In a time of racial and religious prejudice and disconnection, where religion is often used to exclude rather than unite, what role can Catholicism and interfaith leadership play in healing the world?
This was the challenge posed by renowned US theologian and Catholic priest, Fr Professor Leo Lefebure at a public lecture on Thursday 26 June 2025 at the Bishop Bede Heather Centre in Blacktown.
Hosted by the Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations and supported by the Diocesan Interfaith Commission, the event drew a diverse audience and featured Professor Leo’s powerful vision of how faith traditions can become bridges of encounter, healing and hope in today’s fractured world.
Fr Dr Patrick McInerney, Director of the Columban Centre, introduced Fr Professor Lefebure, commenting on Fr Professor Leo’s “breadth and depth and reach of his knowledge and experience in world religions and interfaith relations” and his ability to “trace things back to their roots and bring them forward to the present moment”.
The crises we face
Fr Professor Leo addressed what he described as a dual crisis – the misuse of religion in politics and a global ecological emergency.
“In a number of contexts around the globe… religious leaders have powerfully shaped political and cultural life by constructing or encouraging toxic forms of ethnic or racialised religious identity that support the dominance of one group over others.”
He added, “Now, reciprocally, some political and cultural leaders have sought to harness religious differences in order to foster a sense of oppression…”
“Today, in my country, the United States of America, we see a resurgence of white racist Christian nationalism that prizes white Christians as the true citizens of America and looks down on persons of colour and those who are not Christian.”
In such cases, he warned, “the religious, the cultural, the political, can hardly be distinguished”.
On the environmental front, Fr Professor Leo spoke of the “ecological situation”, driven by what Pope Francis calls the “technocratic paradigm” – valuing all human activity by its profitability.
“To a large degree, the development of contemporary politics and culture has relied on the unlimited exploitation of natural resources with a reckless fervour…” he said.
“Some Christian leaders have proposed strongly anthropocentric visions of creation … interpreting the creation narratives in the book of Genesis as authorising humans to dominate and subdue the rest of creation for their own purposes, seemingly without limit.”
Fr Professor Leo affirmed Pope Francis’s rejection of such views. “He decried the role of technocracy in our world and held up the example of Francis of Assisi as a patron of ecology.”
“If we are truly concerned to develop an ecology capable of remedying the damage we have done, no branch of the sciences and no form of wisdom can be left out, and that includes religion and the language… That’s the challenge Pope Francis gave us in Laudato Si’.”
He concluded, “Because the challenges are global, the responses must be global.”
Five areas for encounter
In response to these global challenges, Fr Professor Leo proposed five areas for building interreligious encounter: aesthetics, academic sharing, spiritual encounter, concern for the world, and friendship.
On aesthetics, he said, “Art, music and literature can express with revolutionary power the suffering of the marginalised, and it can invite empathy, compassion, solidarity with them.”
He shared how Whirling Dervishes – members of a Sufi Muslim tradition known for their spinning dance as a form of prayer – once performed in a Washington synagogue during an interfaith concert.
“My Muslim friends told me this is the first time in history that Whirling Dervishes have danced in a synagogue… it’s certainly distinctive.”
Academic life, he noted, can be a “battleground” where national, ethnic, religious and individual egos clash.
“It can also be a grace-filled exploration of the wonders of a world open to transcendence and the sacred.”
He emphasised the need for genuine spiritual encounter, noting, “All of Christian life is subject to distortion… the Catholic Church has a conflicted history.”
Recalling Pope St John Paul II’s 1986 invitation to religious leaders to pray for peace in Assisi, he said, “He acknowledged that we need to ask forgiveness for the sins that earlier generations of Catholics have committed against followers of other traditions.”
On shared concern for the world, Fr Professor Leo reflected on Pope Benedict XV, who gave away all the money of the Holy See during World War I.
“He didn’t care if you were Jewish or Muslim or Eastern Orthodox or Catholic.”
As a result, a statue was erected in Istanbul bearing the inscription: ‘To the great Pope of the world’s tragic hour, Benedict XV, benefactor of all people, without discrimination of nationality or religion, from a grateful Orient, 1914–1918.’
“Now, give me a break. Sultans don’t set up statues to popes.”
Finally, on friendship, he said technocracy values all relationships by their profitability.
“One of the greatest losses in technocratic paradigms is that there’s no room for a genuine friendship.”
He cited Pope Paul VI’s words at the close of Vatican II, when he said, “We must come together with our hearts in mutual understanding, esteem and love.”
About Fr Professor Leo
Fr Professor Leo is a Catholic priest from the Archdiocese of Chicago and a leading scholar in world religions and interreligious dialogue. He holds the Matteo Ricci Chair of Theology at Georgetown University and is the author of Transforming Interreligious Relations, among other works. He currently serves in several international interfaith roles and is a research fellow at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
This event aligns with the Diocesan Pastoral Plan priorities of Mission and Listening, Dialogue and Discernment – as we strive to build a listening, welcoming and inclusive Church.
Learn more about the Diocesan Interfaith Commission and Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations at Bishop Bede Heather Centre, Blacktown.
Watch the YouTube video of Fr Professor Leo’s lecture.
