FEBRUARY 2018 : Shinmeizan Diary

The main activities in the field of interreligious dialog during this month of February at Shinmeizan, have been:

1.    The one-day study session, held at Shinmeizan on February 6, for a group of 14 Pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church on interreligious dialogue.

2.    The conference on the attitude towards nature in Shintoism and in Christianity, held on February 11, at the Catholic Church of Tetori (Kumamoto) by Fr. Peter Sonoda and Fr. Franco Sottocornola, as part of the activity of the ‘Kumamoto Group for interreligious dialogue’, to which about 50 people attended.

3.    The departure, on February 10, of Sr. Maria De Giorgi for Rome, where, also this year, she will be teaching courses at the Pontifical Gregorian University. This semester the courses will deal with “The Theology of interreligious dialogue”, “Evangelization and cultures”, and “A comparative study of Christian and Buddhist anthropology”.

4.    The staying at Shinmeizan for some days of

- Mr. Denis Shoedler, a German student of theology preparing to become a Pastor, who followed the courses on Japanese Religions of the NCC in Kyoto and came to Shinmeizan for an internship on interreligious dialogue (Feb. 16-22);

- Fr. Giorgio Marengo, of the Consolata Missionaries, stationed in Mongolia, where he is starting a Center for interreligious dialogue at the ancient city of Karakorum, who came to Shinmeizan for consultation and an exchange of ideas on this project (Feb. 24-28).

  5. The participation of Fr. Franco in the regular meeting of the Bishops’ Committee on interreligious dialogue, held in Tokyo on Fen. 22.