Buddhist, Catholic monks gather for dialogue on celibacy

Published: 2006-11-02

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (CNS) -- A dozen Buddhist monks from around the country gathered with a similar number of Catholic monastics from various U.S. monasteries for dialogue on celibacy at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville. As he opened the Oct. 26-29 meeting, Benedictine Father William Skudlarek, executive director of the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, noted that Buddhists have had a tradition of celibacy for 500 to 700 years longer than Catholics. "We have something to learn," he said. This was the second "Monks in the West" interreligious dialogue; the first took place in 2004 at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in northern California. On the Catholic side, participants come from Benedictine, Cistercian and Camoldolese monasteries, and on the Buddhist side, from the Theravada, Mahayana and Tibetan traditions.

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