Who We Are:

           

           

Abbot James Wiseman, OSB - director emeritus

           

   

click on the image for a larger view

           

           

As an emeritus director of MID, I continue to be involved in interreligious dialogue activities, especially at St. Anselm’s Abbey in Washington, DC, where I have been serving as abbot since June, 2011. 

 

We have an annual symposium to which religious leaders from all major religious traditions are invited.  In the spring of 2016, our symposium was on “Radicalization and Reconciliation in God’s Name:  An Interfaith Inquiry,” with panelists representing the Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities, each of them addressing the causes of religion-inspired violence and possible remedies.  About a hundred persons were in attendance. 

Our next symposium in March, 2017, had a different format:  Instead of a panel, with a great many persons listening, we invited only about twenty-five persons so that everyone in attendance would have an opportunity to speak.  There were again representatives of all major traditions, plus some from the worlds of government and NGOs, all reflecting on the causes of the stark divisions so evident in our country today and what we can do to promote healing. 

We are now busy planning for our next symposium, to be held in the spring of 2018 on the practice of meditation and its importance for people today.

In addition to chairing the planning committee for all such symposia, I continue to serve as one of the directors for DIMMID.  My role there primarily involves giving advice to its secretary general, Fr. William Skudlarek, OSB, regarding manuscripts that should be vetted for possible inclusion in the journal Dilatato Corde.