DIMMID

The origins of DIMMID go back to post World War II when communism was on the rise and many countries, especially in Africa, were becoming independent from their colonial powers, some of which had introduced and favoured Catholicism, which was now losing governmental support and competed with a reviving Islam.

Pope Pius XII was concerned about the situation of the Church and therefore launched a general call to mission in 1957 in his encyclical Fidei Donum which led to the formation of AIM (Aid for the Implementation of Monasticism).

This open approach predated the Second Vatican Council, which in its Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes in 1965 urged the Catholic community to acknowledge its solidarity with humankind and its history.

[2] The direction impetus for the foundation came through the letter of Cardinal Sergio Pignedoli, president of what has become the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, to the Benedictine Abbot Primate Rembert Weakland in 1974.

The next "East-West Spiritual Exchange", in which 17 monks and abbots went to Japan upon invitation of Reverend Hirata Seiko, the president of the Institute for Zen studies, proved crucial.

The participants recognised that in order for proper exchange and dialogue to occur, they had to enter their spirituality, make a serious attempt to understand it and appreciate their reasons for following the monastic way of life.

[16] Though the DIMMID has been sometimes suspected of syncretism and a relativistic attitude by fellow Benedictines, it has been supported by Catholic authorities since its inception and promotes an ecclesiastic consciousness based on an approach to hospitality that is shaped by the Gospel command to love each other unconditionally.

This bi-annual journal features contributions from spiritual practitioners and scholars of different religious traditions who wish to report, reflect on, and examine this form of interreligious dialogue.