Annual Meeting of the MID Board: 1999
Schuyler, Nebraska
The twenty-first annual meeting of the board of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue was held at the St. Benedict Center in Schuyler, Nebraska, on July 10-11, 1999, immediately following the conclusion of the contact persons workshop. In addition to ten voting members of the board, several of the MID advisors and contact persons were present, along with Sr. Mary Margaret Funk, OSB, as executive director.
The various reports given at the meeting elicited much discussion, especially in the way of recommendations for improving projects that are already underway or are being planned. Possible topics and locations for the next contact persons workshop (which will likely be held in 2002 or 2003) were considered, all of this in light of the workshop that had just ended. One suggestion was that the next workshop focus on the book Benedict’s Dharma, a series of reflections currently being written by Buddhists on the Benedictine Rule. Another possible theme would be that of spiritual direction or the master/disciple relationship, since this topic came up frequently in discussion during this year’s workshop.
Dr. John Borelli, one of the board’s advisors, gave an introduction to a document being planned by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. This document will treat “the spirituality of dialogue,” which was the theme of the PCID’s plenary assembly in October, 1998. Each person present at the MID meeting received a copy of a prospectus on this topic written by Cardinal Francis Arinze, president of the PCID. Reflections on the prospectus by MID personnel will be sent to Sr. Mary
Margaret, who will collate them and send them on to Dr. Borelli for forwarding to Cardinal Arinze’s office.
Dr. Borelli and another advisor, Fr. Thomas Baima of the Archdiocese of Chicago, informed the board about the workshop for training in ecumenical and interreligious affairs that will be offered in Chicago for ten days in July, 2000. Under the joint sponsorship of the National Association of Diocesan Ecumenical Officers and the Bishops Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, the training program has proven to be very helpful to newcomers in the field of dialogue. Sr. Mary Margaret will be seeking funding to cover some of the expenses of three or more MID contact persons who might be eligible to participate in the program.
Fr. James Wiseman, OSB, who was concluding the final year of his six-year term as chair of MID, gave several reports, one of them on possible ways of following up on the Gethsemani Encounter of 1996, another on his recent trip to India to observe the educational exchange program that MID has been funding in recent years in order to help some of the exiled Tibetan Buddhist monastics acquire training in health care, computer skills, and proficiency in the English language. The above-mentioned publishing project, Benedict’s Dharma, was described by Sr. Mary Margaret; after some delays, it seems that it will still be possible to have the book published in the year 2000. The board also approved having Fr. Theophane Boyd, OCSO, a longtime member of the MID board, speak at a workshop scheduled for September, 2000, in Santa Fe for Buddhists who are former Catholics.
The business meeting was held the evening of Sunday, July 11. As the first order of business, Fr. William Skudlarek, OSB, of St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota, was elected chair of MID to succeed Fr. Wiseman. Fr. Skudlarek has been residing for the past five years at his abbey’s foundation in Japan but comes to the United States once or twice a year. These visits, plus the convenience of email and faxes, will allow him to stay in close touch with MID members in North America even
The board next considered the financial reports that had been submitted in advance by Sr. Mary Margaret, expressed gratitude to those whose terms were expiring, congratulated Dr. Blée on the successful defense of his dissertation, and agreed to meet in the year 2000 on the Columbus Day weekend, at a site still to be determined.
The twenty-first annual meeting of the board of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue was held at the St. Benedict Center in Schuyler, Nebraska, on July 10-11, 1999, immediately following the conclusion of the contact persons workshop. In addition to ten voting members of the board, several of the MID advisors and contact persons were present, along with Sr. Mary Margaret Funk, OSB, as executive director.
The various reports given at the meeting elicited much discussion, especially in the way of recommendations for improving projects that are already underway or are being planned. Possible topics and locations for the next contact persons workshop (which will likely be held in 2002 or 2003) were considered, all of this in light of the workshop that had just ended. One suggestion was that the next workshop focus on the book Benedict’s Dharma, a series of reflections currently being written by Buddhists on the Benedictine Rule. Another possible theme would be that of spiritual direction or the master/disciple relationship, since this topic came up frequently in discussion during this year’s workshop.
Dr. John Borelli, one of the board’s advisors, gave an introduction to a document being planned by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. This document will treat “the spirituality of dialogue,” which was the theme of the PCID’s plenary assembly in October, 1998. Each person present at the MID meeting received a copy of a prospectus on this topic written by Cardinal Francis Arinze, president of the PCID. Reflections on the prospectus by MID personnel will be sent to Sr. Mary
Margaret, who will collate them and send them on to Dr. Borelli for forwarding to Cardinal Arinze’s office.
Dr. Borelli and another advisor, Fr. Thomas Baima of the Archdiocese of Chicago, informed the board about the workshop for training in ecumenical and interreligious affairs that will be offered in Chicago for ten days in July, 2000. Under the joint sponsorship of the National Association of Diocesan Ecumenical Officers and the Bishops Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, the training program has proven to be very helpful to newcomers in the field of dialogue. Sr. Mary Margaret will be seeking funding to cover some of the expenses of three or more MID contact persons who might be eligible to participate in the program.
Fr. James Wiseman, OSB, who was concluding the final year of his six-year term as chair of MID, gave several reports, one of them on possible ways of following up on the Gethsemani Encounter of 1996, another on his recent trip to India to observe the educational exchange program that MID has been funding in recent years in order to help some of the exiled Tibetan Buddhist monastics acquire training in health care, computer skills, and proficiency in the English language. The above-mentioned publishing project, Benedict’s Dharma, was described by Sr. Mary Margaret; after some delays, it seems that it will still be possible to have the book published in the year 2000. The board also approved having Fr. Theophane Boyd, OCSO, a longtime member of the MID board, speak at a workshop scheduled for September, 2000, in Santa Fe for Buddhists who are former Catholics.
The business meeting was held the evening of Sunday, July 11. As the first order of business, Fr. William Skudlarek, OSB, of St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota, was elected chair of MID to succeed Fr. Wiseman. Fr. Skudlarek has been residing for the past five years at his abbey’s foundation in Japan but comes to the United States once or twice a year. These visits, plus the convenience of email and faxes, will allow him to stay in close touch with MID members in North America even
The board next considered the financial reports that had been submitted in advance by Sr. Mary Margaret, expressed gratitude to those whose terms were expiring, congratulated Dr. Blée on the successful defense of his dissertation, and agreed to meet in the year 2000 on the Columbus Day weekend, at a site still to be determined.
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Fr. James Wiseman, OSB, is a monk of Saint Anselm’s Abbey in Washington, DC, and teaches theology at the Abbey School and at Catholic University. He served as Chair of the Board and President of MID, has been editor of the MID bulletin since 1998, and again serves as a member of the Board of Directors of MID.