Tenny Antony (second from left on the photo above) is training to be a Catholic priest and is in the fifth year of his studies at St. Mary’s Oscott College, in the Archdiocese of Birmingham. He did a three week summer school at the Centro Pro Unione in Rome. This is a place of meeting, study, research, ecumenical dialogue and formation run by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement.
As a Catholic, I knew the popular side of the Church, which is focused on evangelisation. However, the spirit of the Second Vatican Council also reinvigorated the lesser-known side of dialogue. My curiosity about this led me to apply for the summer course in Rome at Centro Pro Unione. The objective of the three-week course was to build a foundational understanding of the Church’s inter-denominational (ecumenical) and interreligious relationships from a Catholic perspective. It wasn’t long after starting the course that I realised that it would enrich my future ministry by informing my understanding and broadening my perspective in ways I had not anticipated.
We opened the first week by learning about other Christian traditions, their beginnings and current direction. In the second week, we explored the journey of ecumenical dialogue with specific Christian traditions since Vatican II. In the third week, we explored our interreligious relationships. The course was led by Fr. Jim Loughran of the Franciscans of the Atonement. He was supported by other guest lecturers who specialised in their respective areas. It was a blessing to sit amidst Christians from Methodist, United Reformed, African American Baptist, Lutheran, Ukrainian Greek Catholic and Anglican traditions as well as those of Jewish faith. The varied group hailed from various countries and was a mix of students, pastors and leaders within their respective contexts. Studying and socialising with such a diverse group was a blessing. The Eternal City provided a beautiful backdrop for nurturing great friendships. Our afternoons were occupied with tours to the various basilicas, the Jewish synagogue, the Islamic centre and mosque, the Dicastery of Christian Unity and Interreligious Dialogue, the Roman Ghetto and attending Holy Mass with the Holy Father for the feast of St. Peter and Paul, which I came know is the ‘birthday’ of Rome as well.
While the classes opened a space for important questions to be asked, what strengthened our bonds even more so was the ecumenism of food that occurred during lunch and dinner. We could freely ask probing questions to one another, which broadened and clarified any gaps in our knowledge of the other. I realised that this open and willing sharing of our traditions is the essence of dialogue that we were being taught during the course. Good teaching paired with good food and even better people enriched my learning experience.
Humbled to face my ignorance
The classes explored in depth the Catholic Church’s dialogue with other Christian traditions. I became aware that my existing knowledge of these focused on difference; I actually knew very little about the common gifts we shared, for example, the tradition of fasting on Fridays as encouraged by both the Methodist and the Catholic Church. I was humbled to face my ignorance, and the need to be better informed about the common ground we share with our fellow Christian brothers and sisters was evident. It was an eye-opener for me to realise that the same inner tension between evangelisation and dialogue that the Church carries in her ministry was also reflected within me – it was clear that it can be tricky to hold both simultaneously.
What I have gained from this rich experience is a new horizon to my Catholic life. The spirit of dialogue is Trinitarian; the Second Vatican Council document Unitatis Redintegratio was the spine that held our three weeks together. A key teaching that edified my mindset was the emphasis in the documents that “While it is true that many Christians understand the moral teaching of the Gospel differently from Catholics, and do not accept the same solutions to the more difficult problems of modern society, nevertheless they share our desire to stand by the words of Christ as the source of Christian virtue.” (23)
The course has inspired me to nurture deeper relationships in the local context beyond the annual occasion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. There might be a temptation to think that ecumenism only matters at the highest level, but I believe that the same work at the local level enables others to encounter Christ through actions that display love for the neighbour. Thus, I’m grateful for this unique opportunity. Just as Christ chose to embrace all of us, he teaches us to embrace unity with all. Therefore, without unity, there is no sense of community. “God wills the Church, because He wills unity, and unity is an expression of the whole depth of his agape.” (Ut Unum Sint, 9)