Zagreb, (IKA) – “God, the Lord of all the sciences, leads us by many paths to a deeper knowledge of ourselves. This in its own way led to culmination in the incarnation of His Son. Scientific subjects and every type of science and scholarship into which human souls attempt to penetrate must strive to find the truth and worship the true God. Therefore, today we invoke God’s blessing upon this center, devoted to research, study and the spread of the truth. We beseech God that all who assume the tasks concerning education here teach correctly and unite human wisdom to the truth of the gospel, safeguard this truth in their hearts and manifest it in their behavior and lives. We also invoke God’s blessings upon all those who will use this place to enrich themselves through knowledge and scholarship, both human and divine, and thus become qualified and prepared to educate and help their brothers and sisters” said Fr. Ljudevit Maračić, the Provincial of the Croatian Province of St. Jerome of the Franciscan Conventuals during the blessing of the Croatian Areopagus Center for Interreligious Dialogue on Sunday, October 31, on the fourth floor of the belfry of the Shrine of St. Anthony of Padua in Zagreb.
The blessing of the center was attended by representatives of the Jewish, Islamic and Buddhist religious communities, scientific and cultural institutions; various Catholic religious orders, institutions and organizations; as well as local persons.
The program continued at the monastery auditorium of St. Francis with lectures on the concept of inter-religious dialogue and the ecumenism of various religious communities: “The Spirit of Assisi” or the “Logic of Assisi” as Their Source of Prayer, the Psychopathology of the Sect Mentality and the Present Moment in Ecumenism.
The lectures were presented by Fr. Silvestro Bejan, Delegate General of the International Franciscan Center for Dialogue, CEFID, in Assisi; Shifu Žarko Andričević, the founder of the Buddhist Center of Zagreb and a teacher of Chan; Rabbi Luciano Moše Prelević of the Jewish Community of Zagreb, Melvudin ef. Arslani, Imam in the Islamic Center of Zagreb; Tomislav Kovač, M.S., and Dr. Jure Zečević of the Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb; Dr. Stipe Tadić of the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences; Dr. Vlado Jukić, Director of the Vrapče Psychiatric Hospital, and Fr. Josip Blažević, Ph.D, Director of the Croatian Areopagus Center.