Rome Ecumenism Course 2023

  Santa Maria in Tranpontina My final day in Rome was made extra special as there was an event to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This is my “Saint Day” or in Italian “Onomastico”. Traditionally in the Italian culture a feast day is commemorated with a special meal and perhaps even a small gift, similar to a birthday. Each calendar day has multiple saints assigned, as the Church has far more than 365 saints. The feast day can be selected based on the death of the saint, when that is unknown a day is selected by the Church, as is the case with St. John Paul. His feast day is observed on October 22, which is the day of his Papal Inauguration, rather than the day of his death, April 2, which can fall during the season of Lent. Alter of Santa Maria in Tranpontina Some saints will have a novena prayed in the nine days leading up to their feast day. This is the case for Our Lady of Mount Carmel. In preparation for the observance petitions are made to the saint asking them

       During my last week in Rome, I had the honour of entering both a synagogue and a mosque for the first time in my life. After visiting what seemed like a million churches in Rome and, (as a Roman Catholic), loving every one of them, it was a nice way to end off the interreligious dialogue component of our course.     The synagogue is located in the old Jewish ghetto of Rome. It is in this area that Jews were forced to live and had many restrictions put upon them in the past. Our visit included the museum under the synagogue where we saw a copy of the declaration that announced forming the State of Israel. The Great Synagogue of Rome A picture I took of the beautiful square dome inside the Synagogue Declaration of the State of Israel           Our friend and classmate Oded, who was born and grew up in Tel Aviv, Israel, drew my attention to an extraordinary black and white photo of crowds of Jews in Rome celebrating this declaration beneath the Arch of Titus. This was historic sin

On Tuesday, when I was still feeling spiritually buoyed by my trip to Assisi, our group visited the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. This was not part of the Il Centro Pro Unione’s program but was a special excursion organized by our professor Mike Attridge, who went out of his way, pulling an untold number of strings to organize extra experiential learning occasions for us. I was especially delighted to be able to visit this dicastery because among its responsibilities is the promotion of the care of Creation, integral ecology and the teachings of Laudato Si’ . In terms of the Catholic Church’s embrace of ecological spirituality, thought and action, this dicastery is where the rubber hits the road! While we were there, I had the appearance of polite academic interest on the outside, but inside I felt like a fan girl who had just been invited backstage at a rock concert. In its care of Creation portfolio, this dicastery is focused on turning Catholic Social Teaching

Over the past two weeks we have visited three of the sixteen Dicastery Offices. Until coming to Rome I had little understanding of what a Dicastery Office was or what they did. In the past the Offices went by other names such as Pontifical Office or Secretariat, so this may contribute to why they are not in our regular vocabulary. Follow this link to find the Vatican Web page with the sixteen Dicastery Offices listed, with links to their work:  https://www.vatican.va/content/romancuria/en.html These Offices can be viewed as part of the Roman Curia or administrative offices of the Vatican. Staffed largely by priests (although I did see a few names of religious sisters and lay women), they complete the work of the Vatican office, aiding the Pope in his mission, serving both the Pope and the universal church.   The office is led by a prefect, and then supported by a secretary and under-secretary. They put in motion, share information, express opinions on Vatican related matters. No offi

In the 17 th  century it was common for the pope to place a nephew in a key administrative role, for self-preservation.  Thus in 1605, at the age of 28, Scipione Borghese was made cardinal and papal secretary, head of the Roman Curia, by his uncle Pope Paul V, making Scipione the second most powerful person in the country.  Cardinal Scipione purchased a property in the north of Rome and began acquiring ancient Roman and contemporary Italian art.  The villa and its beautiful grounds were never a residence, only ever a gallery and conservatory. Cardinal Scipione became the patron of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, providing Bernini with the opportunity to cement his legacy as perhaps the best sculptor to have ever lived.  Though several pieces of furniture and adornment were sold off by the Borghese family in the 19 th  century to address fiscal problems, those have been replaced with copies, and the most famous and significant pieces of the original collection remain in this palace ga

 Our Lady! So much to learn from! If someone offers you something you have no clue about, do you say yes right away or “no thank you?” Dialogue to me has been, not only talking to the other person; but most importantly, what is my position at that point in time? What’s going on inside of me, am I able to be present in the conversation, am I able to get curious, ask questions, rather than judge, or say no, immediately? The thing about dialogue is it’s relational. It makes it very hard not to judge or look at (or look to) the other person; therefore, it innately possesses a challenge to look internally within oneself. Bishop Farrell and Monsignor Indunil made it clear that we need to know our own identity before we can start a dialogue with the other. Many friends posted about their visits to Assisi. Similarly, this altar where St. Francis of Assisi prayed struck me the most. I felt a sense of peace entering this sanctuary. In the centre of this sanctuary is a sculpture of St. Jo