Columnists
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Columnists
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February
27 , 2002
A few weeks ago I attended a meeting at Saint Patrick’s, Jersey City. Father Eugene Squeo is one of the kindest, most gentle priests I have ever known. He is also one of the brightest. He is not only a priest but also a lawyer. Gene also serves on the Commission for Interreligious Affairs. He had gathered a group of perhaps 35 people — Catholics, Muslims, Protestants, and a Rabbi. The purpose was to explore the possibility of an interfaith dialogue in Jersey City. It seemed especially appropriate for two reasons. Sept. 11 has put the Islamic community under a cloud of suspicion. They need friends in their time of insecurity. Moreover, in Jersey City a marvelous demonstration of interfaith charity occurred when Clair Memorial Methodist Church was destroyed by fire. Rabbi Kenneth Brickman of Temple Beth El in Jersey City took the parishioners in and offered them a worship space for their Easter Services. From evil, good can come. And yet as I sat there I was remembering a night almost 40 years ago. Vatican II had given a new meaning to the word “ecumenical.” It was a word used by Catholics to describe a worldwide meeting of the bishops and cardinals of the church. But because of the outreach by the church to other religious communities, the word suddenly assumed a whole new dimension. It now signifies the relationships between different churches and different faiths. On that particular night, for the very first time, Catholics, Protestants and Jews from Kearny were gathered in the Methodist church basement to hear Msgr. Henry Beck, our noted Catholic historian. He had come to speak precisely on this new concept of ecumenism as it affected us on the local level. The place was packed. I stood in the back. Beside me stood a tall distinguished Episcopalian clergyman. He wore a dark suit with what we called a “horse collar.” You know the kind; the white collar goes all the way around the neck. He turned to me and spoke with great seriousness in a slightly British accent. “Father,” he said in wonderment, “what are you and I doing here among all of these Protestants?” Trying to look serious, I answered, “To tell you the truth, Reverend, I don’t know what we are doing here either.” I never forgot the moment. I suddenly found myself in a new world. We “high church” guys were obviously, in his eyes, far superior to all of these “low church” types around us. In his eyes this association with other denominations had no future. Actually, 10 years later, the priests, ministers and our one rabbi were greeting each other by our first names. We had shared. We had argued. We had agreed and disagreed. But above all, we had come to know and respect each other. The people in Jersey City are embarking upon a similar journey. God willing, their encounter will grow and ripen into a new-found relationship of charity and respect. I would like to spend some time on the subject of ecumenism and dialogue in the next couple issues of (For archives of columns go to www.msgrgilchrist.freeservers.com)
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