ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns the underlying role of a culture such as the Javanese in the flourishing of the pilgrimage practice in both traditions, as well as in the encounters between the Muslim and Catholic pilgrimage traditions. In this regard, the comparative study has hopefully shown the deeper theological reasons for this dynamic of mutual openness, such as the similarities in the religious and theological dimensions involved between the two communities with regard to pilgrimage practice. The first has to do with the crucial and complex role played by pilgrimage and the larger tradition of saint veneration in the formation of the distinctive and hybrid identity of the Muslim and Catholic communities in south central Java. Working from a Catholic perspective, I can identify the comparative enrichment of the Catholic theology of communio sanctorum as a theologically constructive framework that these commonalities point to.
