94 actas del xii congreso católicos y vida pública University, but also in other universities all over the United States. This is the structure of my lecture, the thesis of course is La tradición intelectual católica como medio para el diálogo interreligioso, Catholic intellectual tradition and catholic university as a catalytic to interreligious dialogue, and I am a strong believer in this thesis. I’ve done that. I can prove it to you. Then we’ll go into the introduction where Michaels meet. It’s a neat story, it’s a real story, not made up: Michael the archangel and also the Muslim Mikhail, the Catholic Church and the interreligious dialogue, the Catholic University and interreligious dialogue and I included Pope John Paul II that my colleague beautifully referred to, Ex corde Ecclesiae, Pope Benedict the XVI, Pope Francis on interreligious dialogue and I see these three popes as really complementary to each other in the theme of interreligious dialogue, and also how interreligious dialogue is in the curricula of the catholic studies program that I created at Seton Hall university, and then a few conclusions, so please bear with me. This is a real story that happened last year. Last year I taught a study abroad spring course in Italy entitled “Italy in the footsteps of the Saints.” I had 22 students in my class. and of course it is an academic course, an intellectual course but also it’s a pilgrimage course. We go together, we foster friendships. You see, the students you know before taking the course, are each and every one in their own corner, but as soon as they start, this is a pilgrimage together, we become one, we become together and that’s another dimension of this study abroad course. Of course, we went to Naples, Lanciano, the sanctuary of San Michel on Mount Gargano, San Giovanni Rotondo, and many other sites in Italy. This course is one of the expressions I can say of the catholic intellectual tradition that happens in a very, very special way in a catholic university. A pilgrimage to do the walk of the saints following their footsteps and possibly emulating their heroic virtues. Academic courses, for me, are encounters. students encounter faculty and their peers. Explore, analyze, emulate, following the footsteps of the saints in this case. These generous encounters transform into generous dialogues and that is what our classes are all about. In my classes it is around medieval church history, church history in general, theology. Explaining all these layers of civilizations and, in this case, the saints. One of the intellectual encounters that I witnessed last year was this particular course when we were visiting the sanctuary of Saint Michael
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