Inter-Religious Dialogue

The Mission – Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges

The Vision – Enhancing Together as One Human community

The Pontifical Council for Inter Religious Dialogue (PCID) is dicastery (department) of the Roman Curia erected by Pope Paul VI on 19th May 1964 as the Secretariat for Non-Christian and renamed by Pope John Paul II on 28th June 1988.

The Inter Religious Dialogue (IRD) Cell at Orlem has been set up as per the guidelines of the Roman Catholic Church.  There is an entire background to the institution of the Inter Religious Dialogue, right from the Vatican. “Breaking barriers and Building bridges”, is our Christian calling in the common religion of Humanity. We and people of all faiths are entitled to the same dignity, which we need to respect. Hence, Dialogue becomes very important which also motivate us in understanding each other.

The IRD Cell was founded in March, 15th 2018 by Fr. Gilbert De Lima with 3 members who had just completed the BIRD [Basic in Inter Religious Dialogue] Course. Now, we are 14 Members with Fr. Ronny Vaz as our Spiritual Director.

Following are the goals:

• To promote mutual understanding, respect and collaboration between Catholics and the followers of other religions traditions.

• To encourage the study of world religions.

• To promote the formation of persons dedicated to inter faith dialogue.

The IRD at Orlem, engages in dialogue and activities with people of all faiths, including other Christian denominations.  The IRD team, organises the Christian Unity Week, National Festival – Independence and Republic Days, Iftar for the Muslims brothers, Panel and Group discussions on various topics in regards to “Peace and Harmony”, Meet and Greet during the festivals like Diwali, Eid, Guru Nanak Jayanti, etc.

The Team meets at least once a month. Parishioners are invited to join the IRD Cell and may contact Alexio Fernandes (98190 27823).

Priest-in-Charge: Fr. Ronny Vaz

Lay Co-ordinator: Alexio Fernandes