INTERFAITH RELATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING

By Beate Matthies

The New Zealand Catholic Bishops Committee for Interfaith Relations (NZCBCIR) met in Palmerston North March 4-5.

Every diocese in Aotearoa New Zealand has one representative on this committee who is also a member of the local Interfaith Council which is made up of representatives from different religious traditions.

Bishop Michael Dooley of Dunedin liaises with the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference.

“Interreligious dialogue is a necessary condition for peace in the world, and so it is a duty for Christians as well as other religious communities. This dialogue is in first place a conversation about human existence or simply, as the bishops of India have put it, a matter of ‘being open to them, sharing their joys and sorrows’.”Pope Francis, from Evangelii Gaudium: The Joy of the Gospel, 2013.

Picture from left to right: Nick Wilson (Palmerston North), Christopher Longhurst (Wellington), Colin MacLeod (Dunedin), Adele Churchman (Christchurch/Timaru), Beate Matthies (Auckland), Teresa Fernandez (Hamilton) and Bishop Michael Dooley. Absent: Matthew Gardner (Christchurch)