CATHOLIC-SHI’A ENGAGEMENT: CONFERENCE

Ampleforth Abbey, 10—13 July, 2005

[Account by Sr M Agnes, Stanbrook Abbey]

The Introductory day to this meeting, at Heythrop College, was followed by three days at Ampleforth Abbey, Yorkshire, for a smaller invited group of about 25 Christians and 15 Muslims—most of whom had come over specially from Iran for the event. We were all housed together in the new modern building of St Aidan’s which normally accommodates the girl boarders of Ampleforth College, and we partook of delicious vegetarian meals in a pleasant dining room situated in the spacious and modern Central Building, which serves as a conference centre. These arrangements allowed for much intermingling in which we shared views, made new friendships and built on old ones formed at the previous Heythrop/Ampleforth gathering held two years ago.

There was a particular poignancy abut this meeting, held as it was in the immediate aftermath of the London terrorist bombings of 7^th July. Not only that, but the host of the Heythrop meeting, Rev John McDade, SJ, had actually been a passenger on one of the targeted trains, but mercifully escaped unhurt. It would seem to have made his determination to go ahead with the Conference all the stronger, and I believe it made all of us realise the importance of dialogue and building up friendship and trust with our Muslim brothers and sisters, while recognising at the same time that the perpetrators of such atrocities are not recognised as true members of the religion to which they claim adherence.

The Conference began, after a pleasant evening meal, with a preliminary gathering addressed by the three main organisers of the event: Abbot Timothy Wright, until recently Abbot of Ampleforth; Anthony O’Mahony of Heythrop College, and Mohammad Shomali, Head of the Department of Religion at the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute in Qum, Iran. Abbot Timothy began with a reference to the huge Persian carpet which had been specially made for the Ampleforth community as a gift from the Imam Khomeini Institute. We were actually able to see it from the main hall of the Central Building, stretching the whole length of the cloister, a marvel of beauty. He then read a letter sent to the group from Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, who had been invited but was unable to attend. he gave us his blessing and encouragement, together with a short exposition on faith and reason, the main topic of our meeting. Next Anthony O’Mahony, Director of Research at the Heythrop Centre for Christianity and Interreligious Dialogue, situated our meeting in the historical context of a Christian/Muslim dialogue which has been going on in Iran for centuries. Finally, Mohammad Shomali recapped for us the genesis of this particular dialogue in which we are presently engaged. He described how, when he was studying in Manchester, he desired to make contact with some committed Christians—something he did not find easy until he came in contact with a Focolare group. An Ampleforth monk, Dom Jonathan Cotton, happened to be a member … one thing led to another and following a visit of Abbot Timothy and Dom Wulstan to Iran, the first Catholic/Shi’a Engagement took place in Ampleforth in 2003. Next we were all invited in turn to sand up and say a few words about ourselves. it soon became clear that we had an amazing variety of expertise from people living as far apart as USA, Britain, Rome and Australia. There were also four monks from the Abbey, and Shi’a Muslims from Iran and Britain. The common denominator was a deep desire to further the cause of Muslim/Christian dialogue in a relaxed atmosphere of peace and friendship.

The morning sessions began with two papers delivered in turn by a Christian and a Muslim speaker. The topic on the first day was faith and reason, the first paper being delivered by Patrick Riordan, SJ, of Heythrop, whose area of expertise is political theology. It was rather dense and tightly packed, but extremely interesting. Fortunately it will be published together with all the other papers by one of the participants, Mr Len Harrow, editor of Melisende Publishing, London, so there will be a chance to digest its rich contents at leisure. The second paper, on faith and reason in the Shi’a tradition, was delivered by Dr Mohsen Javadi of Qum University. It was well delivered, and firmly based on the Qur’an. Again we will welcome a chance to digest at leisure in the published version. We then broke for coffee taken informally in the main hall, after which we divided into smaller groups where we discussed points from the talks or went off at a tangent wherever the Spirit led. We split into three of groups nine or ten, ensuring that there was a good mix of Christians and Muslims in each. I had the privilege of being in the same group as both Abbot Timothy and Mohammad Shomali. A gifted philosopher, with a superb command of English, Mohammad was plied with many questions which he always answered with great clarity—and charity. We found these group sessions very valuable as we discovered what we had in common and in an atmosphere and trust and friendship could raise issues that divided us. We allowed time a the end of the morning to go back to the lecture theatre for a plenary session where the two speakers could be questioned publicly about their papers.

The second morning’s papers were on the topic of authority and tradition. Abbot Mark Serna, OSB, recently retired Abbot of Portsmouth Abbey, Rhode Island, USA, and Chair of Monastic Interreligious Dialogue in North America, gave an excellent and very clear presentation of the Catholic position. This was followed by an equally excellent paper by Dr Ghasem Kakaei of Shiraz University, Iran, giving the Shi’a perspective. One was struck by the fact that Catholic authority is firmly rooted in the Church, expressed particularly through the pope and ecumenical councils, whereas in Islam the emphasis is on the  prophets and imams, who are considered to be infallible and whose authority is focussed in religious State. In the late afternoon we had two very interesting sessions on spiritual direction. Michael Barnes, SJ, an experienced spiritual director in his own right, gave us an excellent summary of the Catholic tradition, after which Mohammad Shomali gave a very clear presentation of ‘spiritual awakening’ in the Shi’a tradition. On this level of prayer and growth in the spiritual life we have much in common and one could be aware of the Spirit at work in both traditions.

The third morning was given over to papers on morality and praxis, first by Dr Scott M Thomas, an American lecturing in the Department of Economics and International Development at the University of Bath, and the second by Dr Reza Shah-Kazemi of the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, who spoke most inspiringly on the beauty of God as an important, though neglected, source of our moral actions.

 

One of the highlights of our gathering was an excellent talk on the eve of the feast of St Benedict, by the novice master of the Abbey, Fr Bonaventure Knollys, on the Rule of St Benedict and Benedictine spirituality. This was billed as ‘optional’ but in fact most attended. It was followed by a conducted tour of the Abbey Church, during which Fr Bonaventure showed us the relics of St Lawrence, among other treasures, after which we all attended 1^st Vespers of St Benedict. It was always a most prayerful and uplifting experience to be in choir with the monks.

The afternoons were in general given over to lighter fare. The first day we went on a pilgrimage, led by Abbot Timothy, to the Lady Chapel, Mount Grace Priory, Osmotherly. This has a long history dating back to the 12^th century when it was probably a hermitage. It is possible Carthusian monks lived there while they were building their Priory in the village below. We spent the afternoon of the feast of St Benedict at Rievaulx Abbey. For both these outings we were blessed with perfect weather.

It was a privilege to attend these three days of real grace. The peace and harmony we experienced gives hope in a world that terrorists would split apart. It was evident that our common humanity and search for God were much stronger than anything that could divided us. Although ostensibly the main theme of the conference was faith and reason, what stood out most for me was the love and nearness of God. One tends to think of Islam as the religion par excellence of the transcendence of God; a God who is to be worshipped and obeyed but not loved. I had wondered how a Muslim could experience anything like what a Christian can know of the Fatherhood of God and his nearness to us in Jesus Christ. I came to understand that we are not so far apart in this matter as I had imagined. One member of the group quoted the verse in the Qur’an which speaks of God being closer to us than our jugular vein, and in those few blessed days that we share it was clear to me that the God of love is Father of us all and we are all equally his children.