OSV STORY FOR AUGUST 4

In dialogue with a world of believers

Meeting Cardinal Francis Arinze, the Vatican's liaison with other religions

By Erminia Santangelo

Cardinal Francis Arinze is one of those rare persons who can communicate with others simply by looking at them. The first thing that impresses one about him is the smile in his eyes, a concrete sign of a life dedicated to share with people the love of Christ.

Such a gift for communication serves the cardinal well in his work as president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, a post he has held since 1985 -- the same year in which he was named cardinal by Pope John Paul II.

Cardinal Arinze, 63, is dedicated to dialogue with believers of other faiths, particularly Muslims, as Islam and Christianity together have followers who make up more than half of the world's population.

"I wouldn't even say 'dialogue,' because when you say that, some people think immediately of theological discussions between eminent professors," the cardinal said recently when he spoke with Our Sunday Visitor in Rome. "I'd better say 'interreligious relations.' "

Cardinal Arinze, a Nigerian, stressed that key words in the Church's relations with other faiths are human dignity, respect for the human person and the right for religious freedom.

"Religion should be a free response of the human soul to God," he said. "Therefore, it should be proposed and never be imposed."

Interreligious encounters do not aim at the conversion of the other, the cardinal explained. Instead, mutual enrichment is the purpose of such meetings.

"God can speak to us through other believers," he said. "From sincere Muslims, Christians can learn, for example, the courage of sincere prayer. They pray five times a day, and no matter where they are -- be it the railway station or the airport -- they will do it. Whereas many Christians are ashamed of making the Sign of the Cross in a restaurant or pulling out a rosary in a train."

Similarly, he said, Muslims can learn from Christians how to be free in speaking one's mind.

"When we had the Synod for Lebanon in the Vatican in December 1995, three Muslims were invited. The Pope was present and there were bishops, theologians, sisters, priests and lay people -- men and women alike. All of them . . . freely expressed their point of view. Later, the Muslims told us they were surprised to see with how much freedom all of us spoke."

Cardinal Arinze was born in 1932 in Onitsha, Nigeria, from a family of African traditional religion. He was baptized Catholic at the age of 9.

"God's grace works in ways we do not understand," he said, recalling his childhood. "I was very impressed by that parish priest who baptized me, and after watching him for a long time, I felt the desire of becoming myself a priest."

From that moment on, his path was the one indicated by Christ. He entered the seminary at the age of 13, was ordained a priest in 1958 and a bishop in 1965.

"My background has also helped me appreciate the elements that are good in African traditional religion and culture," he added, trying to explain how people of all cultures and faiths can enrich one another in their diversities.

And even within the Church itself there is room for diversity, he pointed out. "The Christian faith is the same in every continent, and it must be recognizable in every continent. But the Church is also local, in style and culture. . . ."

One thing that the cardinal especially appreciates about his heritage is the African people's strong sense of community.

"I couldn't have entered the seminary without telling it to everybody in my family, because the whole community had to support my choice," he said.

In the African Church, this strong sense of community, a participation in the life of others, is more apparent than in the Church in the Western world, and it comes through in African Catholic liturgies.

"The African person thinks that if you bring a gift, you should be moving to show that you're happy -- a movement of the body to show where your spirit is going," Cardinal Arinze said. "In that sense, dance during the celebrations can show thanksgiving and adoration."

"I remember when some Africans came for the first time to Europe and went to church for Mass. They saw everybody standing stiff and one of them asked, 'Are they sick?' "

This is a clear example of cultural misunderstanding to be avoided, especially in interreligious relations.

Though Rome is undoubtedly the centuries-old heart of Christianity, it, too, is becoming more and more multicultural and multireligious -- like other major cities around the world.

For instance, since June of last year, Rome has been home to yet another major house of worship besides St. Peter's and the synagogue, when a mosque was built for the approximately 500,000 Muslims living in the city.

Cardinal Arinze said the mosque's presence is proof of the Church's acknowledgment of that freedom of religion that is the right of every human being.

"Unfortunately, there are majority Muslim countries where Christian and other minorities do not have this reciprocal right," he added. "At the end of this second millennium, humanity is waiting for this gesture of respect for the human person."

Yet there are signs of hope, the cardinal said, such as the joint statement issued in Paris by a group of Christians and Muslims condemning the recent killing of seven Trappist monks in Algeria.

"On this occasion, like during the Gulf War, dialogue and mutual understanding between believers of the two religions brought the joint assessment that there can and must be alternative solutions to violence and fighting," the cardinal said.

On the path of interreligious relations, the cardinal pointed out, individual believers of different religions can work together on common projects "without even mentioning what they believe."

Common ground can be established by a discussion of family life, education of youth, abortion and society's thorny problems such as drugs and AIDS.

"These problems are understood across religious frontiers," he said. "For this reason, we can do something together and become friends."

And friendship is indeed a turning point in interreligious relations, according to the cardinal. Friendship can teach everybody the "language of the heart" that dissolves suspicions and prejudices and helps to overcome problems.

"I would call them challenges more than problems," corrected Cardinal Arinze. "Challenge means it is difficult, but that there is hope of a solution."

But none of this is to say that religion should be peripheral or marginal in life, he added. On the contrary, religion should always be seen as the necessary response of the human creature to God.

"St. Augustine summarized it well when he said 'Oh, God, you made us for yourself and our hearts are never at rest until they rest in you,' " Cardinal Arinze said.

"We are made for God and unless we try to reach Him initially in this world by doing His will . . . we have missed the real purpose of our life on earth. For us . . . that is very much a part of what it means to be a Christian. It is also our challenge for the third millennium. And it's not optional; it's obligatory."

Santangelo writes from Rome

Barriers to communication

One of the problems that arise in interreligious relations is the impact of the historical memories of conflicts and misunderstandings. It is difficult for many people to move beyond the past, to forgive wrongs that were committed by one group against another. As a result they find themselves not relating as well-intentioned persons living in the present, but rather as representatives of traditions which have long histories of mutual recrimination and wrongdoing. We need to heal our memory.

A second problem is that of group pressure, which can make a person want to please his group and show himself devout and zealous in defending its rights. Thus we see in various parts of the world where neighbors had lived next door for years, had gone to the same schools and shopped at the same markets, and yet in wartime they can turn and become enemies of one another.

A third obstacle to dialogue is an extremist attitude which makes a person violate the rights of another and even perform violent actions. Even if one thinks one is acting in good faith, it does not dispense the person from respecting the rights of other believers. Violence employed in defense of religion is wrong. In a way, the violent extremist is presuming that God is weak and needs to be defended by the extremist who is toting swords and pistols. This is unacceptable. It is an insult to God. I am happy to quote here another joint statement of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the American Muslim Council which makes the same point. The statement was issued on April 16, 1993, after the World Trade Center bombing. Among other things, it stated, "Aggression and terrorism wherever they occur are to be condemned since they constitute an illegitimate use of force and therefore violate the law of God." -- Cardinal Francis Arinze, from an address to Catholic and Muslim leaders in the United States, Aug. 9, 1995

Copyright Our Sunday Visitor 1996; from the 8-4-96 edition

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