We had the privilege of offering a panel with the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington on “the Art of Dialogue:  Local Trends and Iniatives” at the Nostra Aetate Symposium at CUA this month. Rev. Kasey Kasemen, Dr. Zainab Alwani,Rabbi Gerry Serrota, and I, Larry Golemon, were honored to be on the overall docket with significant leaders in the field of interreligious dialogue, such as Cardinal Koch of the Vatican, Dr. Nasr of George Washington University, Rabbi Greenburg of the Orthodox Jewish community, and Michael Root and Pim Valkenberg of CUA.

My only wish was for more gifted women to be on the docket from all faith communities, like Dr. Z. Alwani.

All agreed that Nostra Aetate was a breakthrough for Christian Jewish Muslim relations, and it set the blueprint from the work that lies ahead.   Watch for CUA webcasts and a publication of major addresses.

I also had the opportunity to attend portions of the remarkable Conference on Vatican II at Georgetown–also this week, to here notables like Cardinal Kasper, Dr. Sachedina and others address the ongoing legacy of the Decree on Ecumenism, Nostra Aetate, and other Vatican II documents.   Progress in the last 50 years has been significant, but much more work remains to be done.