Father William Kunisch expressed enthusiasm and optimism recently over his new job as the diocesan Ecumenical and Interfaith Officer, a position which involves being a liaison to other Christian and non-Christian faiths in Hawaii.

“There are so many different religious traditions here,” Father Kunisch said. “We want to be able to dialogue and work together with people of all different faiths.”

Father Kunisch, the pastor of the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa and vicar forane for west Honolulu, took the assignment on July 1. Bishop Larry Silva appointed him to succeed Oratorian Father Halbert Weidner, who recently left Hawaii.

“The purpose of the job is to remind all of us that ecumenism really isn’t an option,” said Father Kunisch, himself a former Lutheran. “Christian unity is something that all of us need to pray and to work for.”

As the Ecumenical and Interfaith Officer, his goals include reconvening the Diocesan Ecumenical Commission, building relationships with other religious leaders and serving as a contact with them at official diocesan events, and promoting ecumenical and interfaith dialogue at the parish level.

Father Kunisch said Bishop Silva has requested a survey of what Hawaii parishes are doing now regarding ecumenical and interfaith interaction.

“I really think the key is building relationships, learning about each others traditions, points of convergence, things that we have in common and share,” he said.

He thinks that the Catholic Church in Hawaii has a “pretty good track record” as far as working with other faiths.

“There’s quite a long tradition of ecumenical and interfaith involvement on the part of the diocese and I certainly want to continue that and build on it,” Father Kunisch said.

He said Bishop Silva meets regularly with Episcopalian Bishop Robert Fitzpatrick, whose ordination he attended in March, and the president of the Hawaii conference of the United Church of Christ. Bishop Silva also spoke at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America’s Pacifica Synod Assembly in May and allowed the conference’s participants to use St. Augustine Church for their services.

Father Kunisch is also a member of The Interfaith Alliance Hawaii, which meets monthly.

Father Kunisch says he brings a unique perspective to the job having been raised Lutheran before joining the Catholic Church and becoming a priest.

“In some circumstances it may be a little bit easier for me to understand how other faiths perceive us and to see it from their perspective,” he said.

“When I was growing up I had heard all kinds of things about the Catholic Church, and a lot of it is not true,” Father Kunisch said. He listed as examples misunderstandings about Catholic beliefs surrounding Mary, the saints and the papacy.

“We do it too,” he said of Catholics. “We tend to make generalizations about evangelicals, for instance, or Muslims, and we need to be very careful when we do that.”

Father Kunisch believes that bridging differences that go back centuries between faiths will take time, but that it will happen in the end.

“Unity is a gift, and ultimately unity is a gift that God will work and create, and something that God will accomplish himself,” he said.