I S S U E 1 37

THE XAVERIAN MISSIONARIES USA

N OVE MBE R 201 3

COMMON GROUND AND NEXT STEPS

he United Kingdom and USA Provinces of the Xaverian Missionaries cosponsored a conference at their Conforti Institute hereon 8 through 10 of November which brought together people who believe in God and those who dont. Common Ground: A Conversation among Religious Believers and Humanists on Values and Ethics, proved to be just that; and showed that the two world views can come together to create a better world. WHAT HAPPENED The keynote speakers, Assistant Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University, Mr. Chris Stedman and Fr. John Sivalon MM, professor, of sociology at the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania, shared their lives journeys and then modeled dialogue between a nonbeliever and a believer. Ms. Prerna Abbi of the Interfaith Youth Core in Chicago and Maureen Sier of the Scottish Interfaith Council provided practical insight into developing connections and relationships between theists and atheists. Dr. Callum Brown presented the statistics of declining religious affiliation and the growth of the non-affiliated. Then participants themselves chose the conversations in an Open Space format. Topics included: Strangers and Stereotypes; Justice Action Plans; The Apathetic and Indifferent; Conflict Resolution; Taking Sides and Finding Commonality; and Gender Issues. Final discussions centered on the perceived privilege religion holds in society and how humanists and believers can work together to combat injustice and inequality via shared vision, joint statements and united actions through a common vision of ethics. The dialogue was brought to the Scottish ParliaThe planning team: (left to right) Hugh Foy (UK), John Convery (UK), Carl Chudy (USA), Mary Aktay (USA), and Tom Welsh (UK)

B IRT HDAYS & AN NIV E RS AR IE S 2013-14

DECEMBER
2-7th death anniversary of Fr. Gratian Rossato 3-Feast of St. Francis Xavier 4-24th death anniversary of Br. Eugene Cumerlato 6-Birthday of Fr. Frank Grappoli 8- 11th death anniversary of Fr. Pius Devoti 15-Birthday of Fr. Rocco Puopolo 17-Birthday of Fr. Mark Marangone

ment with a panel presentation by the speakers joined by Isabel Smythe of the Committee for Interreligious Dialogue and Rory Fenton of the British Humanist Association and moderated by Fr. Carl Chudy SX, US Provincial of the Xaverian Missionaries. The conference was conceived by the Xaverian Missionaries to be just the starting point of an ongoing intercultural dialogue. The blog (http://religious-seculardialogue.blogspot.com/) and Twitter Feed (https://twitter.com/secreldialogue/) have been abuzz with activity by conference participants and interested viewers during and post the proceedings. Brian Pellot of Religion News Service has written a piece about the conference on his blog (http://brianpellot.religionnews.com/2013/11 /13/atheists-believers-seek-common-groundscotland/) The picture album of the event may be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/catholicmissio n/sets/72157637522554356/

JANUARY
29th death anniversary of Fr. Natale Vaccari 17th death anniversary of Fr. Romano Rolli 4th death anniversary of Fr. Lino Pellerzi

FEBRUARY
16- 3rd death anniversary of Fr. Luciano Peterlini 16-Birthday of Fr. Adolph Menendez 21-Birthday of Fr. Dominic Caldognetto

P AGE 2

I SSUE 137

WHY DIALOGUE WITH HUMANISIM? Since the early 1990s the Church has looked seriously at her commitment to a serious dialogue with the culture through dialogue with humanists and atheists and the enculturation of faith. Pope Benedict opened this up further with the Courtyard of the Gentiles in formal gatherings of religious believers and humanists in various parts of Europe in the last few years. In the United States, dialogue with humanism and atheism has become part and parcel of interfaith dialogue, although many humanists who wish to be in dialogue and collaboration with believers would not call it an interfaith dialogue. For us, this type of dialogue, which underlines our commitment to interfaith and intercultural dialogue, is an opportunity to witness to the local church the urgency of the missio ad gentes here at home and abroad. In fact this kind of dialogue is the most efficacious way we can help the local church in their intercultural dialogue and finding ways to live alongside secular culture. It is an effective mission animation project. WHERE TO FROM HERE In our evaluation of this important event we found it to be a new experience, not only for us but also for the humanism communities. The positive experience had by all was an impetus to find more opportunities for dialogue and collaboration in the area of justice and peace. Our province will be publishing an ejournal of the event by late February that will include the talks, a synthesis of the dialogue among the participants and some a couple of reflections by a Catholic and a humanist. We will also explore having a similar event here in the United States. After going through this initial experience we have learned much and even though the cultural context in the US is different than in Scotland, there are many similarities we may build on. Conforti Institute in Scotland too received good publicity in this dialogue event and there are plans for ongoing projects in dialogue with the Scottish Interfaith Council and with humanists organizations.

Communication Board Meets

arlier in the year, the Provincial Council created the Communications Board as a way to replace the older Editorial Board of the printed newsletter. The purpose of the CB is to have a group of confreres who oversee our communications both in printed and internet media. The Board meets twice a year, in the Spring and Fall. We took in account all of the tools of media currently in use, both printed and online. Provincial Communications Plan: The CB approved a new plan that outlines the use of media in the three pillars of the province: youth and young adult reachout, interfaith and intercultural dialogue, and fundraising and development. Update on media use for intra-provincial dialogue project: A report of the use of the conference blog and twitter feed, along with ways to enhance our follow up to this project through the media. Printed newsletter: The newsletter, published through the Provincial Media Office is prepared by our Communications Director, Mary Aktay. More less our mailing list is a little over 9000, four times a year. The costs are on average $40,000.00 yearly with the costs shared all three communities. As the newsletter is also online, it is viewed from 350 to 500 times for each issue. Cooperation with all of the communities is important in making our newsletter more effective as a tool for mission animation fundraising. Rosary Booklet: It was reported that another 5000 copies are being reprinted. The booklet is very popular and we talked about how to make it a more effective mission animation tool. It was suggested to change the format to the English copy of the mission rosary booklet published in Italy that combines mission and Confortian spirituality. New website: The new website of the province will finally be launched in the

first week of December most probably. The home page, pictured above, is meant to transition from the older site with these things in mind: a simpler easy structure to navigate, better integration of media, inclusion of interfaith dialogue matters, and more practical resource for parishes and schools in global mission spirituality and advocacy. The new site will be maintained by the Media Office in Wayne. It is important that all of the communities provide information and resources so that we can keep the site updated in a timely manner. We hope the CB members to help their communities with this.
The initial launch will be important for us in order for all confreres and friends to look it over and offer suggestions for improvement. You can see it under construction at:

www.xaviermissionaries.org/wp

C ROSSRO ADS

P AGE 3

Sharing from the Provincial Council

The council heard the report of the intra-provincial project in Scotland and discussed a number of ways we can follow up on this project as well as collaborate with the UK in future projects. One under consideration is training youth leaders in interfaith and intercultural dialogue. The council will be attending the leadership gathering of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men in Tucson, Arizona in the last week of January 2014. It is part of ongoing formation for provincial leadership. The council decided to contribute a portion of of the Grimshaw Foundation grant we receive yearly for the help of victims of the super-typhoon in the Philippines. The council is considering a retirement plan for our lay employees. More information will be forthcoming in the next months. There is a restructuring of our accounts regarding Christian Brothers. RCT accounts, which are most of the provincial accounts, are being put into other types of accounts through the Zielinksi Company, which manages our IIF accounts. Two other accounts will be deposited in local banks. The council studied the six year program of the new General Direction. A number issues have a direct effect on our own province, such as their concern to have more mission animators, more dialogue projects, and upcoming international gathers. They include mission animators of Europe and the USA January 2015, two Cosuma gatherings and the next General Chapter. The council is working to update and revamp our vocation and postulancy programs in light of the changes in the RFX and concerns for abuse prevention.

Fr. Carl Chudy, SX Office of the Provincial 12 Helene Court Wayne, New Jersey 08046 973-942-2975 provincial@xaviermissonaries.org
December 9-11-Special vocation program for major superiors and their vocation teams sponsored by the National Religious Vocation Conference in Indiana. Frs. Chudy and Puopolo will attend. January 25-28, 2014Leadership gathering in Tucson, Arizona. The Provincial and Council will attend. February 16-21, 2014-National Board of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men meetings. Fr. Chudy will attend. March 6-9, 2014-National Advisory Council of the US Catholic Bishops in Baltimore, MD. Fr. Chudy will attend. March 31-April 1, 2014Communications Board and Council will meet. The Provincial wishes to welcome Fr. Salvador Cruz Rojo who will come in March 2014 to study English in preparation for Indonesia. He studied Theology in Italy (Parma). After his priestly Ordination (06.12.03), he was assigned to the Xaverian Region of Mexico where he has been working for about ten years. Here he spent most of his time in Formation and Ministry, firstly in San Juan del Rio (2003-2008) and then in Arandas (2008-2013), where he became the Rector of the community for three years. The community he will study from will be chosen soon.

Scenes from the Dialogue Conference in Scotland