Fr. Jim Puglisi, SA, Director of the Centro Pro Unione (Center for Unity), the Friars ecumenical research and action center located in Rome, Italy, is preparing for the graduate program that the Center hosts each summer. This three-week program introduces participants to the ecumenical and interreligious movements from a Catholic perspective. It offers a historical and theological overview of the issues that divide Christians as well as the bonds that unite them.
Fr. Jim shares that “the overall goal of the program is to provide information about the Catholic church’s engagement in the promoting of Christian unity and its interreligious efforts for building peace and maintaining a sustainable environment.”
Participants this year come from as far away as Indonesia and as near as Albania and Turkey. Students will engage in classes in the mornings, including Ecumenical Theology with Fr. Jim Puglisi, SA, as well as lectures with Fr. Jim Loughran, SA, and excursions in the afternoon, including the catacombs, St. Peter’s, the Roman “ghetto”, a synagogue, mosque, and more. This unique mix of academic lectures and sightseeing will give participants theological and practical insight into the ecumenical and interfaith movements.
The course is recognized and endorsed by the Graduate Theological Foundation. Students can earn up to six graduate credit hours as approved by their institution. The faculty are experts in Catholic theology, as well as interreligious issues and examine both current trends and historical events that drive both the ecumenical and interreligious religious dialogues.