Abstract
Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald, M.Afr. until recently served as the president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in the Vatican. In February 2006 he was appointed by Pope Bendedict XVI to be the apostolic nuncio to Egypt and the Holy See's delegate to the League of Arab States. This address was delivered at the conference "In Our Time: Interreligious Relations in a Divided World," co-sponsored by the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College and Brandeis University to mark the 40th anniversary of Nostra Aetate. It was given at Boston College on March 16, 2006. After reviewing regions of conflict in the world, Archbishop Fitzgerald first discusses what interreligious dialogue cannot do. He then explores the Catholic Church's understanding of dialogue as reflected in Nostra Aetate. He considers how a history of past conflicts can be overcome by (1) forgetting the past; (2) achieving mutual understanding; and (3)collaborating. Finally, he examines how dialogues can be encouraged through good neighborliness, through organized action, with intellectual backing, and with spiritual backing.
Highlights
William Leahy, president of Boston College, and Dr Jehuda Reinharz, president of Brandeis University, on this joint initiative to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate
When Pope Paul VI announced in a letter that he was instituting the annual Day of Prayer for Peace in the World, a Muslim leader, Abu‟l-Ala Mawdudi, founder of the Jamaat-i Islam in Pakistan, replied to this letter saying that there would be no peace in the world until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had been settled
Nostra Aetate does not attempt any evaluation of these different features of the various religious traditions, but it concludes with an important statement: “The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions
Summary
When speaking about relations with Muslims the Declaration Nostra Aetate mentions the many “quarrels and dissensions” that have arisen over the centuries (NA 3). One thinks immediately of the Crusades, but the wars of Islamic expansion would have to be kept in mind, those of the initial period of Islam (al-futuhât) as the growth of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans To this should be added the impact of colonialism, since the European powers took control of most of the countries where Islam is dominant. The text of Nostra Aetate was written in the early „Sixties, before terrorism had become so prevalent and widespread This aspect of the “quarrels and dissensions” would require mention today though it should perhaps be remembered that political assassination is not a modern phenomenon. The Council had wished to eschew any political references, and so the existence of the State of Israel received no mention at all It contents itself with condemning “all hatreds, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism leveled at any time or from any source against the Jews” (NA 4). This is later broadened out to a condemnation of “any discrimination against people or any harassment of them on the basis of their race, color, condition in life or religion” (NA 5)
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