VIDEO: Importance of Seeking a Culture of Encounter

Sometimes friendships go south. Perhaps it’s from a dispute over politics, general personal beliefs or because of control conflicts or a simple misunderstanding. It’s not unusual for people in relationships with one another to sometimes disagree.

It has even happened with God’s relationship with humanity, as we see in Biblical stories, Vice President for Mission Father Chris Collins ’93 said during a conversation with Theology Professor Dr. Bernie Brady, associate director of the Office for Mission. God’s relationship with Adam and Eve is one example. “That friendship starts to go south after two pages in the Bible,” Collins said.

A way to repair relationships or to better understand one another is to have a culture of encounter, allow oneself to be “vulnerable,” Brady said. The “culture of encounter” is a phrase the St. Thomas community hears often from interim President Rob Vischer.

Listen to Collins and Brady's video conversation about the importance of having a culture of encounter in any relationship. Told through a theological lens, their starting point for the conversation came from Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis’ social encyclical in which the Pope encourages people all over the world to come together in solidarity and strive to build loving, charitable and open relationships.