A Mini-Parliament of the World’s Religions was co-hosted by the Columban Mission Institute and the Catholic Institute of Sydney on March 21, 2012. It brought together representatives of eight different religions/spiritualities - Aboriginal, Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh. Many were national, state and local leaders of their respective religious communities, so together they formed a very high quality panel. The evening was interspersed with video clips from the Parliament of the World’s Religions held in Melbourne in December 2009.
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Rev Dr Patrick McInerney, who is the Director of the Columban Mission Institute, Coordinator of its Centre for Mission Studies and the Coordinator of Missiology at the Catholic Institute of Sydney is currently teaching the course on Interreligious Dialogue at the Catholic Institute of Sydney and was the host for the event.
Mrs Elsie Heiss from the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry began the formal proceedings with an acknowledgement of country.
Rev Dr Gerard Kelly, the President of the Catholic Institute of Sydney, welcomed all those present, particularly the guests from other religions and their companions, along with other visitors to the Institute.
Fr Patrick McInerney then invited each of the panellists to present interreligious dialogue from their religion’s point of view. It was fascinating to hear each one sharing from the wealth of his or her different tradition. Many commonalities emerged - love of neighbour and serving the common good being the most prominent - yet the differences remained, but without being a cause of contention or strife. It was certainly not religious relativism or religious indifferentism. Each of the panellists spoke passionately from within their respective religious commitments. They did not necessarily agree with each other on all that was said, but they could all agree on the importance of dialogue and cooperation in our globalised world. Fr Patrick McInerney then conducted a brief Q&A. This modelled dialogue in action as each one responded about their inspiration for dialogue, models of dialogue and favourite scriptural texts that promote dialogue. The session was then opened up to all the participants. It was a very stimulating engagement.
To conclude, Rev Brian Vale offered a vote of thanks and the students from the class presented gifts to the panelists. The final moment was a beautiful blessing song, "You are the face of God". The event was appreciated by all who attended and it was an integral part of the academic course on Interreligious Dialogue, that Rev Patrick McInerney is currently teaching at the Catholic Institute of Sydney.
In summary, the event showcased the great advances made in recent years in mutual understanding between people of different religions.
Rev Fr Patrick McInerney is the Director of the Columban Mission Institute, Coordinator of its Centre for Mission Studies and the Coordinator of Missiology at the Catholic Institute of Sydney.
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