In recent days, the new academic year of the “San Francesco de Sales” Higher Institute of Religious Sciences was inaugurated, in the presence of the academic authorities, the student component, the civil authorities such as the chief prosecutor of Cosenza, Vincenzo Capomolla, the vice mayor of the municipality of Rende, Fabio Liparoti, the bishop emeritus of San Marco Argentano-Scalea, mons. Leonardo Bonanno, the vicar general of the diocese of San Marco Argentano-Scalea, mons. Salvatore Vergara, the president of the BCC mediocrati, Paldino.
In the institutional greetings, the director Don Emilio Salatino, bringing the greetings of the ISSR moderator and Metropolitan Archbishop Giovanni Checchinato, greeted all those present by honoring the president of the BCC with a plaque of thanks for the donation of a defibrillator to the Institute. A sign of particular respect for the territory, says the director, who always keeps his gaze fixed on the common good; the choice to invite the prof for the keynote speech was also a suitable motivation. Trianni, philosopher and theologian, professor of Theology of Religions at the Pontifical Gregorian Faculty. The same, in the prolusion, underlined the importance of the conciliar document Nostra Aetate, on the church’s relations with non-Christian religions, which for sixty years has focused attention on human fraternity.
He highlights the attention to number 2 of the document: “The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. It considers with sincere respect those ways of acting and living, those precepts and those doctrines which, although in many points they differ from what it itself believes and proposes, nevertheless not infrequently reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men”. Paraphrasing Paul VI, prof. Trianni claims that religions are rays of truth. The Higher Institute of Religious Sciences, broadening its horizons, welcomed some religious students from India and Sri Lanka, guests of two religious communities in the Archdiocese, confirming, as reiterated in the conciliar document at n.5:
“We cannot invoke God as the Father of all men if we refuse to behave as brothers towards some of the men who are created in the image of God. Man’s attitude towards God the Father and that of man towards his other men and brothers are so connected that the Scripture says: “He who does not love does not know God” (1 Jn 4:8)”. At the end of the speech, a representation of the 44 teachers, including priests and lay people (also coming from academic institutions such as UniCal, the Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, and school directors), professed their faith and swore fidelity to the teaching entrusted to them for the care of those who have chosen to broaden their knowledge and grow in faith. In addition to university courses, the ISSR also promotes a training course for liturgical catechetical pastoral workers, optional courses and extra-curricular online courses, because it is hoped that theology will be embodied in all the realities of our territory.