Friendship and Exchange with People of Other Faiths – a context for witness and dialogue - in the light of the Pope's visit

From a talk given by the Inter Faith Officer in Huddersfield, October 2010.

 

The booklet “Friendship and Exchange: a context for witness and dialogue” has grown out of friendship and exchange in the context of my work at Churches Together in England and is available from Grove Books.

 

The booklet looks at :

 

Here I will look at these areas in the light of speeches made during the Pope’s visit from 16^th-19^th September 2010. That visit opened up a new stage in the ecumenical journey and in inter faith relations.

 

Our capacity for friendship and exchange with others must be rooted in our awareness of God’s love for us. What is it that gives a spring to our steps, a smile to our lips? Knowing we are loved by God.

 

In his address to Pupils at Twickenham on the 17^th September, Pope Benedict said:

“We need to have the courage to place our deepest hopes in God alone, not in money, …in worldly success, or in our relationships with others, but in God. … Not only does God love us with a depth and an intensity that we can scarcely begin to comprehend, but he invites us to respond to that love.” 

And so I would say: It is trust in God’s love that enables us to overcomes fear, indifference, the lack of knowledge we might feel, and that also enables us to acquire wisdom.

 

Personal faith in God is a fundamental building block in our relationships with people of other faiths and what they expect to find in us.

 

Friendship and exchange with Jesus: living his words, loving in his way,

At the youth event in Hyde Park,the Pope referred to John Henry Newman, saying:

 

“Newman teaches us that if we have accepted the truth of Christ and committed our lives to him, there can be no separation between what we believe and the way we live our lives. Our every thought, word and action must be directed to the glory of God and the spread of his Kingdom. Newman understood this, and was the great champion of the prophetic office of the Christian laity.”

 

On this basis we can read one of Newman’s best known reflections which applies to all of us without exception.

"God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments. Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about."

 

This is very profound meditation, but as they say, angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.

 

On this lighter note I once I saw a cartoon in the offices in Archbishop’s House Westminster. It was a sketch of a person saying: God put me on earth for a special purpose: right now I am so far behind I will never die.

 

 

The booklet looks seriously at the need for Christian unity and recognizes that unity will have an impact on the world. We must build on what we have in common and to be optimistic.

 

In his address in Westminster Abbey the Pope said:

 

“Dear friends, we are all aware of the challenges, the blessings, the disappointments and the signs of hope which have marked our ecumenical journey. Tonight we entrust all of these to the Lord, confident in his providence and the power of his grace. We know that the friendships we have forged, the dialogue which we have begun and the hope which guides us will provide strength and direction as we persevere on our common journey”.

 

And he went on:

“May Saint Bede’s example [of faithfulness to the word of God] inspire the Christians of these lands to rediscover their shared legacy, to strengthen what they have in common and to continue their efforts to grow in friendship. May the Risen Lord strengthen our efforts to mend the ruptures of the past and to meet the challenges of the present with hope in the future which, in his providence, he holds out to us and to our world.”

 

And Archbishop Rowan at the Lambeth meeting of Anglican and Catholic Bishops on the 17^th September:

 

“Perhaps we shall not quickly overcome the remaining obstacles to full restored communion; but no obstacles stand in the way of our seeking, as a matter of joyful obedience to the Lord, more ways in which to build up one another in holiness by prayer and public celebration together, by closer friendship, and by growing together both in the challenging work of service for all whom Christ loves, and mission to all God has made”.

 

The Christian contribution to the history and culture of the nation is retained as a beacon for the future:

 

Pope Benedict in Westminster Abbey:

“Here we cannot help but be reminded of how greatly the Christian faith shaped the unity and culture of Europe and the heart and spirit of the English people. Here too we are forcibly reminded that what we share, in Christ, is greater than what continues to divide us….”

 

+Rowan Williams to the Pope in Westminster Abbey

“We pray that your time with us will be a further step for all of us into the mystery of the cross and the resurrection, so that growing together we may become more effective channels for God’s purpose to heal the wounds of humankind, and to restore once again both in our societies and our environment the likeness of his glory as revealed in the face of Jesus Christ”.

 

In his address at Lambeth Palace on the 17^th September, the Pope said:

 

“The increasingly multicultural dimension of society … brings with it the opportunity to encounter other religions. For us Christians this opens up the possibility of exploring, together with members of other religious traditions, ways of bearing witness to the transcendent dimension of the human person and the universal call to holiness, leading to the practice of virtue in our personal and social lives. Ecumenical cooperation in this task remains essential, and will surely bear fruit in promoting peace and harmony in a world that so often seems at risk of fragmentation.

 

“At the same time, we Christians must never hesitate to proclaim our faith in the uniqueness of the salvation won for us by Christ…”

 

And Rowan Williams to the Pope in Westminster Abbey: “we hope that your time with us may help us all towards a renewal of the hope and energy we need as Christians to witness to our conviction that in their relation to God men and women may grow into the fullest freedom and beauty of spirit. …”

 

At the very positive meeting with representatives of the faith communities people of different faiths engaged with different spheres of work at Twickenham on 17^th September the Chief Rabbi said;

 

“We welcome you, leader of a great faith, to this gathering of many faiths, in a land where once battles were fought in the name of faith, and where now we share friendship across faiths. That is a climate change worth celebrating…”

 

He went on:

“The secularization of Europe that began in the seventeenth century did not happen because people lost faith in God. Newton and Descartes, heroes of the Enlightenment, believed in God very much indeed. What led to secularization was that people lost faith in the ability of people of faith to live peaceably together. And we must never go down that road again.

 

“We remember the fine words of John Henry Cardinal Newman “We should ever conduct ourselves towards our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend”,

And though our faiths are profoundly different, yet we recognize in one another the presence of faith itself, the habit of the heart that … knows that God is the point at which soul touches soul and is enlarged by the presence of otherness.

 

Just a little story to illustrate that announcing our faith in God helps us to connect more deeply with the people we know: I was going to an overnight meeting and needed a haircut. The proprietor at the hairdressers saw my suitcase and asked where I was going. ‘To a gathering of Christians involved in inter faith relations’, I replied. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘religion causes a lot of problems.’ ‘Yes, but the people I work with want to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.’ ‘Good’, he said, ‘My son is a rabbi. Did you know we were Jews?’

 

As the Pope said to the representatives of religious communities.

“I would like to …[express]   the Catholic Church’s appreciation for the important witness that all of you bear as spiritual men and women living at a time when religious convictions are not always understood or appreciated. …

 

“Genuine religious belief points us beyond present utility towards the transcendent. It reminds us of the possibility and the imperative of moral conversion, of the duty to live peaceably with our neighbour, of the importance of living a life of integrity…. It motivates us to cultivate the practice of virtue and to reach out towards one another in love, with the greatest respect for religious traditions different from our own.

 

“Let me assure you that the Catholic Church follows the path of engagement and dialogue out of a genuine sense of respect for you and your beliefs. Catholics, both in Britain and throughout the world, will continue to work to build bridges of friendship to other religions, to heal past wrongs and to foster trust between individuals and communities.”

 

I trust that these words will be an encouragement to all of us to play our part in building up friendships locally.

 

To conclude then let’s look at the outcome of our efforts towards friendship and exchange: the commitment to society and the forging of a global family

 

In Westminster Abbey the Pope said:

 

“In a world marked by growing interdependence and solidarity, we are challenged to proclaim with renewed conviction the reality of our reconciliation and liberation in Christ, and to propose the truth of the Gospel as the key to an authentic and integral human development. In a society which has become increasingly indifferent or even hostile to the Christian message, we are all the more compelled to give a joyful and convincing account of the hope that is within us (cf 1 Pet. 3:15) and to present the Risen Lord as the response to the deepest questions and spiritual aspirations of the men and women of our time”.

 

And in his address at the Hyde Park Vigil 18^th September

 “And yet, the Church cannot withdraw from the task of proclaiming Christ and his Gospel as saving truth, the source of our ultimate happiness as individuals and as the foundation of a just and humane society.”

 

We must say that dialogue is intrinsic to our faith. It is part of our DNA as Christians. At Westminster Hall, speaking to politicians and others of all faiths and of none, the Pope said:

 

“I would suggest that the world of reason and the world of faith, the world of secular rationality and the world of religious belief – need one another and should not be afraid to enter into a profound and ongoing dialogue, for the good of our civilization. Religion in other words is not a problem for legislators to solve, but a vital contributor to the national conversation”.

 

The Chief Rabbi, who recognizes the tensions that exist in society but affirms our fundamental unity affirmed this quoting Pope Benedict:

 

“We remember your own words: “the development of peoples depends … on a recognition that the human race is a single family, working together in true communion, not simply a group of subjects who happen to live side by side.”

 

Based on a talk given in Huddersfield 2nd October 2010 

Celia Blackden