Pope Appoints Bishop Tod Brown of Orange, CA, to Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue
WASHINGTON (March 16, 2001) -- Pope John Paul II has appointed Bishop Tod D. Brown of Orange, CA, to the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.
Bishop Brown, Chairman of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (BCEIA), is the second U.S. bishop to serve as a member of the Pontifical Council. Bishop Joseph Gerry, OSB, of Portland, ME, was appointed to the council in 1990 and served two five-year terms. Bishop Gerry has been Episcopal Moderator for Interreligious Relations since 1988 and is now Chairman of the BCEIA Subcommittee on Interreligious Dialogue.
The principal duties of members of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue are to report periodically on interreligious dialogues and relations, to attend plenary meetings which are held every three years, and to advise and review on particular topics, questions, and materials which the Pontifical Council brings to their attention. Currently the Pontifical Council is studying the topic of the spirituality of interreligious dialogue. The next plenary assembly is scheduled for November 2001.
"It's exciting and unexpected," Bishop Brown said of his appointment to the Pontifical Council. "I'm very grateful."
Bishop Brown has served as Chairman of the BCEIA since 1999. That same year he attended the Seventh World Assembly of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, in Amman, Jordan. His diocese is the co-host, with the Islamic Society of Orange County, of the West Coast Dialogue of Catholics and Muslims, one of three regional dialogues with Muslims which the National Conference of Catholic Bishops sponsors with Islamic organizations. In November 2000, Bishop Brown announced that on the advice of the members of the BCEIA, he was appointing a Subcommittee on Interreligious Dialogue.
Dr. John Borelli, Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, staffs NCCB-sponsored interreligious dialogues and relationships and has been a consultor to the Pontifical Council since 1990.