A Form Of Dialogue That Targets Better Relationships

The word ‘Dialogue’ has several meanings. In ordinary layman’s term, it refers to an exchange of communication between two people. It’s like having a message you want to convey to a person.

Such person receives the message and gives a feedback or a response to show that he acknowledges receipt of that which was conveyed. What matters here is that the sender and receiver of the message understand each other. Period!

Nonetheless, there’s another form of dialogue with a much deeper meaning to people of a certain religious persuasion.  Vatican has created an office called the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Dialogue. It is an arm of their church tasked to reach out to believers of other living faiths, such as Islam, Buddhism, other Christian churches, and so on.

It doesn’t mean though that said church is out to ‘convert’ believers of other religions into the said faith. Rather, this type of dialogue aims to foster a deeper friendship with the ‘others’ through whatever means. It could be through study of certain aspects of their respective faiths, through sports, ecumenical services, simple consultative discussions, even through fellowship meals.

I was lucky enough to be a witness to a real dialogue of life several times in the past between theologians of a major seminary and families in the Islamic areas around Davao City, in the island of Mindanao, Philippines.

For more than ten years since 2001, our local ministry in Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue has been helping the said seminary facilitate their Immersion Program to Muslim Communities.

In such program, the graduating seminarians are to spend one full week living with chosen Muslim families belonging to tribes like Kagan, Tausog, Maranaw, Sama, among others.

Imagine the fear etched in most of the seminarians’ faces when they learned that they have to stay for a week with their Muslim foster families! Of course, 99% of them have some sort of bias and prejudice against these people, for reasons they revealed later during the processing of such experience.

When processing day came, which is one day after their departure from the communities, the theologians were ready with their honest sharing and shocking revelations. All were positive ones but perhaps the most touching that was common among the sharing is that their foster parents cried on the day of their departure. Why? Because they have started to accept the guys, loved them and eventually missed their presence, in such a short span of time.

See what genuine dialogue can do to the lives of ordinary Muslims and Christians? Definitely Allah was in their midst when that life-in-dialogue was happening.

Entering into such formof dialogue certainly requires proper preparation, respect and an open mind and heart to be able to accept the ‘other’. With that, its goal of achieving better relationship is just an arm’s length.

How about you? Want to share your dialogue experience?