Conference offers contemporary stories of holiness | News | Notre Dame News | University of Notre Dame Skip To Content Skip To Navigation Skip To Search University of Notre Dame Notre Dame News Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Home Contact Search Menu Home › News › Conference offers contemporary stories of holiness Conference offers contemporary stories of holiness Published: February 01, 2012 Author: Michael O. Garvey A conference at the University of Notre Dame next week (Feb. 5 to 8) will bring together Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs and Buddhists for four days to tell the stories of particularly admirable men and women from their respective faiths and traditions. “Stories of Practical Holiness: An Exercise in Interreligious Understanding,” convened by the Institute for Church Life (ICL), will include accounts of martyred Trappist monks; of the asceticism and enlightenment of Dharma masters, Buddhist nuns and Sikh luminaries; of reconciling Israeli Jews and dispossessed Palestinians; and of a contemporary Muslim religious healer. John C. Cavadini, McGrath-Cavadini Director of the ICL, said that the conference will present concrete examples of holiness from diverse faith traditions not only as a means of deepening interreligious understanding, but also to provide examples of how religious faith drives palpable and conspicuous acts of love, compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation in contemporary society. “Admiration is itself a kind of pedagogy,” Cavadini said. “We can look at and admire the lives and witnesses of holy men and women from diverse religious faiths without inviting a sort of religious relativism.” According to Cavadini, the interreligious dimension of the conference derives in large part from an insight expressed by Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth), in which the pope praised the martyrs and saints of the Catholic Church for their “eloquent and attractive example of a life completely transfigured by the splendor of moral truth,” and added that “in this witness to the absoluteness of the moral good Christians are not alone: They are supported by the moral sense present in peoples and by the great religious and sapiential traditions of East and West, from which the interior and mysterious workings of God’s Spirit are not absent.” Featured speakers at the conference include Dharma Master Hsin Tao; Bhai Sahib (Dr.) Bhai Mohinder Singh Ahluwalia; Rev. Armand Veilleux, O.C.S.O.; Abdolrahim Gavahi, Ph.D.; Dalia Landau; Khader Al-Kalak; and Yehezkel Landau. In addition to sharing stories at the conference, they will visit various Notre Dame theology classes and attend a prayer breakfast with religious leaders and members of the University community. Conference events are free and open to the public. “Stories of Practical Holiness” is sponsored by the ICL and the Fetzer Institute. Contact: Jennifer Monahan, assistant director, Institute for Church Life, 574-631-9195, Monahan.27@nd.edu Posted In: Faith Home Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Related October 03, 2022 dCEC to Award 2023 ND Evangelium Vitae Medal to Robert P. George September 22, 2022 In memoriam: Rev. Richard Warner, C.S.C., longtime leader for Notre Dame, Congregation of Holy Cross September 15, 2022 In new book on global Catholicism, Provost John McGreevy explores modern history, current challenges of the Church September 15, 2022 Death penalty abolitionist Sister Helen Prejean to speak at Notre Dame September 14, 2022 Apostolic nuncio to Great Britain to deliver the 2022 Keeley Vatican Lecture For the Media Contact Office of Public Affairs and Communications Notre Dame News 500 Grace Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Pinterest © 2022 University of Notre Dame Search Mobile App News Events Visit Accessibility Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn