Fr. John McNerney, the Michael Novak Distinguished Scholar in the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship, took part in an interfaith reading of the Pope Francis' latest encyclical, Fratelli Tutti. Pope Francis highlights how, in economic and political frameworks, the often-forgotten dimension is ‘fraternity.’
Panelists for the webinar were:
- Rabbi Burton L. Visotzky, Ph.D., director of the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue and
of the Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary in
New York - Imām Tariq I. El-Amin, resident Imām of the Masjid Al-Taqwa in Chicago
- Rev. John McNerney, Ph.D., the Michael Novak Distinguished Scholar at the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship in the Catholic University of America.
The session allowed for an enriching exchange between these Jewish,Muslim and Christian scholars responding to the invitation set out in the encyclical "so that we may overcome our differences rooted in political thinking, language, culture and religion."
Fr. John McNerney shared insights into how a clear emphasis in the encyclical is on ‘being’ and becoming a neighbor. He said it turns out to be "a way of life and not a theory about a theory... In living this relational reality we become who we are as human persons. Fraternity is nowhere actually defined [in the document]. It cannot be and to try and demarcate who the ‘other’ is, is a failure to fully realize the actual mystery of the human being before us. All too often we dress others up in the frayed clothing of our own ideas and judgments. And so we don’t allow the truth of who they are to shine through."
Watch the webinar below.