All in Good Faith

Author(s): Jean Potter, Marcus Braybrooke
Publisher: World Congress of Faiths

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Development of Interfaith Prayer and the Discussion
Sharing Worship: Communicatio in Sacris
The most comprehensive discussion of the subject of multi-faith prayer is Sharing Worship: Communicatio in Sacris, edited by Paul Puthanangady. This was the fruit of a Research Seminar held at Bangalore, India from 20-25 January 1988 in which about forty scholars, mostly Indian Roman Catholics, participated. The book deals with Christian participation in the rituals of other faiths, the participation of both members of other faiths and of non-Catholic Christians in Christian rituals and the possibility of shared or interfaith prayer.
The keynote address was given by Fr D D Amalorpavadass, who was the founder of the National Biblical, Catechetical and Liturgical Centre [NBCLC] at Bangalore. He distinguished two approaches, the secular and the spiritual. The term secular in India does not imply irreligious nor antireligious attitudes. The Indian constitution is secular in the positive sense that all religions are treated equally and guaranteed freedom. Religious differences, however, have been exploited by some politicians so as to become a threat to national unity. Common worship may therefore serve as an antidote to communalism and reinforce the traditional Indian attitude of tolerance. Further it can serve to affirm human dignity and also offer a vision of a new society for which all can work together.
The second approach makes spirituality or religious experience the meeting point. This is because the 'deepest level of every religion is religious experience' (25). This, Fr Amalorpavadass suggests, is the authentic meeting point between India and Christianity, 'because the core of Christianity is mystical union and the core of India is God-experience (26). Sharing in each other's worship is possible because of three characteristics of spiritual experience. First, God transcends any name or form; second, spiritual experience is ineffable and cannot be communicated; third, spiritual experience is a journey to the 'further shore' and inter-religious dialogue is also a pilgrimage. There can, Fr Amalorpavadass says, be 'a common worship corresponding to each stage reached together by the interlocutors of dialogue'. The form of such common worship thus depends on the depth at which members of different faiths are meeting. Although religions differ in creeds, doctrinal formulations and rites, they 'converge at the core level of religious experience and mysticism ..... so common worship can be a means for and an expression of authentic God-experience' (27).
The emphasis on mystical or spiritual experience which transcends the particularity of one religion is voiced by several other writers. Fr Gregory D'Souza from Mysore, concluded his paper with these words: 'Although religions are diverse with much difference as regards
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