Visiting churches of other faiths

By REV. GEORGE BRENNAN- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

I have many books that explain the theological differences among the various faith traditions. They are very helpful - but not nearly as interesting as my experience of visiting more than 70 different churches in the past six months.

As the new executive director of Capital Area Council Of Churches (CACC), my first goal was to visit the leadership of all 87 member churches and organizations, just to get acquainted. The experience has not only been interesting; it has been a true blessing.

I did not have an agenda and I was aware that people probably did not want to add one more meeting to an already busy schedule, so I promised to keep the meetings brief. My only concern was to introduce myself and find out what people are thinking; hopefully, that would open doors for future conversations.

I was delighted to go inside churches that I had driven by for years. My interest was not to see the architecture; I wanted to understand the communities that worship in those places. How many people gather there? What are the highlights of their story as a congregation? What else happens there during the week?

I usually left regretting that I had not visited sooner.

In the course of those visits, I experienced some happy surprises. My intention was to visit member churches; however, on one occasion, I unknowingly visited a church that was a former member.

The pastor greeted me with a warm welcome and mentioned that his congregation had not participated in the CACC in recent years.

I felt embarrassed by my mistake, but decided to stay and talk. We had a great conversation and, as a result, that congregation has become an active member again.

Some pastors invited me to talk over lunch. Some shared ideas about new things that the churches might want to do together. Some suggested that we pray together before I left. Some invited me to return and worship with their congregation.

I returned to one church that had a traveling exhibit of liturgical vestments; that exhibit told the stories of conflicts within their churches and their efforts to be more welcoming. It was an adult education program that included a potluck supper. In the interest of promoting good ecumenical relations, I decided to stay for the meal!

Everywhere I went, people were grateful for the chance to talk. We rarely talked about theological issues; we just got to know each other better.

If you want to understand your neighbor's faith, you can read a good book or you can just show up. I recommend the latter. Sometimes, there's free food.

(Father Brennan is pastor of Our Lady of Hope parish in Copake Falls and the first Catholic director of the Capital Area Council of Churches, which opened to Catholics in 1993.)[[In-content Ad]]