“It’s about a learning experience …”

This is the primary response from Msgr. Guy Massie, our commission’s director, when asked about the essential purpose of ecumenical and interreligious dialogue. His words summarize the truth behind why the ecumenical commission lives, moves, and has its being.

The New York area is a prime environment in which to encourage, enable, and enthusiastically invite people from all walks of life to dialogue concerning faith. Because the population of our city is so diverse, no one group of people or person truly speaks for the majority, especially on matters of faith. Interreligious and ecumenical dialogue for each of us in and around our Diocese is not a luxury, it is more of a responsibility and adventure.

How we understand ourselves and one another in not only religious, but also social, political, and cultural terms plays a large role in how each of our separate communities of faith seeks to preserve its uniqueness.

The commission’s primary mission is to facilitate dialogue and cooperation between people of good will in this Diocese of various religious confessions. Using theological images and ideas as our starting point, we move on to explore how our religious understandings of ourselves, one another, and the world influence our social, political, and cultural interactions.