Interfaith Gathering for Feast of the Annunciation

25/3/2015

(Translation of this article appears in Arabic section)

Several hundred dignitaries and representatives of the Christian and Muslim faiths gathered on 24 March 2015, the evening before the Christian feast of the Annunciation, at St Charbel’s Church Multi-purpose Hall in Punchbowl, Sydney, to celebrate together this important feast of Our Lady.

The event was hosted by H.E Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay, the Maronite Bishop of Australia and presented in both English and Arabic. Included among the speakers were Maronite, Catholic, Melkite bishops, Sunni and Shiite Sheikhs:

His Excellency Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay

Maronite Bishop of Australia

Archbishop Christopher Prowse

Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn

Representative of the Bishop’s Commission for Ecumenical and Inter-religious Relations

His Grace Archbishop Robert Rabbat

Archbishop of the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Australia and New Zealand

President, Conference of Bishops and Representatives of the Middle Eastern apostolic Churches in Australia and New Zealand

Sheikh Malek Zeidan

Australian representative of the Mufti in Lebanon

Sheikh Kamil Moselmani

Supreme Islamic Shiite Council of Australia

Archbishop Christopher Prowse

Politicians from several parties had also taken time from their busy schedules to attend. Various Christian churches were represented by their choirs who chanted beautiful hymns to Our Lady and other prayers and hymns from both faiths were presented together on a large screen as well as a beautiful recital from the Qur’an.

Some speakers emphasised the affection for Mary as a model of faith in both Islam and Christianity and invited us to become people who practise dialogue by choosing to become friends with people of other faiths. Muslim speakers emphasised our sharing of faith in the one God and related stories from their tradition about Jesus and Mary as well as emphasising that in our present troubled world much care is being taken by many Muslims in countries like Iraq to protect Christians and their churches.

His Grace Archbishop Robert Rabbat

The prayerful tone of the evening was enhanced by the various hymns, the reading aloud by all the participants of an ecumenical prayer and the lighting of candles which were placed together in veneration before a statue of Our Lady. This prayerful atmosphere led into much intermingling of the participants over refreshments after the ceremony.

Sheikh Kamil Moselmani

Fr. Brian Vale