For Verbite missionary, dialogue with Islam begins with students
New Delhi (AsiaNews) - Fr Anbu Augustine, a missionary with the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), developed and cultivated his interest in interreligious dialogue through school meetings as well as "shared" public holidays and debates.
Speaking to AsiaNews, Fr Anbu talks about his experience, about a passion that was born almost by accident, which became however a mission, centred mainly on the relationship between Islam and Christianity.
His journey culminated in a doctorate from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India's most important Islamic university.
How did your interest in Islam start?
I joined the Church of Our Lady of Health Parish, Okhla, in New Delhi, as assistant parish priest in 1994.
At the initiative of Fr Anto, SVD, we formed an interreligious group at the local level, which included professors from Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, and prominent residents of Friends Colony.
We used to organise interreligious meetings at various locations in the area and celebrate different religious festivals.
At regular intervals, we also used to gather to discuss and share ideas about various issues pertaining to various aspects of life. We visited some of schools and organised a few competitions for the children, in view of creating inter-religious consciousness among them.
What were your activities related to inter-religious dialogue?
After working at the Church of Our Lady of Health Parish, I was transferred to Sadbhavana, an inter-religious house run by SVD priests, in Delhi, in 1997.
Later, I enrolled as a doctoral student at the Islamic Studies Department of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. As a student, I continued the above-mentioned activities.
On Good Fridays and during Easter and Christmas Midnight Mass, the interreligious group was especially invited at Okhla Parish.
The parish priests of the time - Frs Victor D'Souza, Susai Sebastian and Januario Rebello - were quite supportive of these activities. When Fr Victor D'Souza was transferred from the parish, the group organised a meaningful farewell for him.
Then you broadened your action. How did your work change?
Later, I was appointed as the diocesan secretary of Dialogue and Ecumenism Commission of the Delhi Archdiocese. I received a lot of support and personal encouragement from the Most Rev Vincent Concessao, then Archbishop of Delhi, and from Most Rev Anil Couto, then Auxiliary Bishop of Delhi.
With the Commission, we organised a number of interreligious activities in the Archdiocese. We organised many of the interreligious meetings and activities at Sadbhavana. I regularly cooperated with other interreligious groups to bring about harmony and peace in society.
Every year on Christmas, we organised an interreligious meet just in front of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, New Delhi. Leaders from other religious traditions were invited and they delivered a short message for that occasion. Hundreds of people took part in this event.
As the diocesan secretary of the Commission, I visited schools and met students to remind them about the importance of inter-religious living.
As regional secretary, I used to be part of the regional pastoral council, which met regularly and presented reports about interreligious and ecumenical activities.
When I became the secretary for the Commission for Ecumenism of the CCBI (Conference of Catholic Bishops of India-Latin Rite), I had to visit all 12 ecclesiastical regions of India.
Thrice a year, the commission published the newletter Sampreeti. All the proceedings of the national meetings were printed in a booklet form and sent to all the bishops and Church institutions.
Every year, the material prepared by the Vatican on the occasion of Unity Octave was reprinted and sent to all the diocesan and regional secretaries of the commission, to all the bishops and to all Church institutions.
I carried out all these responsibilities as Sadbhavana director and later as the procurator of the House. We too gradually planned to develop a library with books on interreligious studies and ecumenism. I left Delhi in the year 2006.
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18/04/2005
