Friendship and Mission
Meeting of the DIM·MID Board of Directors

There have been few in-person meetings of the Board of Directors of Dialogue Interreligieux Monastique·Monastic Interreligious Dialogue throughout our history, the last one being in the Netherlands in 2019. We do meet four times a year online, but from the beginning of my term as Secretary General of DIM·MID, I have wanted to gather as many of us as possible at Sant’Anselmo for an in-person meeting. My goal for such a gathering was at least two-fold. The first was simply that we be able to meet each other face-to-face for some mutual encouragement and enrichment, in an almost retreat-like setting, away from everyone’s normal affairs. My ulterior motive was to draw the attention of the student body at Sant’Anselmo to the existence and work of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, perhaps to stimulate some interest among some of the younger monastics.

Because of financial restrictions, scheduling conflicts, and visa requirements, bringing together an international group is a daunting enterprise. In the end though, seven Directors (about half the board) were able to come to Rome for the weekend of January 9-12 from such far-flung places as Korea and South Africa (Frs. Anselmo Park and Victor Chavungo), as well as my predecessor Fr. William Skudlarek from Minnesota, USA. Abbots Cosmas Hoffman from Germany and Bernard Lorent, former abbot of Maredsous in Belgium and current president of AIM, were also there, as well as Fr. Markus Muff from Switzerland, who serves the Benedictine Confederation as the Director of Development for Sant’Anselmo and has agreed to be the treasurer for DIMMID as well.

I have a dear friend and collaborator from Singapore named Aaron Maniam. He is now a professor at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University and a Senior Fellow for Advanced AI at a Brussels-based think tank called the Centre for Future Generations. He and I did a lot of interfaith work together some years back in Singapore, and after visiting me yearly at my home monastery in Big Sur, California, he has the distinction of being the first Muslim Camaldolese Benedictine oblate. (I received his oblation at a mosque in Singapore!) He also serves on my own interfaith advisory board for DIM·MID. I invited him to come and lead us in some discussions since one of his specialties is in group work and future planning.

The first evening we did a simple round table of introductions. It was very moving to hear everyone’s story and background in interreligious dialogue. The next morning, I gave a presentation—what I refer to as my “stump speech”—that I have been offering around the world to various groups, mostly monastic ones. I use it to introduce folks to DIM·MID, our history and our work, as well as to present my own vision of who we are and what we have to offer the world right now. It is entitled “Our Role and Response,” and I was especially glad to present it to our board of directors to give them some sense of my own aspirations for our ministry within the Benedictine Confederation and in the world.

Then we turned it over to Aaron for the rest of Saturday and a session on Sunday. I wanted someone from outside of our circle to unite us not only in our common Benedictine heritage, but with a view of the global village. Having also worked as a civil servant in the upper ranks of the government of Singapore and still traveling around the world as a presenter doing very much what he did for us, Aaron has an impressive global view. He titled his presentation “Developments in the World and their connections to Monastic Life,” with one of his first sub-topics serving as a good subtitle: “From a 3D to a multi-D world.” His presentation included discussion about diversity and demography, AI and technology, and “multi-directional responsibilities.” Then on Sunday, after a beautiful celebration of the Eucharist with the community of Sant’Anselmo, Aaron led us in a profound discussion about “Building Belovedness and a Beloved Community,” inspired by the fact that we were meeting on the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord. He also led us through some practical steps such as the typical SWOT exercise––identifying our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

One element that stuck out for me in terms of strengths is how much specialized knowledge there is among us because of the time and energy we have dedicated to delving into other traditions––not just learning about them but allowing ourselves to be influenced by their spirituality so that, as Thomas Merton put it, we may become better Christians and better monks. Among the themes that were raised and stayed with me were friendship and hospitality—Fr. William especially coming back to this several times—and interreligious work as missionary efforts. (Though if we begin with friendship and hospitality, it may change what it means to be a missionary in our day and age!) We all recognized that many Catholic monastic communities are becoming older and smaller, which means fewer monks and nuns are available for extracurricular activity. Moreover, a more cautious and conservative attitude has evolved over the last two decades that make some of our younger brothers and sisters hesitant if not outright suspicious of interreligious dialogue, in spite of the fact that it is sanctioned, called for, and supported by the Church.

On Sunday night Fr. Markus treated us to a meal at a local trattoria. On Monday morning we had a visit to the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue just down the street from St. Peter’s Basilica, where we were warmly welcomed by Monsignor Indunil Kankanamalage, who is its secretary and has been a good friend of DIM·MID for many years, and Cardinal George Koovakad, the new prefect for the Dicastery who is quickly becoming a good friend and partner as well. After we recounted some of the contents of our discussions to them, His Eminence expressed his desire for greater collaboration between the Dicastery and DIM·MID. They then treated us to coffee and a lovely spread of delicacies from Sri Lanka, Monsignor Indunil’s homeland. It was a very warm and friendly visit, and I am glad the two groups were able to meet each other. (Serendipitously, Aaron and Monsignor Indunil had met once before at a conference in Singapore.)

I came away from our gathering with a renewed sense of mission. Even if our numbers are few and support seems lacking at times, I know we are doing important work, not only for the Church but for the world torn by “the wounds of sin and division” that Christ comes to heal. And we certainly do have great support from Pope Leo XIV, who seems to bring up interreligious dialogue often in these early days of his pontificate.

I am grateful to my board members who traveled such distances to spend some days together, and to the community of Sant’Anselmo for being so very welcoming, especially the guest master Fr. Benoit, who went out of his way to accommodate our every need. In everything may God be glorified through Jesus Christ, and by God’s grace may we be ever more a sign of unity and an instrument of peace.