One bishop lauds another for humanitarian award

When Bishop Howard J. Hubbard received a humanitarian award from the Interfaith Alliance of New York State recently, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, retired auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit, was on hand to give his fellow bishop high praise.

Bishop Gumbleton, founding president of the worldwide peace organization Pax Christi, also gave a keynote address at the event titled, "Cultivating a Culture of Peace through Interreligious Dialogue."

A member of many peace-oriented organizations, including Call to Action, Pastors for Peace and the SHARE Foundation of El Salvador, he travels the world promoting Catholic values and a message of peace. He recently returned from an international conference on global networking to prevent weapons in space.

Plaudits

"I've known Bishop Hubbard for over 30 years," Bishop Gumbleton told The Evangelist. "I've always held great admiration for the work that he has done in the area of interfaith dialogue. He has shown great leadership in opening dialogue with people of other faiths by articulating the directives of the Second Vatican Council's document 'Gaudium et Spes.' Bishop Hubbard has taken those directives and lived his life by them."

"Gaudium et Spes," the Vatican's 1964 Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, speaks of looking at the human family as a whole.

Bishop Gumbleton said his talk would highlight Bishop Hubbard's hard work and dedication to promoting understanding between people of different faiths.

Background

The retired bishop said he became interested in interfaith dialogue and peace initiatives himself during the Second Vatican Council in Rome in the 1960s, while he was doing his graduate studies there. As a firsthand observer of that council, his eyes were opened to the possibility of its great impact on the Church.

"The Gaudium et Spes document opened up a real opportunity for a community of people to form, one that would transform the world. Bishop Hubbard has carried that spirit from Vatican II throughout the years with dedication and commitment. Through the interfaith dialogue that he has worked so hard to maintain, he has continued that discussion started by the Council so long ago," Bishop Gumbleton noted.

(Several other leaders in interfaith dialogue will be given "Voices that Challenge" awards for their work in interfaith relations: Ed Bloch, former director of the Interfaith Alliance; John Amidon of  Veterans for Peace of the Capital District; Dr. Mussarat Chaudhry, who has done outreach to the Muslim community; and Joseph Seeman of Saratoga Springs, who has worked on money and political issues.)

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