To celebrate the Catholic Church's 40th anniversary of opening interreligious dialogue with non-Christians, Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald spoke on campus Thursday about the legacy of the Second Vatican Council. About 175 people, including students, faculty and religious leaders attended "In Our Time: Interreligious Relations in a Divided World" in the Hassenfeld Conference Center.

Fitzgerald, the president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, the church's central branch for promoting dialogue, said he approaches religious dialogue from both sectarian and secular standpoints.

"All human beings are faced with the same fundamental questions about human existence," Fitzgerald said. "We are on a journey together. We can continue this journey despite our differences, or we can be enriched by our differences."

The conference celebrated "Nostra Aetate," the Second Vatican Council's declared view regarding the church's understanding of other religions. The declaration fundamentally changed the church's relationship with Judaism and other faiths, and marked the beginning of the church's interreligious dialogue.

Once "Nostra Aetate"-the part of Vatican II that modernized relations between the Catholic Church and other religions-was approved, Fitzgerald said the church had a great deal to learn about other faiths and the role of religious dialogue.

"The church has learned that the task of dialogue will never end," he said.

Fitzgerald said a "climate of trust" has to be established for religions to criticize each another.

"If we are ready to acknowledge the weaknesses in our own religious community, then we should not be surprised to find weaknesses also in other religious communities," he said.

A panel of religious leaders, including Muslim chaplain Imam Talal Eid, the founder and director of religious affairs at the Islamic Institute in Boston, and Ruth Langer, the associate director at the Center of Christian-Jewish learning at Boston College, spoke about the obstacles and necessary components for engaging in religious dialogue Thursday afternoon.

Eid said differences between different faiths should be treated with caution, and beliefs should not be compromised when engaging in interfaith dialogue.

Terms, such as "conversion" and "messiah," which are shared by multiple religions, do not mean the same thing to everyone, Langer said. Confusion arises in religious dialogue because of these differences in definition.

"When Jews began to speak English, they adopted certain words from religious vocabulary, but with different meanings," Langer said.

The panel discussion, titled "Issues and Challenges in the Interreligious Encounter," also featured Philip Cunningham, the executive director for the Center of Christian-Jewish learning at Boston College and Brandeis professors Edward Kaplan (ROCL) and Jytte Klausen (POL).

Jonathan Sham '06, a leader of the Catholic Student Organization, said the archbishop's address was thoughtful and powerful.

"It was very interesting to hear from someone on the Vatican level," he said.

The Rev. Walter Cuenin, the University's interim Catholic chaplain, said he was "very inspired" by Fitzgerald's words, and agreed that any issues between faiths can be resolved through dialogue and learning from one another.

Cuenin said he would have liked the archbishop to talk about the opposition to "Nostra Aetate" before it was approved. "Many nations of the world were wishing the Vatican not to issue it," Cuenin said.

The event continued at Boston College Friday with another speech by Fitzgerald and appearances by other local religious leaders.