It also takes account of the sad fact that, while almost all religions evolved as means to create peace and harmony in our world, they are too often used to create division and even war! This places a great responsibility on all of us who profess a religious faith to demonstrate a deep respect for all other religions and to engage in a profound dialogue to ensure that all of our religions lead us to discover more fully the common humanity that we all share. This has greatly enriched the reflection. Over the years, the focus on inter-religious dialogue has broadened out to include dialogue with religions other than Islam as well. It was therefore decided to combine the two events and, appropriately, to hold it in the largest Muslim country in the world! This move was inspired by a decision of the Dominican Promoters of Justice and Peace and Care of Creation (JPCC) of the Asia-Pacific Region to focustheir quadrennial conference onInter-Religious Dialogue. This year, however, for the first time ever, it was decided to hold the event out of Rome – in Surabaya, Indonesia! Hence they came to be called Journées Romaines Dominicaines (JRD), the French name for Dominican Roman Days. These meetings normally took place in Rome. Dominic would spend whole nights in dialogue with people with beliefs very different from his own! In this spirit, since 1956, Dominican men and women working in Muslim countries or in Muslim communities began coming together every four years to share their experiences of dialogue with Muslims. The fruits of this contemplation are then shared with others through different forms of communication or preaching (writings, teaching, mass media, sermons, or silent presence).įrom the outset, this preaching has been most profoundly undertaken through dialogue and debate. This search takes place in community and through contemplation (prayer, meditation and study). The Dominican Order’s primary mission is the search for the truth (“ Veritas” in Latin, the Order’s motto). The Order only developed a presence in Indonesia 10 years ago and there are presently two communities – in Surabaya and Kalimantan.
The Order is present in about 126 countries in the world. Currently, it has 6,000 brothers (the majority of whom are priests), 3,000 nuns (who are enclosed in monasteries), 27,000 active sisters, 144,000 lay members with a growing number of youth members and over 400 diocesan priests who are members of priestly fraternities.
The Order of Preachers, better known as the Dominican Order (after the name of our founder, St Dominic) is a religious order founded within the Catholic Church 800 years ago. Major themes to be discussed are: “Fundamentalism and violence as realities of our world” “The Word and the words of Dialogue” and “Dialogue as bridge-building towards peace”. The meeting, which started on Monday and will end on Saturday, focuses around the theme of Dialogue as a Way of Preaching and is structured around exposures, presentations, responses, group work and plenary discussions. Over 90 Dominican priests, religious brothers and sisters, and laity are currently holding a week-long meeting at Ciputra World Resort and Hotel in Surabaya, Indonesia to share their unique experiences of dialogue especially with Muslims, and examine the way forward.
JRD/JPCC-AP Meeting, Surabaya, Indonesia (11-16 August, 2014).
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