A day in the life of....

I am astonished at what happens in a day in the life of a Columban Missionary Priest.  It varies so much from day to day (and I could also add, from night to night).

In March I was invited for mawlid, the celebration of the Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday. I left my home in Sydney’s inner West, drove a few kilometres … and ended up in the Middle East.  I was among 4,000 Muslims—some of the men wearing the traditional Arab robes with the kaffiyeh on their heads, many of the women wearing veils and shawls—listening to chants and hymns in praise of God and the Prophet Muhammad, sung in mostly in Arabic. The mix of Lebanese, Pakistani, Bosnian, Indonesian, Syrian and other backgrounds is testament to the diversity of Australian Muslims. I mused that Jesus of Nazareth would have felt quite at home in the religious devotion that was so evident.  

Exactly one week later I was taking part in a Vigil Service conducted by the Coptic Church in Martin Place to commemorate the Christians killed in Nag Hammadi in a drive-by shooting outside a church after Christmas services this year. I felt a deep solidarity with the suffering of the Coptic Christians and their pleas for justice for minority communities.

Over the last few months I have attended the meetings of the Abraham Conference Organizing Committee. We are Jews, Christians and Muslims. We meet regularly, usually about every three weeks. We are planning a conference for the first week of August, and have agreed on speakers, venue and other arrangements. The events of the last week between Israel and Gaza have confirmed the importance of dialogue as the way to resolve disputes. As members of the Committee we are committed to continue the conversation despite the provocations. 

A priest always belongs to the family in which he was nurtured, continuing to be a part of their lives, and they to be a part of his life. After working overseas for many years I am now living in Australia, and can more easily be part of family events.  In recent months I have baptized a great-nephew, been part of a family re-union and celebrated funeral masses.  It is a privilege and a pleasure to be part of these significant events in our family.

Three weeks ago I spoke to residents of the Southern Cross Homes in Marsfield, introducing them to the basic teachings of Islam, explaining some of the many things that Muslims and Christians have in common, and insisting that building relations with Muslims was both desirable and possible.  They have since enquired about the possibility of taking a guided tour of a mosque, for which I provided contact details. 

The next day I was a keynote speaker for a Pentecost Vigil in Brisbane, hosted by the Holy Spirit Sisters. My topic was the astonishing transformation in relationships that has come about in the Catholic Church’s attitude towards believers from other religions from Vatican II onwards, highlighting, as appropriate to the feast and to our hosts, the role of the Holy Spirit.  I was the celebrant and homilist at the Vigil Mass that evening, and joined in the meal that concluded the proceedings.

The following week I finalized the text of Bridges, the quarterly newsletter of the Columban Mission Institute’s Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations, of which I am the Coordinator.  This 8 page newsletter will be posted and e-mailed to nearly two thousand people in the coming week. It is our flagship publication for promoting better relations between Christians and Muslims.

I am also Coordinator of the Centre for Mission Studies. Last week I designed and e-mailed a flyer advertising Interreligious Dialogue, one of the missiology courses I teach at the Catholic Institute of Sydney. It will be offered in the Second Semester. The flyer has been posted on the Columban website. More details about the course can be found at the Institute’s website at http://www.cis.catholic.edu.au/. 

In between all of the above activities, I have spent days (and nights!) at my computer, designing and working on another course, Religions and Cultures in Conversation, for the Broken Bay Institute. This course covers much of the same area, but where the CIS course is offered in face-to-face mode, the BBI one is offered on-line. This mode of teaching is new to me and poses many new challenges. So it has been a steep learning curve, demanding a lot of attention.  Happily, I am now nearly finished the preparation.  Hopefully, details of the course will soon be available on the website of the Broken Bay Institute (see http://www.bbi.catholic.edu.au/).

All this to say that the life of a Columban Missionary Priest is a very busy one … but a very fulfilling one.  My main apostolate is interreligious

dialogue, with a particular emphasis on Christian-Muslim relations. Whether I am taking part in celebrations, attending meetings, speaking, editing newsletters, composing flyers, preparing courses, researching, teaching, my work is devoted to promoting better relations between believers from different religions, based on mutual respect, and grounded in accurate information and not stereotypes. 

Interreligious dialogue is one of the frontiers of mission. I am very happy as a Columban priest to make a contribution in an area that is so

important for promoting peace and harmony in today’s multi-religious world.

Fr Patrick McInerney SSC is the Co-odinator of the Centre for Christian Muslim Relations and Columban Vocations.