Religious, Secular & Spirituality Dialogue

New! Essay by Fr. Carl Chudy, In Between Religion, Secularity, and Spiritualities: Toward Postsecular Catholicism

**Sacred Secular Dialogue on** **Facebook** **and** **Twitter**

Passing on our Faith to our Kids Who don’t Want it

Our parishes and families are deeply affected over sweeping changes happening in the practice of the Catholic faith. Large numbers of young people are leaving the Church, many are disconnecting from any form of institutional religion, and in some cases, in belief in God.

Young and older are seeking meaning, community, and inspiration in a society where religious affiliation is declining and new forms of social engagement are rising. How can we as Catholics understand more deeply what is going on, and how do we respond? How do we pass on our faith tradition to a new generation?

In September 2018, Fr. Carl Chudy presented in a workshop looking at the departure of many of our young people, not only from the Church, but they are leaving any semblance of institutional religion behind. Watch the videos on why this is happening and click the share folder link to access all of the resources used in the workshop.

NEW Share Folder of the workshop: Passing on our Faith to our Kids who don’t Want it: Click to have access to notes and videos of the event.

Going, Going, Gone: The Dynamics of Disaffiliation in Young Catholics

Saint Mary’s Press recently conducted extensive research with young Catholics who have left the Church through the National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministers. This session will identify the underlying dynamics that lead to disaffiliation, describe the factors that reinforce those dynamics, and examine the implications for parish life, vocational discernment, and pastoral ministry. And we will also propose pastoral strategies that enhance affiliation and engagement with the faith community.

The Xaverian Missionaries is involved in dialogue with secular culture in our Common Ground Project, seeing all the ways the Church can meaningfully connect with the world around us in honest, and sincere ways to to love one another.

Bob McCarty Talks about Why Disaffiliated Youth Are a Grace and Gift to the Church

See the Webinar Here

Check out St. Mary’s Blog on the disaffiliation of our young people from Church

Including the Nonreligious in Interfaith Conversations

Common Ground Project

The Xaverian Missionaries began a project of dialogue and engagement with atheists, secular humanists and the unaffiliated through a project we called COMMON GROUND in 2012, in partnership with our brothers the United Kingdom. We encourage you to explore these links and join in on the conversation as we learn to enlarge our Catholic embrace.

The first reason is to explore new opportunities of the 21st century to live out the “mission ad gentes” of the Church that binds us as Catholics to all those who believe differently than us. This relationship is an important place where we share the love of Christ.
Second, in the western world, the gulf felt between people of faith and secular culture is a not so new periphery of the Church that demands encounter, study, and the application of the Gospel in the spirit of dialogue, love, and bridge building.
Secular culture applies to persons who are atheists, secular humanists, the unaffiliated (those who left religion behind), seekers, agnostics and others who do not believe in God or hold to any particular religious institution.

Catholics and Our Secular Friends

The concern of the Church to understand more deeply secular culture and the dialogue we must have is rooted in the spirit of Vatican II.

Pope Paul VI, who closed Vatican II and launched the Church into a new future, wrote in his first encyclical in 1964, Ecclesium Suam: “God Himself took the initiative in the dialogue of salvation. “He first loved us.” We, therefore, must be the first to ask for a dialogue with others (men), without waiting to be summoned to it by others.” (72) Read too 70-85.
- The Pope established the Secretariat for Non-Believers in 1965 as a focal point for the dialogue with people of goodwill who profess no specific religion or religious belief.
- The first guideline of religious/secular dialogue was released in 1968 entitled, DIALOGUE WITH NON-BELIEVERS through Cardinal Francis Konig, President of the Secretariat.
St. Pope John Paul II changed the Secretariat to the Pontifical Council of Culture on 20 May 1982 with the aim of establishing dialogue between the Church and the cultures of our time. The new opportunities of mission lie in our cultural and religious diversity.
Pope Benedict XVI instituted, through this Council, the Courtyard of the Gentiles to create international conferences for interaction “with those to whom religion is something foreign, to whom God is unknown.
Pope Francis, in his first encyclical, Joy of the Gospel, says: “As believers, we also feel close to those who do not consider themselves part of any religious tradition, …We consider them as precious allies in the commitment to defending human dignity, in building peaceful coexistence between peoples and in protecting creation.” (257)

Common Ground: Conversations between Atheists, Religious Believers & Secular Humanists

A) 2013 Conference of Religious and Non-Religious: Coatbridge, Scotland

The Xaverian Missionaries of the USA and the United Kingdom collaborated together with Interfaith Scotland, the British Humanist Association and the Scottish Humanist Association to hold the first international conference of dialogue between humanists, atheists, and religious believers.
A journal called COMMON GROUND is a compilation of talks and reactions from both secularists and people of faith from the conference, easily accessible to any device. Get your copy at these fine publishers: Amazon Kindle Books ♦ Apple Ibooks ♦ Barnes & Nobles ♦ Kobo ♦ Scribd
The conversation continues on the Twitter Feed and our CG Facebook group. Join in.
Here are some pictures of that event that took place at our dialogue center, Conforti Institute in Coatbridge, Scotland. One evening a panel presentation and discussion was held at the Scottish House of Parliament.

B) 2015 Conference of Religious and Non-Religious @ Rutgers University

In 2015, together with the American Humanist Association and Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, we organized another dialogue conference entitled COMMON GROUND 2015, bringing together more than 120 religious and non-religious students, leaders, scholars, and pastoral agents to dialogue around meaning in life, ethics and values, and secular and religious communities in action toward charity and justice.
See pictures and videos of the main conference engagements. Click the left upper corner icon for a list of all of the videos.

C) Meetup Monthly Gatherings in New Jersey and Massachusetts

We began monthly encounters which continue through local “meetup” gatherings. If you are near one of our houses in New Jersey or Massachusetts, join us.

D) Common Ground Blogging Network

We are reflecting and writing on these ongoing experiences through two blogs, our own, Catholic Global Mission, and a non-religious blog on patheos.com called Secular Spectrum, probably the largest online interfaith conversation. More will be added over time, check back often.

Catholic Global Mission (Official blog of the Xaverian Missionaries USA)

Secular Spectrum (Non-religious blog featured in one of the largest online interfaith conversations, patheos.com)

E) Essays & Articles from the Xaverian Missionaries

F) Resources

In our study, we share with you books that are part of a larger community of study and dialogue. Some are academic, others more easily accessible. They are a good place to start if you want to explore this unique dialogue.