VATICAN: MARY IS MUSLIM-CATHOLIC BRIDGE
"The Marian academy in Rome launched a 10-week webinar series titled "Mary, a model for faith and life for Christianity and Islam" in collaboration with the Grand Mosque of Rome and the Islamic Cultural Center of Italy.
"Based on his belief that Mary is "a Jewish, Christian and Muslim woman," Fr. Gian Matteo Roggio, organizer of the Muslim-Catholic dialogue series on Our Lady, is seeking to mobilize Mary as a model of "open borders" between religious and multicultural worlds.
"Islamic historian Raymond Ibrahim told Church Militant that "this series is yet another attempt to try to convince Catholics that Islam is somehow similar to their Faith when, in fact, Islam appropriates the names and sacred auras of biblical figures but then recasts them with completely different attributes — ones that reaffirm Islam as the 'true' faith."
Raymond Ibrahim previously blasted the grand imam of al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayyeb for "repeatedly contradicting all the lofty sentiments in the document he signed with the pope," as the Holy See marks the anniversary of the Abu Dhabi deal, which was signed Feb. 4, 2019.
"In an exclusive interview with Church Militant, Ibrahim called out the "doublespeak" of Sheikh al-Tayyeb "if only when speaking in Arabic and appearing on Arabic media, as opposed to when 'dialoguing' with naïve Western leaders who are all too eager to believe what they want to hear."
In October 2020 Church Militant reported that Pope Francis' Muslim dialogue partner Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayyeb had demanded "an international law banning criticizing or insulting Islam — a day before three Catholics were slaughtered in Nice's Notre-Dame Basilica."
POPE TO HOST INTERFAITH PRAYER AT ‘BABEL’
This is very off putting to disaffected Anglicans thinking of a move to Rome. How widespread is this poison?
ReplyDeleteLyn
By all means call me simple but just how the hell could Mary possibly be a model for anything Islamic when she lived some 600 years before Islam even existed?
ReplyDeleteIt might be something to do with the fact that Mohammed tried to gain more followers from Judaism and Christianity by acquisitioning Jesus and the Old Testament prophets as people who pointed the world towards him. The Quran acknowledges Mary as Jesus' mother, and that Jesus was born by the power of the divine spirit. Islam stops short of saying that Jesus is God of God, Light of Light, True God of True God; begotten, not made. The Quran also implies that Mary remained a perpetual virgin throughout her life. Once you have made the connection between Mary and your religion, you can make her a model for anything you chose. It may be this which has drawn Papa Francis in to hugging Sheikhs and Imams. He probably thinks - very naively - that they are good Catholics underneath it all. On his upcoming visit to Iraq, he will probably invite them to say the Angelus prayers with him.
DeleteSeymour
@ Seymour:
DeleteI think you're probably pretty much spot on in that assessment.
In other words, cultural appropriation?
DeleteI understood that "woke" society abhors that and certainly doesn't tolerate it.
" I understood that "woke" society abhors that and certainly doesn't tolerate it. "
DeleteUnless it's drag queen culture - just like the Black & White Minstrel Show, except it's run by gay men so if you object, you're homophobic!!!
And then I found this on Fr Hunwicke's blog:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8940364093450837549&postID=5669005750184650022
Great stuff! Good to see some constructive inter-faith dialogue taking place. Ancient Celt
ReplyDeleteIt really is quite simple - rather than look for points of difference or 'my religion is better than your religion', why not look more towards what unites us. God is existence, the very air that we breathe and as humans, we all breathe the same air. This blog is so needlessly divisive and points to a real insecurity of faith in the few who regularly make a contribution. I'm overjoyed when I speak with Muslim friends and discover that there is much common ground between us; aren't you?
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha... oh stobbit Pilgrim, I nearly spilt my G&T then!
DeleteSays it all - 4.30 in the afternoon and drinking on the job - what an example you're setting Mr Lloyd.
DeleteWhat? Garabaldi biscuit and Tea?
DeleteAncient Briton, is it possible for an individual to ask a Question of this group, and also be able to Lead a thread,bremaing annonymous to all except you?
ReplyDeleteOh Pilgrim, divisive, what does unite us? The Angican Church teaches One God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Not as an Islamic viewpoint of "Mohammed" who is this person? Rather as Jesus as a Prophet and not the Son of God. As an Anglican Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Holy Trinity, Father Son and Holy Spirit as per the Holy Bible and all Prayer Books in the Anglican Community
ReplyDeleteWhether we like to admit it or not, Judaism, Christianity and Islam all come from the same Abrahamic origins and share much similar material. We can argue endlessly about the veracity and "truth claims" of both Scriptural material and understandings of God, and of course our theologies differ widely. Nevertheless there is at least some common ground on which we can build an understanding of each others' positions. I'm with Pilgrim in this: in a world which is so divided and hateful, all people must seek to build bridges with each other, respecting both their shared humanity and different views of the world.
ReplyDeleteIgnore Taqiyya at your peril.
DeleteBaptist Trainfan and Pilgrimprogress, I think you are being extremely naive. Jesus warned us to be as wise as serpents and as meek as doves. He said nothing about rolling over, playing dead and putting a blindfold on. Do you think militant Islam would respect your humanity or your different world view? If you do, then why did the European Parliament (3.02.2016), the U.S. Senate (15.03.2016) and the British Parliament (20.04.2016) declare the atrocities committed against Yazidis and Christians in Iraq as nothing less than genocide? Did militant Islam seek to build bridges with these communities - of course they didn't - it sought nothing more than complete destruction and annihilation. No doubt, when the Syrian conflict ends, and a proper examination of what has happened to Christian communities there comes to light, it too, will be declared genocide. It is far too easy for you, from the comfort of your homes to look at the world through rose tinted spectacles. I don't think you would feel the same when the mob is baying at your door; when your women folk are raped and murdered, or sold off as brides for troops; when the men are slaughtered. This is why the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Erbil is appalled by many western bishops and Pope Francis's cosying up to Islam; but he is also condemnatory of the liberal West and people like yourselves who wish to diminish the trials of Christian communities in the Middle East. I know an Iranian Christian who fled Iran because he was fed up of looking over his shoulder, waiting for the knock on the door, only to be arrested on some trumped charge. Please don't diminish with your easy liberal comments what our brothers and sisters are going through on a daily basis at the hands of Islam.
DeleteSeymour
PP. While it does no harm to have dialogue with other faiths, it is not an invitation to get into bed with other belief systems.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am not adverse to talking, it is serious breach of Christian bekief to become psuedo-ither faiths.
Would an Iman, Buddhist priest allow a full blown Eucharist in there temples', I don't think so! So why reverse the principle to be 'politically correct"?
On the principle enunciated by Churchill that 'jaw, jaw is better than war, war', talk is always worth a try. If it fails, nothing of significance is lost from it.
ReplyDeleteSo personally I welcome pope Francis's visit, which in any case is primarily undertaken to encourage what remains of the Christian community in that part of the world. Nor would I want to criticize his meeting with grand ayatollah al Sistani at Najaf, though I'm rather surprised that it's happening. As a leading Shia cleric and however religiously conservative he might be, al Sistani's sympathies for the Isis brand of Sunni Islam will be zero. If the meeting ultimately turns out to be no more than two old clerical dogs sniffing one another, nothing will be lost by it. Isis enthusiasts will loathe a grand ayatollah no less than the Roman pope - quite possibly more so. At the very least, pope and ayatollah share a common enemy!
I don't really expect anything much to come out of the meeting, but it's something that it's happening at all. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Though Francis might have the grace to apologize to Iraqi Christians for the Roman church's centuries of intermittent meddling in the life of the oriental churches in an effort to persuade at least some of them to acknowledge the universal jurisdiction of the occupant of the see of Rome. The effect of that was to fragment weakened churches, rendering them weaker still.