To express condolences for the thousands of deaths in the devastating earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria and to contribute to the Emergency Relief Appeal, the staff of the Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations (CCCMR), Bishop Vincent Long and representatives from the Interfaith Commission and the Diocese of Parramatta, made a solidarity visit to Gallipoli Mosque in Auburn NSW. In his address to the Imam and staff of the mosque, Fr Patrick McInerney, Columban priest and director of CCCMR, explains the purpose of their visit.
Clockwise from bottom left: CCCMR director Fr Patrick McInerney, Sister Colleen Foley OSU, Sr Ailsa Mackinnon RSM, Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv, Deacon Michael Tan, Osman Goreli, Imam Dr Abddurrahman Asaroglu, and Ergun Genel, at Gallipoli Mosque Auburn, Sydney.
Dr Abdurrahman Asaroglu, Bishop Vincent, brothers and sisters,
As-salaam alay-kum.
From the moment news broke of the devasting earthquake in Türkiye and Syria in the early hours of the 6th of February, the victims, the families who lost loved ones, and those who lost homes and livelihoods have been in the thoughts and prayers of Muslims, Christians, Jews, people of all faiths, and people of good will around the world.
Today, we Christians are here with you in solidarity. I apologise it has taken us so long to get here … but when I proposed this visit to Bishop Vincent, he asked me to organise it immediately. So here we are at last, together in solidarity in the Auburn Gallipoli Mosque.
Together with you, we mourn the 45,000 who lost their lives.
Together with you, we give thanks to God for those who were rescued from underneath the rubble, some many days after the collapse.
Together with you, we give thanks for the rescuers who dug desperately through the rubble at the risk of their own lives to find survivors.
Together with you, we give thanks for the benefactors and aid agencies who have been providing food and shelter to those in need.
We read in the Holy Quran, Sura al-Hujurat (49:10):
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَ أَخَوَيْكُمْ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ
The believers are but brothers, so make reconciliation between your brothers and fear Allah that you may receive mercy.
The word, mu’minūn [believers] does not refer to Muslims only, but to all who believe in the one God.
We are here together today as believers in the one God, Christians and Muslims, sisters and brothers united by our common faith in the one Merciful God, a singular truth which is higher and deeper and wider than the doctrinal and other matters on which we respectfully differ.
I recall also the words of the Imam Ali:
“A person is either your brother [or sister] in faith, or your equal in humanity.”
We are here together today as sisters in brothers in humanity, Christians and Muslims mourning the loss of so many of our sisters and brothers in the devastating earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria – not just YOUR sisters and brothers, but OURS too, for we are one humanity, one body, and when one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers.
We are here too in generosity. Christian charity for those in need obligated both the Bishop Vincent of the Diocese of Parramatta and St Columban’s Mission Society, which I represent, to donate to the Türkiye Emergency Earthquake Appeal. Our contributions are but a drop in the ocean of need that will last for years to come, but it is something.
We could have donated to a Christian or Catholic Relief agency such as CARITAS. But there is a community-building principle that I learned years ago, “Never do alone what you can do together.” Bishop Vincent and we at the Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations wanted to donate to you so that you can know and feel that our solidarity and concern is not just words, but is sincere, genuine, and practical, that we are truly together in solidarity, working together to provide aid and relief to those in such desperate need.
We Christians are currently in the season of Lent, when we are asked to fast, pray and give alms. You will soon be entering the month of Ramadan, with the same obligations of fasting, prayer and almsgiving. Then, for just over two weeks, Christians and Muslims will journey together in fasting, prayer and almsgiving, another expression of the bonds that unite us.
Finally, we are here together today in hope, that in the months and years to come, that the Almighty, All Merciful God will shower mercy on those in need, that there will be recovery, and re-building of shattered homes and shattered lives, and that we will grow in mutual friendship and love. To this end, I conclude with the words from Pope Francis:
Let us dream, then, as a single human family, as fellow travellers sharing the same flesh, as children of the same earth, which is our common home, each of us bringing the richness of his or her beliefs and convictions, each of us with his or her own voice, brothers and sisters all. (Fratelli Tutti, #8)
Thank you. Teşekkür ederim! [pronounced Teh-sheh-kull-erh Ed-erh-im]
Rev Dr Patrick McInerney, Director, Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations.
Related links
- Read more from the current Columban Interfaith eBulletin.
