Cambridge, MA. Recently I commented on the case where the Rev. Rob Morris, a Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor, apologized for participating in an interfaith memorial service after the Sandy Hook massacre. Now the Synod has apologized to him, as the February 14 New York Times reports. Sometimes we think interreligious progress depends only on the bolder souls who know it is right and plunge right in. But it is also in these sincere, good faith struggles that we make sure progress to understand better the possiblity and nature and right ways of interfaith engagement.

Francis X. Clooney, S.J., is the Parkman Professor of Divinity at Harvard University, and a scholar of Hinduism and Hindu-Christian studies. He wrote for America’s In All Things column between 2007 and 2016. His latest book, The Future of Hindu-Christian Studies, has recently been published by Routledge.