Historic week for the children of God

Pope John Paul II recently expressed the hope that 2000 would increase dialogue among believers "until the day when all of us together -- Jews, Christians and Muslims -- will exchange the greeting of peace in Jerusalem."

Last week went a long way toward fulfilling his wish. It was a week that makes one wonder how much the coming millennium has inspired people of faith to put aside age-old disputes and concentrate instead on what they have in common.

Consider what has happened in just the last few days:

* At the Vatican, members of nearly two dozen faiths gathered for an Interreligious Assembly that ended with a joint pilgrimage to Assisi, where St. Francis once preached a gentle, peace-filled faith that embraces all of creation.

* During that assembly, a Hindu turned to Pope John Paul II and apologized for "gruesome violence against Christian missionaries by some misguided Indians."

* In a return gesture, Cardinal Francis Arinze, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, issued a statement outlining how much Christianity and Hinduism share in common.

* In India, the government told parliament that it condemns campaigns against Pope John Paul II's visit to India, emphasizing that the "pope is a revered guest."

* In Augsburg, Germany, Christian ecumenism took a giant step forward when Roman Catholics and Lutherans signed a joint agreement on the doctrine of justification. The doctrine itself may be difficult for some Christians to understand, but the gesture could not be more plain: Christians have much in common that had been lost over the centuries and can now be recovered through patient dialogue founded on mutual respect.

* Locally, the celebration of the 350th anniversary of the First Lutheran Church of Albany was attended by the Roman Catholic and Episcopalian bishops of Albany, an ecumenical gesture that has become so common in our area that we hardly notice it anymore.

But such events -- local or global -- should not pass without our notice. They are signs of the goodness that believers share and seem inspired to bring out more often as the third millennium approaches. If that spirit continues into the 21st century, it will be marked by interfaith and ecumenical advances that unite the children of God.

(11-11-99)

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