In early June, Benedictine Sister of Perpetual Adoration Sarah Schwartzberg, OSB participated by Zoom in a meeting of former board members of the North American Commission for Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (MID).
The meeting was held at Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota, in order to revive the organization and activities of MID, which, for several reasons, had not been active over the last few years. The Secretary General of DIM-MID, Rev. Cyprian Consiglio, OSBCam, was also present.
Kusala Bhikshu, a Zen Buddhist monk from Los Angeles, was invited to speak to the participants by Zoom on the use of social media to promote interreligious dialogue. Rev. Kusala has a website (www.urbandharma.org), a Facebook page and a YouTube channel.
Brother Luke Devine, OSB, of Saint Martin’s Abbey in Lacey, Washington, and a former board member, spoke to the group about his Facebook page. Other topics included the possibility of webinars, the organizational structure of MID, and archives.
The members concluded with the hope that monastics might be models of dialogue and help heal the bitter and sometimes violent divisions in our society and throughout the world.
Dialogue Interreligieux Monastique / Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (DIM-MID) is an international monastic organization that promotes and supports dialogue between Christian monastics and followers of other religions.
In recent years, DIM-MID has broadened its
understanding of monastic interreligious dialogue to mean dialogue with other spiritual practitioners, including Muslims, about their religious experience and observances.
DIM-MID was established in 1978 within the Alliance for International Monasticism (AIM) and became an independent secretariat in 1994. It is comprised of European and North American sub-commissions for interreligious dialogue. In this country, the sub-commission was first
known as the North American Board for East-West Dialogue. Benedictine Sister of Perpetual Adoration Pascaline Coff, OSB, who died in 2021, took a leading role in its foundation and served as its first executive secretary. The Benedictine Sisters are happy that her legacy continues in this way.
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