METHODOLOGY OF THE COUNCIL

METHODOLOGY OF THE COUNCIL

1.   Dialogue is a two-way communication. It implies speaking and listening, giving and receiving, mutual growth and enrichment. It is based on witness to one’s faith as well as openness to the religion of another. It is not a betrayal of the mission of the Church, nor is it a new method of conversion to Christianity.

      This view of interreligious dialogue is clearly affirmed in Blessed Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Redemptoris Missio, as well as the two documents published by the PCID: Reflections on Dialogue and Mission (1984), and Dialogue and Proclamation (1991).

 2.   The PCID operates in close collaboration with special Commissions of the local Churches which have the principal responsibility of promoting interreligious dialogue.

 3.   The ecumenical dimension of interreligious dialogue is particularly taken into consideration. The PCID has an ongoing relationship with the World Council of Churches and it collaborates with the latter in initiatives of study and promotion of interreligious dialogue.

 4.    The PCID restricts itself to religious questions. Its competence does not, therefore, extend to political issues.