George Gispert-Sauch S.J.

In the monthly meeting dedicated to open themes of theology, members of three teams of the College who participated in theological and pastoral conventions this month gave an account of the meetings they attended and their outcome.

The meeting of NITS (North India Theological Students) Conference was held in Jabalpur in mid-October. The Vidyajyoti team (Valerian Mendonca, Mourlin Fernando and Sr Rekha Tudu, accompanied by Staff guide Fr Milianus Beck) presented a paper on the Word of God and Interreligious Dialogue, which gave much scope for ecumenical discussion among the participants. The paper analysed expertly the reasons of for recent religious tensions in India and the biblical and theological roots of interreligious dialogue.

About the same time Suman Paul and Fr Gispert-Sauch attended the Prabhu Yesu Mahotsava deemed to be the first mission congress in India. The meeting, attended by 1300 participants from all the 160 dioceses of India including more than a 100 bishops with three Indian Cardinals, was a celebration of the Catholic faith in a great variety of expressions, liturgical and cultural, deep faith testimonies and a great fellowship of joy. At the Suman testified that this experience showed him that the laity are the key the future of the Church in India.

Fr Ajesh gave an account of the Seminar organized by the Asian Centre for Cross Cultural Studies, in Chennai, on “Natural Resources – A Multireligious Approach”  which discussed the religious contribution to the ecological problem.

The lively discussion that followed highlighted different missiologies prevalent in the country, one focussed on the Kingdom of God and its values, another stressing the need to preach Jesus Christ and become his disciple through baptism. A third perspective starts with the conviction that Jesus is the Light of the world and that his person as a suffering servant is a strong inspiration to any persons who knows him to commit themselves to be witnesses and workers of the Reign of Kingdom. For he is the Light of the World: “We belong to Christ: Christ does not belong to us.”