By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
In a press conference on Friday, the head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture announced the launching of a new initiative aimed at introducing nonbelievers to God.
The Canadian Press is reporting that the outreach, dubbed “Courtyard of the Gentiles,” was announced at a press conference on Friday by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi. The Cardinal said the effort wasn’t aimed at converting atheists, but to open a two-way dialogue that might help remove confusion about God and tackle existential questions such as life, death, truth, love, good and evil.
Cardinal Ravasi also said they weren’t trying to engage the more “aggressive, polemical, ironic and sarcastic” atheists who show no interest in getting to know the unknown, such as the well-known Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, because he sees little opening for dialogue with them.
Instead, the panelists at the first event, which will be held in Paris on March 24-25, will include French intellectuals such as Axel Kahn and Julia Kristeva, as well as Pavel Fischer, former Czech ambassador to France.
The name “Courtyard of the Gentiles” was chosen for the outreach because it refers to the area in the ancient Temple of Jerusalem that was reserved for nonbelievers who wanted to learn about Judaism. The choice stems from comments made by Pope Benedict XVI after his visit to the highly atheist Czech Republic in 2009 in which he said the Catholic Church should open a new “Courtyard of the Gentiles” so nonbelievers could get to know God. Secular societies need a place “where men can in some way latch onto God, without knowing him and before they have gained access to his mystery, which is the inner life of the Church.”
He added: “To the dialogue with other religions we must add dialogue with those for whom religion is something unknown, for whom God is unknown and who nevertheless don’t want to remain without God but want to get closer to him at least as an unknown.”
The initiative is in keeping with the Pope’s oft-repeated desire to re-evangelize Europe during his pontificate.
The March 24-25 initiative will conclude with an evening youth festival outside Paris’ Notre Dame cathedral and a prayer service which will be open to nonbelievers.
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