Taking place each November, Interfaith Week is an opportunity for people of faith across the country to build bridges through dialogue. James, the Coordinator of Westminster Interfaith in this Diocese, reflects on his Interfaith Week this year.
On Tuesday 12th November, in collaboration with St Mary's University, Westminster Interfaith held a young adult dialogue for 18-35-year olds. Our dialogue was led by young adults from the Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions, each articulating their responses to questions such as "How does your religion bring you joy?" & 'What role can young people of faith play in today's society?'.
After each response by the young adult panel, a dialogue was facilitated by members of the Faith & Belief Forum and the Catholic Bishop’s Conference. This event was followed by the Book Launch of a new book, edited by Professor Peter Tyler :Dialogues, Disputes and Dreams among Jews, Christians and Muslims (St Mary’s University Press).
When responding to the question of the role young people of faith can play in today’s society, one of our panel speakers expressed their desire that young people might use their voices not only to advocate for change, but to come into dialogue with one another. Balancing dialogue & advocacy, they believed, could be a profound way to build community cohesion and stamp out hatred.
Another spoke of the importance of bringing God back into everything we do, ‘de-secularising our minds’, so that God might be in every aspect of our being.
Our last speaker expressed their concern that Interfaith relations are strained at the moment, and it must become a focus of ours to rekindle this dialogue, to form understanding, let community spirit flourish and bring the compassion found in our faith communities to the wider world.
It was an inspiring event to be a part of, and testament to the will of young people of faith, who are not content with being defined in opposition to one another. As the recent Synod Final Document reminds us: ‘Dialogue, encounter and exchange of gifts, typical of a Synodal Church, are calls to open out to relations with other religions, with the aim of establishing friendship, peace and harmony’. (41).
On Wednesday 13th November, I attended the launch of Brent’s Faith Covenant in the House of Commons. Brent Multi Faith Forum Co-Chairs, Rabbi Frank Dabba-Smith and Mustafa Field OBE, spoke of the importance of dialogue amongst an internationally challenging situation. They noted that locally, we have the power to build relationships, to act with kindness whilst being critical friends to each other, and to celebrate our diversity together. This commitment to dialogue was evidenced over the summer, when the riots that rocked much of the country did not come to Brent.
Georgia Gould, the Member of Parliament for Queen’s Park and Maida Vale, spoke at the launch to highlight the work of organisations in Brent who promote dialogue & integration. This included the work Newman Catholic College, Harlesden, as a School of Sanctuary, a place of welcome for refugees in Brent.
At the conclusion of Interfaith Week, I joined a group from Hounslow Friends of Faith & the Catholic Bishop’s Conference, to visit the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Hounslow, on the occasion of Guru Nanak’s birthday. Cardinal Michael Fitzgerald M. Afr. OBE, former President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, attended the Gurdwara to deliver the Vatican greeting from the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.
The visit was the most wonderful end to Interfaith Week. We gathered as people of faith to share food and friendship. It was a reminder that the Church’s teaching on interreligious dialogue provides, for us, a hope of how the world might be. That we might grow in love and knowledge of our neighbour, that we might come to recognise the Spirit at work in the lives of all people of faith, that we might come to a renewed belief in Christ through our dialogue with the world.
And, as Cardinal Fitzgerald read to those gathered in the Gurdward: ‘As believers, we are ‘pilgrims of hope’, steadfast in our own religious traditions and with a shared commitment to strengthening the wellbeing of humanity’.
In a world that is so divided, Interfaith Week reminds us that we are called to build peace in our own communities. And that, without our own individual effort, peace might not exist. My prayer, at the conclusion of this week, must be for peace. That God’s peace, which transcends all understanding, may rest upon the world today.
Westminster Interfaith’s next event is taking place on Wednesday 27th November from 6-8pm at the London Jesuit Centre, Mount Street, W1K 3AH. It is entitled “Every Day I Praise You: Female Perspectives on Prayer”.
To find out more about this event and to reserve your free place, please click here.
