Cardinal advocates advantages of well-informed faith

by Tom Gallagher

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Carol Glatz of the Catholic News Service does the U.S. church a great service by interviewing Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture. I don't know anything about Cardinal Ravasi, but based on this interview alone, I like him a lot.

When one compares Cardinal Ravasi's approach to evangelization and engagement of the broader world and compare it to the nastiness coming out of the vocal Republican bishops and their Republican staff at the U.S bishops conference, the differences are severe and remarkable.

It begs the question: If the U.S. bishops took Cardinal Ravasi's approach to engaging the broader world, what would the bishops do with all the hammers? [Hint: Turn them into plowshares]

Here's a quote from the story:

It's a shaky or fundamentalist grasp of faith that sparks suspicion or fear of the other, said Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture. The cardinal spearheads and coordinates the "Courtyard of the Gentiles" project, which seeks to promote discussions between Christians and nonbelievers on themes as diverse as art, spirituality and bioethics.

"Oftentimes this fear (of dialogue) stems from the fact that the person doesn't feel capable of defending or justifying his own reasons, hence he doesn't want to listen to the other," he told Catholic News Service.

Here's another quote:

An obstinate fundamentalist attitude, open hostility or blatant indifference are recipes for failure no matter how famous or accomplished the expert, he said.

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