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Deepening Faith through Ministering in the field of interreligious dialogue is one of hundreds of ways in which Medical Mission Sisters around the world try to be a healing presence to those in need today. "Interreligious dialogue is one of the 6 major challenges in mission in the U.S. today," says Sister Maria Hornung, whose book on the subject will be published next year by Paulist Press. She cites Pope John Paul II, the first Pope to enter a synagogue and a mosque, as an example of interreligious engagement for our times. "One of the great challenges facing Earth's many religions is how to preserve and cherish unique religious and cultural heritages, and at the same time to reverse the tendency for differences among them to become sources of intolerance, discrimination, division and conflict," she explains. Sister Maria has a Master's Degree in Religion, with a Focus on Interreligious Dialogue, from Temple University. She works 2 ½ days each week as Coordinator of Interfaith Education at the Interfaith Center of Philadelphia. With input from the Center's board, she has developed a manual, "Deepening Faith Through Interreligious Engagement," which she uses to conduct seminars and adult discussion groups. "Sometimes my work is on site - at a congregation - and sometimes it's meeting people from different faith traditions who want to set up a specific program," Sister Maria says. "The other part is developing resources." She presented the manual and spoke about her book at the National Workshop for Christian Unity in May, in San Jose. Sister Maria also serves as Coordinator of our Lifewright program, which offers retreat and renewal programs to Medical Mission Sisters. "I introduce Sisters from overseas or who are on renewal to the manual. By now, it has been taken to 8 different countries." In addition, she is a former chair and current facilitator of Olney Clergy, an interfaith group of 16-18 clergy that meets monthly in her Philadelphia neighborhood. "In my encounters with peoples of many countries, cultures and religions…I have met God in many places and under many guises," she says. "Interreligious dialogue has become a passion with me."
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