(Vatican Radio) Promoting interfaith and ecumenical relations are the two main goals of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem, which is currently marking the 50th anniversary of its foundation.Set up in the wake of Pope Paul VI’s historic visit to the Holy Land and supported by the U.S. University of Notre Dame, it offer a wide variety of conferences, study programmes and research opportunities for scholars, students, religious pilgrimage groups or simply local people interested in interreligious dialogue.Philippa Hitchen is visiting Tantur this week and found out how interfaith efforts are attempting to address the Palestinian-Israeli conflict:Listen: I learnt a new Arabic word today: Wasatiyyah. It means ‘the middle way’ or moderate, but also balanced, just and fair. The opposite, in other words, of extremist, unbalanced, discriminatory, unfair.‘Wasatia’ is also the name of a movement launched exactly a decade ago by a Palestinian profe...
(Vatican Radio) Promoting interfaith and ecumenical relations are the two main goals of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem, which is currently marking the 50th anniversary of its foundation.
Set up in the wake of Pope Paul VI’s historic visit to the Holy Land and supported by the U.S. University of Notre Dame, it offer a wide variety of conferences, study programmes and research opportunities for scholars, students, religious pilgrimage groups or simply local people interested in interreligious dialogue.
Philippa Hitchen is visiting Tantur this week and found out how interfaith efforts are attempting to address the Palestinian-Israeli conflict:
Listen:
I learnt a new Arabic word today: Wasatiyyah. It means ‘the middle way’ or moderate, but also balanced, just and fair. The opposite, in other words, of extremist, unbalanced, discriminatory, unfair.
‘Wasatia’ is also the name of a movement launched exactly a decade ago by a Palestinian professor and peace activist, Mohammed Dajani. If you’ve heard his name before, it’s most likely in connection with the uproar he caused a couple of years ago when he led a group of students from Jerusalem’s Al Quds university to visit the Auschwitz Nazi death camp. It was part of a joint project - with groups from two Jewish universities visiting a Palestinian refugee camp - to help young people see firsthand the suffering that has shaped the identity of those on the other side of the conflict.
Dajani’s efforts grew out of his own experience of seeing how well Israeli doctors treated his mother and father when they needed urgent medical attention – the last thing he’d expected as he grew up demonizing Israelis and calling for the destruction of their country.
Today he’s well known for his interfaith work and his efforts to teach young Muslims that this concept of ‘Wasatia’ or moderation is at the heart of Islamic belief and practice, just as Aristotle taught that the golden mean was the ideal of Greek philosophy and ethics.
Dajani and noted Jewish scholar, Rabbi Ron Kronish, founder of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel, were two of the keynote speakers at a conference I attended in Jerusalem on Tuesday on how to promote moderation and reconciliation in the midst of the conflict here.
Most interestingly I noted a number of young Jewish and Muslim participants networking and exchanging ideas on how to promote respectful discussion of these difficult issues on facebook and other social media sites.
But can such scholarly debates really make any difference at the grass roots here, where people of faith seem unable to make any positive impact on the interminable political stalemate?
I put the question to Professor Dajani at the end of the conference. He smiled and said, “Look, you have learnt a new word, ‘wasatia’ today.” Every time a Palestinian or Israeli learns that word and turns from extremism to moderation, our dreams become hopes and peace can move one step closer.
null / Orhan Cam/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 26, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).The addition of "gender identity" in the Biden administration's interpretation of anti-discrimination rules could jeopardize state laws that restrict women's sports and women's locker rooms to only women, according to legal scholars.Late last week, President Joe Biden's Department of Education redefined the prohibition on sex discrimination in education, enshrined in the 1972 Title IX provisions, to include discrimination based on a person's "gender identity." The new guidelines prohibit any policy and practice that "prevents a person from participating in an education program or activity consistent with their gender identity."Although the new guidelines do not clearly explain how the mandate would be enforced, experts at the legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and the conservative Heritage Foundation told CNA that it could force educational institutions to allow men who...
Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne attends a German Synodal Way assembly on March 9, 2023. / Credit: Synodaler Weg/Maximilian von LachnerCNA Newsroom, Apr 26, 2024 / 13:57 pm (CNA).Four German bishops on Wednesday distanced themselves from the controversial Synodal Way's plans for a permanent body to oversee the Church in Germany, instead appealing for unity with the universal Church. The four bishops are the same who have previously blocked funding for this body: Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne and three prelates from Bavaria: Gregor Maria Hanke, OSB, of Eichstätt; Stefan Oster, SDB, of Passau; and Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg.In a joint statement, the prelates confirmed on April 24 that they would not be parties to a committee charged with setting up a German "Synodal Council, as this would conflict with the sacramental constitution of the Church."The four bishops also rejected the view that the German Bishops' Conference could legally establish a "synod...
Families, donors, and others gather with Bishop Erik Pohlmeier for the dedication of the "Precious Ones Baby Mausoleum" at the San Lorenzo Cemetery in St. Augustine, Florida, on April 23, 2024. / Credit: Fran Ruchalski/courtesy of the Archdiocese of St. AugustineCNA Staff, Apr 26, 2024 / 09:51 am (CNA).Families gathered with St. Augustine Bishop Erik Pohlmeier on a sunny Tuesday this week for the dedication of the "Precious Ones Baby Mausoleum" at the city's San Lorenzo Cemetery.Six years in the making, the 44,000-pound granite mausoleum is designed for babies lost at a young age through miscarriage, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), or stillborn births. A brick walkway marked by a charcoal cross leads up to the brilliant white mausoleum, which is full of burial spaces that are ready to honor little ones. Miscarriages are common events, and women often suffer through them quietly, one 2018 study found. About 10% to 20% of known pregnancies end in miscarriage, usually be...