own breath in the Holy Spirit.

I came to a deeper appreciation of my own belief in the Trinity because of a friendly and open interaction with some articulate Moslems.

Therefore I don’t think that our interaction with people of different faiths is a threat or danger to our faith, but it can help us have a deeper understanding and appreciation of the uniqueness of our faith, as well as a deeper appreciation of all that we as people of faith hold in common.  

God bless!