Global Interfaith Conference—You Are Invited

Maria Grudzen – Kenya Chapter (virtual)

Three members of the Kenya Maryknoll Affiliate chapter are designing, developing, and implementing an upcoming Global Fratelli Tutti Conference: Building Human Solidarity in the Light of Pope Francis’ Encyclical, Fratelli Tutti. They are Father Joseph Healey, MM, on the faculty of Tangaza University in Nairobi, and Gerald and Marita Grudzen, based in San Jose, California.

The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns is a cosponsor, and Maryknoll Affiliate Executive Coordinator Bob Short encourages Affiliates to attend. The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue will feature a message for the conference from Pope Francis.

The free conference will be held August 19-21, 2021. See the announcement on YouTube at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8La7lHLQ7A

Three HUBs will conduct the conference, one for the Americas, an Africa HUB, and a Southeast Asia HUB. The international talks and workshops will focus on each region’s three major issues. The HUB of the Americas workshops include the Impact of the Coronavirus on the Health, Economy, and Politics of the global community; “The Cry of the Earth, The Cry of the Poor”;  and Racism and Building Human Solidarity in the US.

Keynote presenters include Father Patrick Ryan, SJ, Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University, and Hon. Edmund Gerald (Jerry) Brown, Jr., former governor of California. These presenters are developing ways to transcend many of the divisions that afflict the human community and our planet earth.

To help overcome the political populism and nationalism that often divide us and fail to adequately address our current issues, Fratelli Tutti provides a comprehensive prescription for many of these ailments.

People from diverse religious, cultural, and economic backgrounds will examine the types of community-building activities that have successfully applied the hopeful message of Fratelli Tutti. We will publish the outcomes and recommendations of this conference on the latest technological platforms.

For free registration, a page with conference details is on Global Ministries University’s HUB for the Americas:  www.globalministriesuniversity.org. Or contact Marita Grudzen, Secretariat of the conference, marita grudzen@gmail.com, to register for all or part of the conference.

NOTE: This article was published in the July/August 2021 issue of Not So Far Afield.