From July 31 to August 4 the Franciscan Commission for Dialogue with Culture presided by Br. Fabio Duque Jaramillo and the Commission for Interreligious Dialogue presided by Br. Giorgio Bertin met at Saint Bonaventure University in Cali (Colombia). Brother Tecle Vetrali, President of the Ecumenical Commission, and Br. Stefano Ottenbreit, Vicar General of the Order, were also present. The Ecumenical Commission will meet in Damascus from October 30 to November 1. Fifteen friars from all over the world were present at Cali. The Program gave them the chance to work either in small groups or in the General Assembly. There were two very good conferences: one by Father Jaime Velez Correa, SJ on the theme of dialogue with cultures in Latin America and the other by Father Gabrial Cipriani, Passionist, on intereligious dialogue in Latin America.

Why this meeting?

The world in which the Friars Minor have to live and proclaim the Gospel is a broken world. The Friar Minor knows that there cannot be authentic peace in the world until peace exists between religions. On the other hand, there will be no peace among religions if they do not enter into dialogue. Dialogue is not a simple slogan taking the place of Fraternity and Minority of the Seventies and Eighties. It is true that we often talk of the things that we are missing. As the world is a living organism where everything becomes known because of the marvellous means of communication, each one receives something from the other and each one has something to give. The Friar Minor of the Year 2000 must be open to dialogue, if he wants to understand the new evangelization. There is no proclamation of the totality of the Gospel without dialogue with the cultures and the other religions. The first purpose of the meeting in Cali was to see how we can sensibilise the Friars to dialogue. Different ways of dialogue are possible. The Order has chosen many that compliment one another.

Intellectual formation to Dialogue:

With the collaboration of Br. Jose Carballo, the Secretary for Formation of the Order, the Commissions will prepare four booklets that will help all the brothers to realise the problems involved in dialogue. The following is an overall view of them: Dialogue in its anthropological, psychological and cultural dimensions will be explained in the fist booklet. Its scriptural and Franciscan dimensions will be explained. Then the main aspects of dialogue in fraternity, with the world, science and culture will be presented. Dialogue will be shown as the way that brings justice and peace. Ecumenical dialogue based on the recent experience of the Order will be the theme of the second booklet. The main spiritual inspirations of the important Churches, the history of the divisions and the road towards unity will be recalled. The doctrinal basis of ecumenism and the Franciscan vocation to ecumenism will be explained. We know that the visit to the Patriarch of Constantinople on the feast of Saint Andrew has become a tradition in the Order.
Interreligious dialogue possible at different levels goes back to the experience of Saint Francis. A particular place is reserved for the dialogue with the Jews and the Muslims. We will write also on the great religions in the world and the modern religious movements. Knowledge of the great world religions does not concern only the brothers going on mission. It concerns all the brothers, as the whole world, because of the great migration movement has become mission territory. There are more Jews in New York than in Israel. The Muslims who are building their Mosques in Europe are obliging Christians to reflect on their own religion. This dialogue cannot be a one way street. Sooner or later the principle of reciprocity will come to the fore. The dialogue with the cultures will try to find a relation between globalisation and particular cultures. The relations between the Gospel and culture will be at the heart of the discussion. Finally the problems of inculturation will be treated. Ali these texts, based on the experiences of the Friars Minors will be ready for Easter 2001! A Co-ordination Committee will read and harmonize them before their final publication.

The existential formation:

It is not enough to give the brothers intellectual reasons to make them realize the importance of dialogue that begins in fact within each fraternity. We must give the brothers the occasion to live concretely an experience of dialogue. Why not live that dialogue in prayer? The Church itself put us on the right way when Pope John Paul II proposed the Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi. Some Franciscan fraternities recall this day with a day of prayer in fraternity. Another suggestion was made. As the Church, in order to sensibilise the Christian people to the question of dialogue with Judaism, has established a day of prayer and reflection with our elder brothers, why not have it on the feast of St. Abraham, the Father of all believers? It is not an innovation, nor even a return to the Old Testament, as the Church of Jerusalem (our mother-church) has the feast of St Abraham in its liturgical calendar. Many brothers in different Provinces of the Order took many interesting initiatives in interreligious dialogue. Too often, these initiatives stay with the individual brother. St Francis on the other hand took Brother Illuminato with him when he went to visit the Sultan. He prepared himself for this visit by praying. Also, in his Rule, he talks of those who, "through divine inspiration" are going among the Muslims. It is the Spirit who is the source of this openness that invites the Friar Minor to discover God in others.
In such a report, it is impossible to evoke the fraternal atmosphere and the exceptional welcome that was given us by the Rector of St Bonaventure University in Cali, Brother Javier Uribe. The experience of the brothers of Columbia in their dialogue with the Latin American cultures at the University level helped us to realise the richness of the Order and the diversity of its options. "If we were Indians, we would see things differently" said Bartolomeo de Las Casas. "We find the truth only by practising hospitality" said Louis Massignon. The Colombian Province of Santa Fe helped us to have such an experience.

Brother Frederic Manns,
Member of the Interreligious Dialogue Commission.