L-R: Mr Shafiq Khan, Al-Faisal College, Professor Haydon Ramsay ACU, Bishop Michael McKenna ACBC Commission for Christian Unity & Interreligious Dialogue, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, Grand Mufti of Australia. Photo: CCCMR
On 4 February 2020, the CCCMR team attended the Australian Catholic Bishops Commission for Christian Unity and Interreligious Dialogue’s celebration of the first-year anniversary of the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, co-signed in Dubai by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb.
Central to the event, held at ACU’s North Sydney campus, was a joint declaration to commit to the principles in the Document, expressed through a Statement specially developed for the occasion by the Commission and the Muslim representatives. Called A Christian-Muslim Interfaith Commitment Statement, it promises to uphold the freedoms of citizenship and belief; to recognise all human beings as brothers and sisters, and the dignity of every human person; and to commit to the “reconciliation and fraternity between all believers, non-believers, and all people of good will”, among others.
The Statement also included a message from H.E. Miguel Cardinal Angel Ayuso Guixot, MCCJ, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. During the evening, after talks by distinguished guests, the Apostolic Nuncio to Australia, His Excellency Most Reverend Adolfo Tito Yllana and the Grand Mufti of Australia, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, the Statement was co-signed by Bishop Michael McKenna, Chair, Australian Catholic Bishops Commission for Christian Unity and Inter-religious Dialogue; Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, Grand Mufti of Australia; Professor Hayden Ramsay, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Coordination Australian Catholic University, and Sheikh Shafiq Abdulla Khan, Chair, Australian Islamic Cultural Centre, and Managing Director, Al-Faisal Colleges.
It was a celebratory evening with old and new friends.