I was surprised, humbled, and honoured to be advised in a letter from Cardinal George Koovakad, Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, dated 10 September 2025, that the Holy Father had appointed me for 5 years as a Consultor to the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims.
Surprised: At my age, when all my siblings and many of my peers are long since retired, I thought the “r” word on my horizon was “retirement”, not “Rome”. Not that I will live there. I will continue in my present roles as Director of the Columban Region of Oceania and Director of the Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations, but I will visit Rome to attend annual meetings of the Commission.
Humbled: I acknowledge that my peers and colleagues in the Commission are career academics with long lists of published books and articles on Islam, the Holy Qur’an, and Christian-Muslim Relations. I have studied and taught Islam at tertiary level, but am not an Islamologist. I have read and studied theology, but am not a theologian. I have lived and taught Interreligious Dialogue, but am not a “dialogian”. I have practised and read mission studies, but am not a missiologist. I am a generalist, not a specialist. I am the proverbial “Jack of all trades, master of none!” What could I offer the Commission?!
Honoured: As I thought about this question, I drew on my Columban missionary identity. The Constitutions name the purpose of the Missionary Society of St Columban as follows:
Crossing boundaries of country, language and culture, the Society has as its specific objectives:
- to establish the Church among peoples to whom the Gospel has not been preached;
- to accompany Churches as they mature and are able to evangelize their own and other peoples;
- to promote dialogue between Christians and those of other religious traditions;
- to facilitate interchange between local Churches, especially those from which we come and those to which we are sent;
- to foster in local Churches an awareness of their missionary responsibility, particularly in the areas of justice, peace, and the integrity of Creation. (C. 102)
I have crossed boundaries of country, language, and culture. I was assigned to Pakistan for over 20 years, learned the language, and came to be ‘at home’ in the culture, never fully belonging, but no longer a stranger either, being personally enriched by living cross-culturally.
I have crossed boundaries of religion. From my lived experience in Pakistan and my formal studies in Islam, I am a Christian who has a heart for Islam and Muslims. I am also acutely aware of the issues Christians face in a 96% Muslim-majority environment. From my 20-plus years at the Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations, I have come to know the diverse Muslim communities of Sydney. I have worked ecumenically with other Christians. I have built relations with Bahai’s, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Sikhs, and Zoroastrians. I taught for some years as an academic, but am now more of an interfaith activist with the smell of the street.
My unique gift as a Columban is precisely my “in-between-ness”. I am a link between Catholics and other Christians, between Christians and Muslims, between Christians and followers of other faiths, between the local church and the church international, between Australia and the Vatican; between the academy and the street. I am a bridge-builder, a networker, a connector, promoting dialogue, exchange, and encounter between peoples and with creation.
Please pray for me that I may draw from my rich Columban missionary experience of the last nearly fifty years in Pakistan and Australia and contribute in this new role to which the Holy Father has called me.
“The Columbans in Britain warmly congratulate Fr Pat on this wonderful appointment.” says Mauricio Silva, Columban Interreligious Dialogue Co-ordinator in the region of Britain. “His wisdom and lifelong dedication to interreligious dialogue are an inspiration to all of us working for mutual understanding and peace among people of diverse faiths and beliefs .”
