Our Muslim Guests

On Sunday 12 November, the Parish of St Joseph the Worker in Reservoir was delighted to welcome members of the Muslim community who joined local parishioners at the 10.30am Mass.

This initiative has been in the pipe-line for many months. St Joseph the Worker has been actively involved with the Darebin Interfaith Council through our parish representative Salvatore Miano.  He has been dedicated and most enthusiastic in the promotion of positive Interfaith relations in the local community.

It was felt that the parish needed to take another step forward in order to break-down many of the stereotypes and negative publicity often associated with the Muslim community. Fr Max Vodola arranged a meeting with Emre Celik from the Australian Intercultural Society in order to talk through some of the issues involved in such an initiative.

Our speakers for the day were Mehtap Altuntas and Sureyya Cicek from the Ladies Network of the Australian Intercultural Society. Their topics included different aspects of Islamic faith, cultural practice and the place of women in Islamic faith and culture. During the course of their presentations, it was amazing to discover the common features of Christian and Islamic faith; belief in the one God, the place of the prophets in the story of faith, respect for the holy book of faith, fasting, prayer, sin, conversion, repentance, respect for the gift of human sexuality, equality of men and woman before God and belief in the after-life.

After Mass, all gathered in the narthex of the church for a cuppa. The atmosphere of the morning was one of genuine respect, friendship, an open mind to each other’s religious traditions and customs and a real desire to build bridges of tolerance, trust and understanding.

The comments of some of our parishioner included the following:

“I found the presentations to be most informative especially the explanation of their culture, their forms of dress and their family values. I feel less ignorant and more tolerant of a people who have been harshly criticized and stereotyped because of world events”. (Maria Alvaro)

“I admired the young woman speakers for their devotion and commitment to what they believe and for sharing it with our parish community. I thank them for coming and speaking to us about issues relating to Islam. I was very happy to see the friendly, social and happy atmosphere during the cuppa after Mass”. (Salvatore Miano)

“It is always a great opportunity when you meet new people to learn and experience their culture and to hear about their religious beliefs. I learnt things I was ignorant about and understood how many things were similar to our faith journey. Dialogue and communication must be the way to go.”(Glenyce Silvio)