It was a sight that hasn’t been seen in this suburb of Damascus in five years-Orthodox Christians celebrating Palm Sunday. The day is part of a series of observances that culminate in the celebration of the Christian holiday of Easter. Christians make up 11 nearly percent of Syria’s population. The largest Christian denomination in Syria […]
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The US Conference of Catholic Bishops hopes that a national dialogue with Muslims can change perceptions of Islam in the United States. In the past, efforts to foster Catholic-Muslim have succeeded at local levels. But in the face of rising Islamophobia, Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, of Springfield in Massachusetts, who chairs the committee, said a wider conversation was needed. “As the national conversation around Islam grows increasingly fraught, coarse and driven by fear and often willful misinformation, the Catholic Church must help to model real dialogue and good will,” he said in a statement. This national dialogue will begin at the start of 2017. In the Midwest, Catholic-Muslim dialogue began in 1996 and meets once a year. The co-chairs represent both faiths. One document produced explored how Muslims and Catholics interpret revelation. In the Mid-Atlanic, a representative from The Islamic Circle of North America co-chairs the yearly meetings that started in 1998. Out in California, a number of Islamic Societies join the yearly dialogue which began in 1999. They co-published Friends and Not Adversaries: A Catholic-Muslim Spiritual Journey in 2003. A 2014 directive reaffirmed a commitment to Catholic-Muslim dialogue. How Catholics view other faiths changed following the Second Vatican Council. [...]
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