Margaret Beaufort Institute in new Catholic collaboration between England and Hong Kong

Source: MBIT

Inspired especially by Pope Francis' encyclical on human dialogue, Fratelli Tutti, the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology in Cambridge and the Yuan Dao Study Society of Hong Kong are launching their second year of collaborative seminars, represented by Rev Peter Choy, Dr Christine Lai and Fr Dominic White OP.

Aimed at overcoming mutual mistrust between the Church and the world and between traditional Chinese philosophy and Christianity, we address a wide variety of topic. Under the theme of Living out our tradition in contemporary world: inter-religious and intercultural dialogue, we have examined variously music and cosmology; music and mission; interfaith spiritual care; the relationship between realities and ideas in church-state relations; and what we mean by understanding of enhanced self learning (without the hyphen!) according to the Catholic philosopher Bernard Lonergan. This term we are looking at the Spirituality of severely disabled children and Spirituality of Integral Human Development and Ageing.

The collaborating institutions are well suited to this work of inter-religious and intercultural dialogue. The Margaret Beaufort Institute is a Catholic Institute in the heart of Cambridge and part of the Cambridge Theological Federation, resourcing people theologically both within and outside of the Catholic tradition, with a strong emphasis on spirituality, ethics and pastoral care and seeking to meet and address twenty-first century global needs, especially the resourcing of women, through a strong community life open to all. It is in fact thanks to our strong community life that Christine Lai and Fr Dominic were able to meet as Research Associates of Margaret Beaufort and begin our collaboration.

Yuan Dao Study Society is an association of priests and the laity accredited to the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong aiming at fostering the exchange of intercultural and interfaith knowledge and ideas through local and international seminars and conferences like Christianity and the Chinese Society; Catholicism and Localization of Dialogue and Responsibility. Translation and publishing work include Catholic Studies including Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, Research Series and Translate Series (Chinese translation of non-Chinese books).

Covid has of course been a massive problem for universities, but also an opportunity - Zoom meetings naturally enable people to join in the discussion from all over the world, so come and join in the dialogue, wherever you are! And all webinars are free of charge, though we also welcome donations.

For more information and to participate in a seminar, please contact Fr Dominic White OP at: dpw12@mbit.cam.ac.uk

LINKS

Margaret Beaufort Institute - www.mbit.cam.ac.uk/

Yuan Dao Study Society - https://yuandaohk.org/