International Meeting on Inter-Religious Dialogue

SANTA SABINA - September 22, 2009 -- Recently, the Dominican Order held the International Meeting on Interreligious Dialogue (JRD). The meeting takes place every four years.

According Robert Mickens, in a recent article in The Tablet, "relations between Christianity and Islam have taken an increasingly central position on a large part of the world’s geopolitical stage these past several years. Even religious and political leaders who were once not very convinced of the importance of dialogue between these two great faiths seemed to change their minds after witnessing an unfolding of events that are now well known to everyone. They began with the terrorist attacks on New York City’s Twin Towers on 11 September 2001 and included the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, as well as Pope Benedict XVI’s controversial remarks on Islam at the University of Regensburg in 2006." (Read more of this article)

The JRD planners invited controversial theologian Fr Peter Phan and hoped that he would “challenge their thinking” – and they weren’t disappointed. His and other talks explored different approaches to faith-to-faith discussions.

To see more photos of the International Meeting, Journées Romaines Dominicaines, on the website www.op.org, where you will find the document in English and in French, the official languages of the meeting.