St Columbans Mission Society - St Columbans Mission Society - … · 2017-04-02 · universal inclusiveness. In the Holy Quran, God defines the Prophet Muhammad’s mission as follows:

Number: 73 December 2016

bridgesBuilding relationships between Christians and Muslims

Centre for Christian-Muslim RelationsLevel 8, 23 Berry Street, North Sydney 2060PO Box 968, North Sydney 2059Email: [email protected] www.columban.org.auPhone: (02) 9352 8013

From the Editor: Coming Closer TogetherIn his last Saturday Audience for the Jubilee Year of Mercy on the 12th of November 2016, Pope Francis presented an important aspect of mercy: inclusion. He said, “In His plan of love God, in fact, does not want to exclude anyone, but wants to include all.” He added: “And we Christians are invited to use the same criterion: mercy is that way of acting, that style with which we seek to include others in our life, avoiding withdrawing into ourselves and our egoistic securities.” Reaching out to include others becomes a way of life: “This aspect of mercy, inclusion, is manifested in opening one’s arms wide to receive without excluding, without classifying others on the basis of their social condition, language, race, culture or religion: before us there is only a person to be loved as God loves him.”

Pope Francis’ simple but profound reflection on inclusion is a wonderful guide for Christian-Muslim relations. Christians are to show Muslims the same love, kindness, mercy and forgiveness that they have experienced in Christ, and so build a world-wide human community. In the words of Pope Francis, “The Gospel calls us to recognize in humanity’s history the plan of a great work of inclusion, which, respecting fully every person’s, community’s and peoples’ freedom, calls all to form a family of brothers and sisters, in justice, in solidarity and in peace.” (see also Pope’s Message to Religious Leaders, pp 4-5)

However, this inclusivity is not just one-way. It is reciprocal. Muslims, too, are called to show a similar universal inclusiveness. In the Holy Quran, God defines the Prophet Muhammad’s mission as follows: “And We have not sent you, except as a mercy to the worlds.” (The Prophets, 21:107) Hence, Muslims who imitate the Prophet as their model and exemplar are likewise to show mercy to all, thus building a world-wide human community. (see also WCC-Muslim Leader’s joint communique, pp 6-7)

Christians and Muslims, then, are both called to inclusion, each in their own way. This message of inclusion, of merciful embrace towards the other, is all the more important in our testing times. When the politics of fear seek to divide us, locally and internationally, God’s message of inclusion, of a universal mercy which embraces all and excludes no one, binds Christians and Muslims together in faithful service of the common good, especially the poor, the weak, the vulnerable. When the voices of racism, bigotry and misogyny are becoming strident, Christians and Muslims must manifest inclusion, acceptance and respect all the louder.

I recently came across a lovely Sufi image of Christian-Muslim relations from Algeria. Imagine an A-frame ladder. Its legs are firmly planted on earth; its top reaches up to heaven. The rungs of the ladder are scripture, prayer, fasting, alms-giving and works of mercy. Christians are climbing up one side of the ladder and Muslims are climbing up the other side of the ladder. The nearer they come to God, the nearer they come to each other; and the nearer they come to each other, the nearer they come to God.

At Christmas, 25th December, Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, as God who chose to be close to us, to become one with us, one of us, the Word incarnate. At Mawlid al-Nabi, 12th December, Muslims celebrate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, as God’s last and final messenger of mercy, bearing the word of the Quran. May the proximity of these two celebrations draw Christians and Muslims closer to each other and so closer to God. I wish all our readers a very happy feast day!

Patrick McInerneyEditor

2 Bridges - December 2016

National Mosque Open DayFr Brian Vale was among the many people who took advantage of National Mosque Open Day on 29 October to visit the Imam Ali Mosque in Lakemba to meet up with friends, to view the exhibition and to enjoy the warm openness of the local congregation.

Eighteen mosques throughout the country opened their doors to visitors and shared information about the mosques and their faith and helped build bonds of trust and social harmony.

National Conference on Ecumenism & InterfaithThe National Conference of Catholic Diocesan Ecumenical and Interfaith Commissions, held in Melbourne 28-30 October under the auspices of the Bishops Commission for Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations, brought together members of commissions from around Australia to share their events and activities. Fr Philipp Renczes SJ from the Gregorian University gave keynote addresses on Jewish-Christian Relations. Lutheran guests shared about the upcoming 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

Fr Patrick McInerney presented on Christian Muslim Relations. He provided statistics showing that only a very tiny portion of the terrorist and violent incidents around the world are committed by Muslims. He also summarised the key findings from Danger & Dialogue: American Catholic Public Opinion and Portrayals of Islam, which probably match the situation here in Australia.

He urged that the prevailing negative attitudes of Catholics towards Muslims indicate that the rich Catholic teaching on interreligious dialogue is not getting through to the pews, but that where people have met Muslims or engaged in interfaith dialogue with them, their views are more positive.

Riverview Inter-Religious Dialogue PresentationOn Friday 14 October Fr Brian Vale and Steff Fenton presented at Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview to a group of 240 year 11 students, beginning their HSC course. After a brief introduction, they outlined:

• What Interreligious Dialogue (IRD) is NOT vs What IRD IS• The Four Types of Dialogue from the Vatican’s 1984 document ‘Dialogue and Mission’.• Why should we engage in IRD?• How the Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations engages in IRD, as well as highlighting some of our helpful resources. The presentation concluded with a question and answer session which brought out some wonderful questions from the students e.g. “does IRD make you want to convert to another faith?”, “What impresses you about people from other religions?” and “how can the everyday person start dialoguing with people from other religions?” It was a positive afternoon.

Coffee? It’s what friends do!Having a coffee together! It’s what friends do! This is exactly what the Grand Mufti of Australia, Dr Ibrahim Abu Muhammad, had in mind, when he invited people for “Coffee and Conversation” on the 22 October. Fr Patrick McInerney was among the guests. Unlike formal events with speeches, panel and Q & A, as happens in official interfaith events, this was friends coming together socially. It was not held in a public building but in a private home.

Such socialising together as friends marks a new stage in Christian-Muslim relations …. and I’ll let you in on a secret, when Arab hospitality is involved, coffee is not just a drink and a biscuit, it’s a full-blown feast!

Fr Patrick McInerney with Grand Mufti of Australia, Dr Ibrahim Abu Muhammad.

News from the Centre

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Catholics & Muslims United at Mount Isa ParishThe Good Shepherd Catholic Church in remote Queensland mining town of Mount Isa has offered space in its parish building to the local Islamic community for a prayer room.

Christians and Muslims will be praying together just metres apart. Fr Mick Lowcock recognised that most concerns about extremism were created by misunderstanding and wanted to create a climate of dialogue and goodwill rather than one of fear. Local Muslim, Jahed Chowdhury, said this positive example of religious harmony has helped to dispel the myth that Islam is dangerous.

For more information see: https://goo.gl/BsWcoM

Turnbull and Shorten Unite On Racial ToleranceIn contrast to words and headlines from Donald Trump, Australia’s leaders have reaffirmed Australia as “the most successful multicultural society in the world”. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten supported a formal motion of racial tolerance in the parliament.

“Muslim Australians are an integral part of our Australian family... While there are Muslim Australians, including converts, who support the terrorists and seek to do us harm, they are a tiny minority whose madness offends and appals Australian Muslims, as much as it does the wider Australian community,” Mr Turnbull said.

For more information see: https://goo.gl/qtYsq2

Interreligious Call for Nuclear Weapon BanOn behalf of Christian, Buddhist and Muslim organisations, The World Council of Churches (WCC) has delivered an interreligious call for governments to ban nuclear weapons at the United Nations on 12 October. Nuclear weapons are “incompatible with the values upheld by our respective faith tradition[s] – the right of people to live in dignity; the commands of conscience and justice; the duty to protect the vulnerable and to safeguard the planet for future generations”, the joint statement said.

For more information see: https://goo.gl/9TCoJT

Religious Leaders Appeal for Peace from AuschwitzA 30-member delegation of the Council of Religious Community Leaders in Israel met in Poland to visit the former concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

During their meeting on 2 November, the Council signed a statement calling for peace: “We call on all world leaders to act, in their countries and through the United Nations, to act with unwavering resoluteness against antisemitism, hatred of the other, which once again plague contemporary society… We repudiate racism, fanaticism and extremism, particularly when these are committed, allegedly in the name of religion and in so doing desecrate religion.”

For more information see https://goo.gl/XkEfAJ

News From the World

4 Bridges - December 2016

Pakistani Christians Fight Persecution with DialogueArchbishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore reported to Catholic News Service that Christians in Pakistan were wrongly being accused of blasphemy at a rate of about one every two weeks. Since Christian faith does not allow paying “evil with evil”, the solution is dialogue. Archbishop Shaw has met with senior Muslim scholars and leaders to promote mutual understanding. He had won their respect earlier this year when he spent a day consoling and praying in hospital with Muslim victims of the Easter Sunday bombing at Gulshan-I-Iqbal Park as well as Christians.

Later he arranged church-based trauma counselling and rehabilitation for all the victims regardless of creed. A Muslim cleric said that the Archbishop was a “sign of unity and peace” for Pakistan.

For more information see https://goo.gl/aHRY4O

Sunni-Shia Joint Eid Prayer Fosters PeaceIn Lucknow sectarian tensions between Sunni and Shia Muslims had flared occasionally. To bridge the divide, some of them formed “Shoulder to Shoulder” or “S2S” for joint congregational prayer.

News From the World cont...

Accordingly, in September, several hundred Sunni and Shia Muslims lined up side-by-side for the Eid prayers. Given the animosities that have riven the Muslim world over centuries and are part of the current conflict in the Middle East, this joint namaaz (the Urdu word for “worship”) was a landmark achievement. After the prayer, the Muslims embraced Sikh, Hindu and Christian friends, making it a truly multi-faith event. Fr De Souza of the Lucknow Diocese said that “programs like this help to unite us and make us feel that we are brothers and sisters, no matter which religion we belong to.”

For more information see: https://goo.gl/lglmh3COP22 Interfaith Climate StatementOn the occasion of the COP22 Climate Change Conference in Marrakesh, Morocco from 7-18 November 2016, 226 eminent Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Quaker, Muslim, Sikh, Unitarian, as well as Indigenous and Spiritual leaders, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary WCC and many others, signed an Interfaith Climate Statement.

To add your signature see: http://www.interfaithstatement2016.org/

5 Bridges - December 2016

For us, mercy reveals the name of God; it is “the very foundation of the Church’s life” (Misericordiae Vultus, 10). It is also the key to understanding the mystery of man, of that humanity which, today too, is in great need of forgiveness and peace.

Yet the mystery of mercy is not to be celebrated in words alone, but above all by deeds, by a truly merciful way of life marked by disinterested love, fraternal service and sincere sharing. The Church increasingly desires to adopt this way of life, also as part of her “duty to foster unity and charity” among all men and women (Nostra Aetate, 1).

The religions are likewise called to this way of life, in order to be, particularly in our own day, messengers of peace and builders of communion, and to proclaim, in opposition to all those who sow conflict, division and intolerance, that ours is a time of fraternity. That is why it is important for us to seek occasions of encounter, an encounter which, while avoiding a superficial syncretism, “makes us more open to dialogue, the better to know and understand one another; eliminates every form of closed-mindedness and disrespect; and drives out every form of violence and discrimination” (Misericordiae Vultus, 23). This is pleasing to God and constitutes an urgent task, responding not only to today’s needs but above all to the summons to love which is the soul of all authentic religion.

The theme of mercy is familiar to many religious and cultural traditions, where compassion and nonviolence are essential elements pointing to the way of life; in the words of an ancient proverb: “death is hard and stiff; life is soft and supple” (Tao-Te-Ching, 76). To bow down with compassionate love before the weak and needy is part of the authentic spirit of religion, which rejects the temptation to resort to force, refuses to barter human lives and sees others as brothers and sisters, and never mere statistics.

To draw near to all those living in situations that call for our concern, such as sickness, disability, poverty, injustice and the aftermath of conflicts and migrations: this is a summons rising from the heart of every genuine religious tradition. It is the echo of the divine voice heard in the conscience of every person, calling him or her to reject selfishness and to be open. Open to the Other above us, who knocks on the door of our heart, and open to the other at our side, who knocks at the door of our home, asking for attention and assistance.

The very word “mercy” is a summons to an open and compassionate heart. It comes from the Latin world misericordia, which evokes a heart

– cor – sensitive to suffering, but especially to those who suffer, a heart that overcomes indifference because it shares in the sufferings of others. In the Semitic languages, like Arabic and Hebrew, the root RHM, which also expresses God’s mercy, has to do with a mother’s womb, the deepest source of human love, the feelings of a mother for the child to whom she will give birth.

In this regard, the prophet Isaiah conveys a magnificent message, which, on God’s part, is both a promise of love and a challenge: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even though she may forget, yet I will never forget you” (Is 49:15). All too often, sad to say, we forget, our hearts grow heedless and indifferent.

We distance ourselves from God, our neighbour and even our historical memory, and we end up repeating, in even more cruel forms, the tragic errors of other times.

…. May the religions be wombs of life, bearing the merciful love of God to a wounded and needy humanity; may they be doors of hope helping to penetrate the walls erected by pride and fear. Thank you. For more information see: https://goo.gl/Z65K6W

Pope Francis to Interreligious Gathering on Mercy, 3 Nov 2016As the Jubilee Year of Mercy draws to a close, Pope Francis addressed over 200 members of other religions (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and others) on the theme of mercy. Here are extracts from his address:

6 Bridges - September 2016

The overriding concern of the meeting was peace, and particularly the role of religions, religious leaders, and faith-based organizations in creating a culture of peace and practices of peacemaking. As children of Abraham, we agree that humanity was created to share the gifts of love and compassion, peace and mercy, and honesty and sincerity.

The rich discussion at the meeting focused particularly on the vital role of religions and religious leaders in peace-building, the interrelation between poverty and religiously caused violence, the importance of religious literacy and interfaith cooperation as a means of combatting extremism by showing signs of hope, and the need to enable young people to be full members both of their societies and their religious communities. The meeting also affirmed the need for members of all religious communities to have equal rights

and responsibilities as citizens in their respective countries.

We are committed to work together in the coming year on the following:

• Rejecting all forms of extremism and discrimination based on religion, race, gender and ethnic origin.• Encouraging spiritual leaders to work with appropriate national bodies and authorities to improve the presentation and teaching on religion.• Supporting and replicating initiatives such as the “House of the Family” founded by Al Azhar and the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt.• Exploring together ways to affirm the vital contributions women can make, especially to religiously inspired peace-building. • Strengthening the engagement of young people in our religious communities.• Encouraging the ceasing of the arms race

Joint Communique, WCC & Muslim Council of Elders, 30 Sept - 1 Oct ‘16The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Muslim Council of Elders met for two days in Geneva, Switzerland in late September to discuss combatting religious extremism and promoting peacebuilding. The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, His Eminence Prof Dr Ahmad al-Tayyeb from Egypt, led the Muslim delegation and Dr Agnes Aboum, Moderator of the Central Committee of the WCC and Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary, led the Christian delegation.

They issued a Joint Communique, from which we provide the following extract:

7 Bridges - December 2016

that threatens the security of all peoples, and encouraging instead the use of national resources to combat poverty, ignorance and disease that burden both poor and rich countries.

We call upon all religious leaders to work and strive for justice and peace for one humanity.For more information see: https://goo.gl/oY4CAo.

In his presentation, the Grand Imam stated that issuing condemnations and statements against terrorism is not enough:

That is like working on separate islands, which results in weak targets, with no concrete and influential impact on the ground. However, a joint action must be coordinated to confront the phenomenon of violence, scrutinizing the causes of the phenomenon and working on the proposed solutions to intellectually, scientifically, socially and educationally confront that phenomenon.

Bishop Angaelos of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK urged a collaborative approach:

Developments over the last years are greater than any individual, church, religion or even state can fix alone. There must be

Photos: The Grand Imam of Cairo’s Al-Azhar mosque and university, Prof. Dr Ahmad al-Tayyeb, visited the World Council of Churches to participate in high-level dialogue on interreligious peacemaking. Credit: Peter Williams/WCC

a new form of dialogue that changes the narrative from helplessness and conflict to the one of hope and promise. This new dialogue can not have tolerance as its baseline. Acceptance is what we must be aiming for.

Rev Dr Martin Junge, General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, stated:

We have a responsibility to educate the religious leaders in our communities toward awareness of extremism and how to be guarded against it. I am particularly keen that we have the courage to identify within our own sacred texts those passages and references which have been used to justify violence based on religious beliefs.

For further commentaries on this historic meeting see: • https://goo.gl/j8EHkg • https://goo.gl/C0sAI9 • https://goo.gl/8G3Kso • https://goo.gl/oMIWEA • https://goo.gl/u2VgQv

Joint Communique, WCC & Muslim Council of Elders, 30 Sept - 1 Oct ‘16

8 Bridges - December 2016

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What’s coming up8 December: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Conception of Mary, Mother of Jesus - Catholic Christian)

12 December: Mawlid al-Nabi (Birth of the Prophet Muhammad – Muslim) 25 December: Christmas Day (Birth of Jesus Christ – Christian)

2017 DATES:

1 January: Feast of Mary, Mother of God (Catholic Christian)

7 January: Feast of the Nativity (Orthodox Christian) 1-7 February: World Interfaith Harmony Week For more information see: https://goo.gl/34ipgw

1 March: Ash Wednesday (Start of Lent - Christian)

16 April: Easter Sunday (All Christians)

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1 Sept: Eid al-Adha (The Feast of Sacrifice - Muslim) (date tbc)

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