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Dealing with Difference: Vatican Official in Dialogue with ISKCON

 

 

Monsignor Machado: Dealing with Difference

 

On 23 April 2004, just a few kilometres from the birthplace of the great

Vatican reformer, Pope John XXIII, Monsignor Felix Machado made the first

formal visit by a Vatican official to an ISKCON temple.

 

Mosignor Machado, appointed by the Pope as the Under-Secretary of the

Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue (PCID), visited the 12th

annual ICELT (ISKCON Communications Europe Leadership Team) meetings at

Villaggio Hare Krishna, near Bergamo in Northern Italy. Mons. Machado,

himself from a Hindu background, is a scholar in the bhakti traditions to

which ISKCON belongs.

 

In a ninety-minute talk, he addressed the theme of the meetings: ‘Dealing

with Difference'. He gave an elaborate and clear explanation of the Catholic

Church's teachings on the fundamental differences between Catholicism and

Vaisnavism in the understanding that ‘dialogue can take place without trying

to naively compromise, and without annihilating or ignoring the

differences.' According to Mons. Machado we should ‘identify the

differences, recognise them, and respect them.' This spirit of respect on

the part of the Church has grown following Pope John XXIII's Second Vatican

Council: ‘When it comes to respect, it has to be full respect. This is the

conviction of the Catholic Church,' said Mons. Machado

 

With the differences clarified, he went on to explain the theological

imperative, with particular reference to Catholic teachings on the Trinity,

of the Church to engage in dialogue with members of other faith traditions.

‘If God is the Father of all, then He is the single origin and single

destiny of all. Therefore, despite the differences we are all very much

related. Negating this would negate the fundamental truth of Christianity,

so dialogue is absolutely indispensable.' Or, as the current Pope has said:

‘As we open ourselves to dialogue we open ourselves to God.'

 

Mons. Machado's visit is the latest chapter in a relationship that has been

building over the last decade. In 1993, encouraged by the Church's growing

commitment to dialogue, Saunaka Rsi Dasa, convenor of ISKCON's Interfaith

Commission, and Virabhadra Dasa of ISKCON Communications Italy, approached

the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue in Rome. An open and

frank dialogue began, sowing the seeds of a formal relationship between the

Catholic Church and ISKCON. According to Saunaka Rsi Dasa, ‘this latest

meeting will help to cement that relationship, and enable ISKCON's

Interfaith Commission and the PCID to work together on seminars and

conferences aimed at increasing awareness and understanding between the two

organisations.'

 

The ICELT Meetings that Mons. Machado spoke at are an annual forum for

ISKCON preachers to engage in dialogue amongst themselves and with others.

They provide a conservative, devotional atmosphere in which open and

fruitful discussion can take place. A paper based on Mons. Machado's talk

will appear in the ISKCON Communications Journal.

 

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