By Matters India Reporter
Bengaluru: A weekly program on Hindu-Christian dialogue started by the Bengaluru-based Ecumenical Christian Centre (ECC) has been drawing scores people from across India.
The 25-episode lecture series is titled “Hindu Christian Dialogue for Fellowship: Sages and Saints for Self-Realization and Social Transformation.”
It is meant to understand the saints and sages who labored for social transformation and advancement of the downtrodden, says ECC director Father Mathew Chandrankunnel. It also aims to help people appreciate the common elements in Hinduism and Christianity and the great masters in both traditions who worked for harmony, peace and progress, the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate priest explained.
Other organizers are the Ramakrishna Mission, Office of the Dialogue of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India and Focolare Movement.
The program that began on May 7 will be conducted 6 pm to 7:30 pm on Thursdays. Almost 100 people have attended the program so far. Around 60 of them are registered members as the program is a certificate course on interfaith dialogue.
It will end in October, Father Chandrankunnel said.
Opening the program on May 7, ECC chairman Metropolitan Theodosius Mar Thoma quoted Arthur Basham, author of “The wonder that was India,” to highlight India as “a mosaic of cultures, intertwining and at the same time embraced by the masses, appreciating, fostering, with the celebration of unity in diversity, and always living in fellowship and fraternity.”
The Mar Thoma bishop urged the participants to join fellow Indians to continue the great tradition of living together spiritually and socially, for peace, harmony and progress.”
Metropolitan Theodosius also pointed out that ECC has tried to bring together humanity as children of one God.
“ECC remained always a center where people from across the world are welcome, irrespective of caste, color, class, creed, and gender,” he added.
Swami Dayatmanada of the Ramakrishna Mission, a well known thinker well versed in the world religions, lauded the ECC for taking the leadership in bringing together the cultures, civilizations and religions in dialogue.
Archbishop Felix Machado, the secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India and the former undersecretary of the Congregation for Interfaith Dialogue at the Vatican, stressed dialogue and fellowship as the need of the time that can lead people to better understanding, peace and harmony.
Caroline Busuttil, a member of the Focolare, a movement of Catholic lay people, welcome the program’s focus on the common aspect of Hinduism and Christianity. “It promises to be truly enriching, and I’m sure it will be a journey of brothers and sisters walking together to discover new insights, have a new outlook, and reach new heights in our esteem for one another,” she added.
Father Chandrankunnel, the brain behind program, says it will focus on saints and reformers such as Shri Rmakrishna Parmahamsa, Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara, Nobel Laureate Ravindranath Tagore, Doctor Ida Scudder who established the famous Christian Medical College Vellore.
It will also study the contributions of the Serampore Trio – William Carey, Joshua Marshman, William Ward — along with Swami Vivekanada, Maharshi Aurobindo, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Chiara Lubich, the founder of the Focolare Movement, Ramana Maharshi, Francis Acharya, Sankaracharya, Raimundo Panikkar, Basaweshwara, Thyagaraja, Edith Stein.
All that is written and spoken on “Hindu-Christian dialogue” or “inter-religious dialogue” must be translated into “day-to-day life”.
In reality, still a vast majority of Christians, including priests and nuns, have an averse towards non-Christian sisters and brothers. The “cordiality” is missing. This is the bitter truth.
Dialogue is the way forward.