SPARKS (Nevada, USA): Catholics will have a serious dialogue with Hindus and other religions here during the silver jubilee celebrations of the Annual Diocesan Conference of Reno Diocese here in January next. 

According to Father Charles T. Durante, Pastor of Saint Teresa of Avila Catholic Church of Carson City, it will include dialogue among regional leaders of Muslim, Protestant, Hindu, and Jewish faiths besides Catholic on the topics of "truth", "fullness", "acceptance of each other", and "growing together". It will reflect on "how do we reconnect", Durante adds. 

Participating religious leaders include prominent Hindu chaplain Rajan Zed, Reverend V. James Jeffrey, Rabbi Myra Soifer and Imam Abdul Barghouthi, besides Durante. "Integrity—Rooted in the Soul" is the theme of this 25 th Annual Conference. Theme of the last Conference was "Compassion—Life of the Heart".

Some of the other topics to be covered in this Conference include "New Cosmology for Saving Mother Earth", "Reaching Your Teens", "Love and Economics", "Smart Sex", etc. There will be Spanish language section also. Famous Catholic music artist, John Angotti, will also be participating in this Conference to be held on January 18 and 19 next at John Ascuaga's Nugget Casino Resort. 

Catholic Diocese of Reno, established in 1931, covers 70,852 square miles spread in eleven Nevada counties in addition to Carson City. Before 1840, this area was under the Diocese of Sonora in Mexico, when it came under the jurisdiction of Bishop Moreno of California. Current Bishop is Most Reverend Randolph R. Calvo. 

Hindu chaplain Rajan Zed has congratulated the Catholic Diocese efforts in reaching out to other religions for a dialogue. "Religion is a complex component of human life. Everyone is looking for the truth and in our shared quest for the truth, we can learn from each other and thus come closer to the truth," Zed adds.