pathways, July 09
Children of Abraham
Interfaith dialogue in action
Broadening the base
the Auburn mosque in photographs
Children of Abraham - young people dialogue
Four young people - Sadiq and Mahsheed Ansari, a brother and sister Muslim; Judith Levitan, an orthodox Jew and Chantelle Ogilvie, a Catholic - each experienced and passionate about interreligious dialogue, spoke honestly and enthusiastically about their faith journey and their involvement with inter-faith dialogue.
Sadiq and Mahsheed (right and centre, respectively) were born in Kabul, Afghanistan. Sadiq is in his final year of psychology at Macquarie University and is a youth director for Affinity. Mahsheed, with an arts/law degree, has a practicing certificate in law and is completing her Masters in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Sydney University.
Judith (second from left) has degrees in social work and law from the University of New South Wales. She works as a solicitor and community legal education coordinator at Women's Legal Services NSW, a community legal centre servicing the women of NSW. She is also a foundation member of the newly formed Jewish Alliance Against Family Violence. Aged 33, married and with three children, she describes herself as a modern, Orthodox Jewish woman.
Chantelle (left) was born in in Australia to Filipino and Australian parents. She has a Bachelor of Arts (media and communications) from the University of Sydney and worked for five years in youth ministry with the Young Christian Student and Young Christian Worler movements. In 2006 she was a recipient of the inaugural Young Catholic Women's Interfaith Fellowship. She is now studying a Masters of Arts (theology) and working in social justice ministry.
Each young person gave a brief presentation. A discussion facilitated by Trish Madigan OP (second from right) became so fluid that the young people virtually took over and a very natural and engaging question-answer conversation ensured.
Earlier, they had participated in a multi-faith prayer time to begin the assembly day. Each read a passage from his/her faith's sacred text in that text's language and then in English, where appropriate. Each reading was followed by a short silence. The fourth reading was followed by reflective music for a length of time.
The prayer-time was simple and profound.
Both the prayer and the dialogue were excellent models for the assembly participants to experience.
Father Wayne Stanhope OCarm, Melbourne, echoed the response of many of the assembly participants, when he said: "Our hearts were moved in wonder, respect and reverence of the mystery of God active and alive in their youthful openness and passion.
"Our young speakers were real signs of hope and a contradiction to our society, which can readily exploit and condemn the energy of a younger generation.
"Inter-faith dialogue was encouraged in each of us. There was a collective recognition that the blessings contained in such an opportunity were demonstrated before us in these fine young speakers.
"It was a 'graced' time where the authority of religious experience could not be questioned; a very moving experience."
Interfaith dialogue in action
Vice-president of Affinity Intercultural Foundation Zuleyha Keskin (pictured) spoke of three turning points that have drawn her further into inter-faith dialogue in her presentation alongside Parramatta's Bishop Kevin Manning and Vivienne Keely CHF when the Assembly was looking at examples of dialogue
She said the first was about 10 years ago when, for the first time, she experienced the breaking of a Ramadan fast at in inter-faith dinner.
She found this sharing of such a special moment with people of other faiths as very positive, made more so by the Catholic bishop who encouraged the Muslims not to allow their religion to be hijacked by terrorists.
As well as it being one of the few times she had heard the Muslim faith spoken about by other adults, she said that at that moment, she felt understood.
"You need to be understood before you can understand," she said.
The second was through a Home Encounters programme. During its six months duration, Muslims and Christians visited each others homes, shared food and drink and talked from both religion's perspectives about given aspects of their faiths.
Mrs Keskin said participants made real connections and she discovered that her friends could be from other faiths.
The third experience was earlier this year when a group of Christians and Muslims travelled together to Istanbul and Rome.
She said they saw each other in their tiredness, hunger and frustrations. They became very comfortable with each other and let go many barriers.
As they acknowledged their weaknesses, she said, both groups grew; their own identities strengthening.
Mrs Keskin also paid tribute to Bishop Manning for his understanding and open respect for people of all walks of life and of faith.
Broadening the base
Seven workshops took the interfaith learning beyond the Abrahamic faiths on which the assembly was based.
The workshops were Women's Interfaith Network (WIN), Depth and breadth of worship in Islam, Interfaith household, Parliament of the World's Religions, Prayer in Judaism, Ecology - a common interest, Inter-religious conversation at school level.
Women's Interfaith Network workshop, with some assembly participants on the left and several of the visiting presenters of the right.
Led by Sue Emeleus, nine members of WIN shared with us their experience of being in a group and how through it they have come to a new appreciation of their own faith. In the friendships that have grown between them they demonstrated the fruition of their aim - to show that different faiths can be a uniting force in our society rather than a dividing one.
- workshop participant Mary Cresp RSJ
Fr Reg Howard SSC writes about the Interfaith household workshop:
Our three workshop leaders (a Catholic priest, a Hindu swamic and a Buddhist monk) enthralled and challenged us as they spoke of their interfaith household in a parish presbytery in Melbourne. Conversation never lagged and the minutes quickly disappeared.
The household evolved over a couple of years almost eight years ago, first with Fr John Dupuche and Swamic Samnyasananda. Later they were joined by Venerable Lobsang Tendar, a Buddhist monk from Tibet. A specialist in sacred Buddhist art, he is also a Buddhist Chant Master. All of us found Tendar's chant at the opening of the workshop a new experience. Strangely enough, none of us thought to explore the significance of chant in the Buddhist tradition during the workshop. We were more at home as the workshop closed with Salve Regina, though I have heard better renditions!
The time went quickly as we explored what in practice the interfaith household means. Obviously, the three men have great respect and trust for each other. They, the parishioners and the Archdiocese, too, are comfortable with the presbytery hosting expressions and the practice of the Hindu and Buddhist faiths.
We briefly looked at the difficulties involved for a young couple living a practicing interfaith marriage that brings the challenges of whether one or both faiths, and by whom, is practiced and also the faith tradition to be handed on to their children.
The challenge could we setup an interfaith household? seemed a bit much to absorb there and then. We didn't run away from it; instead we took it quietly away with us.
Fr Nestor Candado SSP who attended the Parliament of the World's Religions workshop said participants left very enthused about the upcoming event after Sister Josefa, a Holy Spirit Sister, and Fr Bill, a Divine Word Missionary, gave an hour of presentation followed by questions and answers for further clarification. The presentation included the origin and history of the movement that began in Chicago in 1893, and finished with details about the organisation and planning towards Melbourne 2009. There was very good interest and interaction from the group, Fr Nestor said. The event was highly recommended for all peoples of various cultures and faiths, he said.
the Auburn mosque in photographs
Optional tours one afternoon to the Gallipoli Mosque in Auburn, and the Jewish Museum, Darlinghurst, added to the richness of the interfaith learning.
The CRA group meets the tour guide (centre) who gave a generous insight into many aspects of Islamic belief and life and religious practices. For example, while outside, we learnt about death and burial rites and ablution practices.
left: the front door of the mosque
right: inside the front door, looking towards Mecca
left: ceiling detail
right: carpet detail
left: sign indicates some of the activities carried out at the mosque
right: detail above one of the side doors the mosque.
The Auburn Gallipoli Mosque.
The turrets are largely symbolic as the community is allowed to use them to call the people to prayer only once a year, due to local noise regulations.
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