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February 14, 2025Interview to Father Stefano Luca*, OFMCap on the first edition of the “Training and Exchanges in the Context of the Human Fraternity Document and its Receptions” 8-12 February 2025.
*Father Stefano Luca is the Director of the Interfaith and Ecumenical Dialogue Office of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia and Rector of St. Francis Church at the Abrahamic Family House, Abu Dhabi.
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The first edition of the “Training and Exchanges in the context of the Human Fraternity Document and its Receptions” just finished. What is this program about?
It’s a one-week training designed for delegates from Episcopal Conferences that work in the interreligious and ecumenical dialogue field in order to deepen and experience the Catholic theological understanding of the Human Fraternity Document, and its best receptions implemented in St. Francis Church - Abrahamic Family House, in the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia and in the UAE’s vision for Interfaith Dialogue and Peaceful Coexistence.
How this idea came about?
Before I came to the vicariate of Southern Arabia at the request of the Apostolic Vicar, Bishop Paolo Martinelli OFMCap., to open and direct the Interfaith and Ecumenical Dialogue Office and to work in St. Francis Church at the Abrahamic Family House, I served for five years as a consultor for the Italian Bishops’ Conference for the dialogue with Muslims. During those years I developed a deep friendship with the director of that Italian Office for Dialogue, Father Giuliano Savina. Once I moved in the Gulf region and was appointed Director of the Office of Dialogue and Rector of St. Francis Church at the Abrahamic Family House, I immediately thought how wonderful it could have been to share with those who work as regional delegates for ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, the very unique situation that we are experiencing here, in the Emirates in general and in particular in the Abrahamic Family House. The path of coexistence and the culture of dialogue that we are implementing here, is something truly unique. So, I immediately thought to propose a training to the Office of Father Giuliano.
Who are the partners in this training?
First and foremost, St. Francis of Assisi Church in Abrahamic Family House. In fact, because one of the ultimate goals of the pastoral work of St. Francis Church is to promote a culture of dialogue and to implement the Catholic understanding of the Human Fraternity Document, it was already part of the vision of St. Francis Church to promote and sustain this program. St. Francis Church activated then a collaboration with the Interfaith and Ecumenical Dialogue Office of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia (AVOSA) and with the Ecumenical and Interreligious dialogue Office of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI). These three entities are partners for our program called “Training and Exchanges in the Context of the Human Fraternity Document and its Receptions”.
Concretely, when did the program take place and how did it work?
After many months of planning, we launched the initiative this February 2025, from the 8th to the 12th, with a very effective interreligious dialogue methodology: half-day training session at St. Francis Church, followed by half-day of visit of religious sites in order to gain insights from different religions present in the UAE. This enables delegates to acquire theoretical knowledge and to experience on-the-ground examples of best practices in terms of coexistence and dialogue.
How many people were involved?
15 Regional delegates from 11 ecclesiastical regions of the Italian Bishops’ Conference attended the program, along with 5 Delegates of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia that are part of three offices: Christian Formation, School Management, and Interfaith and Ecumenical Dialogue. Throughout the formation we had experts and theologians that came to give their contributions, and we had the privilege to engage several in-deep dialogues with the Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia, H.E. Bishop Paolo Martinelli, and the President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference Commission for Ecumenism and Dialogue, H.E. Bishop Derio Olivero.
Can you share with us some content of the discussions you had?
Sure, we first compared the pastoral care of dialogue of the two Offices, the Vicariate’s and the Italian one, so to have clear understanding of the goals and the theological perspective of the two Offices. We also had a very meaningful reflection on how the migration phenomenon is re-shaping the Church’s face, we deepened the Mediterranean Theology Manifesto and the unique situation of the Church in the Vicariate (all the faithful and all the clergy, we are migrants from more than 100 nationalities). We discovered the history of the Catholic Church in the Region, and we reflected on the new frontier of the Interfaith Dialogue: what I call “Theology of Differences”. We had a special day dedicated to Ecumenism where, thanks to the intervention of H.E. Archbishop Mesrob Sarkissian, from the Armenian Orthodox Church, we discovered the ecumenical movement in the Gulf Region and the ecumenical network called “Gulf Churches Fellowship”. Also, we officially met with the Executive Director and the head of the Religious Affairs Office of the Abrahamic Family House. This was a very good chance to better understand the vision of the UAE’s peaceful coexistence and interreligious dialogue work.
You said that the program was divided in half-day theoretical training at the Abrahamic Family House and half-day of religious sites visit, right? Can you tell us the places and persons you visited?
The program was quite intense, we visited a lot of religious places and met with lots of religious leaders. For the religious places, first of all, the Abrahamic Family House facility with St. Francis Church, Moses Maimonides Synagogue, His Eminence Ahmed al-Tayeb Mosque and of course the Forum for dialogue activities; but we also went to a Sikh temple, a couple of Hindu temples, a Greek Orthodox Church, a Coptic Church, an Anglican Church, and to Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque of Abu Dhabi. In all these religious sites, we met religious leaders, and we had the possibility to have interfaith dialogue sessions with them and we learnt about the model of peaceful coexistence implemented in the UAE.
A very important session of the program was the one of the Sunday morning. We entirely dedicated that morning to discover the Catholic presence and life of the Vicariate. We brought the delegates to St. Joseph Catholic Church – that is the Cathedral – and allow them to immerse themselves in catechism classes, Masses for kids and adults. Delegates were amazed not just by the number of faithful (let us keep in mind that more than 25.000 hosts are distributed during Sunday Masses that are celebrated here throughout the week-end, Saturday and Sunday), but most importantly they were impressed and edified by the joy, enthusiasm, devotion, and faith of the faithful and the kids during their participation in the catechism classes and Masses as well.
What makes this program valuable? What impact does it have?
In this regard, I believe that what was said by H.E. Bishop Paolo Martinelli, H.E. Bishop Derio Olivero, and Father Giuliano Savina at the end of the training is a perfect sum-up:
Msgr. Olivero shared: “To be here in Abu Dhabi and particularly in the Abrahamic Family House is to be inside a dream becoming reality. I think it is important for all of us to be here because it is to see that it is possible to believe that religions can become a leaven of fraternity and that religions can coexist with a common desire: to be in the public space together to be a seed of social cohesion. It’s a beautiful dream. We want to bring it home, back to Italy.”
Msgr. Martinelli stated: “These are precious days for us as Church in the Gulf, as Apostolic Vicariate. These are moments of exchange, of encounter, of mutual account, of sharing experiences. We are enriched in hearing about the experiences of those in Italy who are responsible for promoting interreligious and ecumenical dialogue, and on the other hand it is very interesting for us to be able to share the experiences that we have been having for some time now in this part of the world”.
Father Giuliano said: “I really feel like this training is a fundamental sign of how important the Human Fraternity Document is, not only for Christian churches but for all of humanity. Being here is already a sign of the reception of this document”.
What is the next step?
There are two prospectives: the first is for the Italian Delegates and the second is for us here in the Vicariate and in St. Francis Church at the Abrahamic Family House.
For the Italian situation, Bishop Olivero believes it will be important to narrate about this training to all the Italian bishops during the next Italian Episcopal Assembly, which will be dedicated precisely to the theme of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue. Msgr. Olivero wants to communicate to them that it is indeed possible to have a different view of how “to be Church”, on how “to be a Church of dialogue” and on how all this can be important for Italian society”.
For our Vicariate and for the ministry we are doing within the Abrahamic Family House, our next step will be to invite other Bishops’ conferences to send their delegates here to take part in our training. We want them to share experiences and, above all, improve their skills in interreligious and ecumenical dialogue. This will put the Human Fraternity Document into action and ultimately will show how interreligious dialogue is essentially part of our faith. Our training helps to recognize differences, to welcome and accept them without overcoming them. In fact, it celebrates – as pope Francis said – unity in difference, unity, not uniformity, unity in difference in order to say to the communities and societies in which we live that the time of fraternity has arrived. Walking together is the best way to show the world that life without God makes us inhuman.
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