pathways, July 09
A recent Catholic-Muslim study in Auburn (Sydney) provides evidence of the community's capacity to develop beyond, or refuse, the religious categories the media seek to impose, according to Parramatta Diocese researcher Vivienne Keely CHF. (pictured)
The study focused on one Muslim and one Catholic worshipping community in Auburn: 50 participants from Auburn mosque and 50 Catholics from St John's Parish, Auburn.
It related to practice rather than to theory, Sr Vivienne said, and took as its starting point the idea that there was quite a bit of theory on the Catholic side about Muslim-Catholic dialogue, and not a great deal about practice.
She said that each Muslim participant was asked what question he/she would most like to ask a Catholic, and each Catholic was asked what question he/she would most like to ask a Muslim.
"Overall, the study found that each group framed its questions, and therefore revealed its understanding of the issues according, to its own framework of faith," she told the CRA National Assembly.
"That might be fairly obvious, but it points to an important element which some theorists appear to want excluded from Catholic-Muslim dialogue and that is knowledge and understanding of the other's faith. It is not just about being nice, as Bishop Kevin said, and having cups of tea.
"The finding points also to the importance of cultural exchange as well as exchange on religious questions alone because when interreligious dialogue is worked out in real life, people relate to the whole of life and not to discrete parts of it."
Sr Vivienne said Muslims wanted to know about the prayer life of Catholics. They asked about the obligation to pray, the frequency, pattern and content of prayers outside Sunday Mass, and prayer to Mary and the saints.
They asked about Jesus and His role in salvation.
Catholic responses were spread over a number of areas. They wanted to know how Allah related to Muslims: how did he show his love for them; how did they experience his forgiveness? Sanctions drew one question: could one be expelled from the mosque for moral laxity?
In the context of practice of faith, what was surprising was what was not asked by Catholics, she said.
"There were very few questions about women in Islam, only five out of 50 addressed the topic, and there were no questions about the wearing of the veil or hijab.
"This finding may be explained by the high visibility of veiled Muslim women in Auburn, leading to an understanding of the practice as part of the multi-faith and multicultural landscape, and as something which no longer warrants comment or question.
"A different result (may) have been obtained had the Catholic group come from another part of Sydney where the Muslim women wearing the hijab are few or nonexistent.
"However, the interest of the Catholic community in aspects of Islamic practice other than the wearing of the veil is an encouraging sign, and gives hope that, in spite of the media's preoccupation with the position of women in Islam and the veiling of women, non-Muslims exhibit interest in Islam over a much broader range.
"It is evidence of the community's capacity to develop beyond, or refuse, the categories the media seeks to impose."
Sr Vivienne said a strong strand in the Catholic questions was the lack of reciprocity between rights Muslims enjoy in Western democracies and rights non-Muslims were not afforded in some Muslim countries.
Although one question was forcefully formulated - taking for granted that Muslims wanted to expunge all other religions - the majority, and moderately expressed, sentiment was that, in Australia, Muslims enjoyed freedom of religious expression which was not enjoyed by non-Muslims in countries with a predominantly Muslim population.
No differentiation was made between Muslim countries which, as a matter of government policy, did permit non-Muslim religions to practise, and those which, as a matter of government policy, did not do so.
"Although the generalisations in the formulation of the questions reveal a lack of understanding of the cultural diversity within Islam, they also evidence the conviction that the refusal of freedom of religious expression cannot be explained away by an appeal to cultural diversity.
The conflict in Iraq and the practice of Muslims deliberately targeting and killing other Muslims, an activity reported frequently in the print and electronic media, drew some questions, she said.
Respondents focused on the incongruence between the teaching of the Qur'an on the peaceful nature of Islam and the violent activities of Muslims against other Muslims in Iraq, expressed in some responses as a Sunni versus Shi'a conflict. Internal Muslim conflict was an issue on which the Australian media did not comment frequently, although some Muslim organisations in Australia, from time to time, issued condemnations of all forms of terrorism.
"All in all, this study affirmed that when inter-religious dialogue is worked out in real life, the categories of the typologies have little meaning because people relate to the whole of life and not to parts of it," she said.
FULL TEXT of Sr Vivienne's address to the National Assembly
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