São Paulo – A meeting in Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, should bring together Christians and Muslims next Saturday (24). Coordination is by the Children’s Pastoral, an organisation connected to the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB), under the Catholic Church, and the Islamic community in the city. The objective of the International Christian-Muslim Meeting is to bringing together representatives of both faiths around an image of Mary, a figure who is admired both by the Christians and the Muslims.
Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, the saviour to the Christians and a prophet to the Islamists. “In Brazilian culture, Mary is greatly respected,” says Clóvis Boufleur, International Relations Manager at the Children’s Pastoral and general coordinator of the event. The meeting should take place at the Itaipu Belvedere and should bring together 7,000 people. Most should be Brazilians, but there will also be representatives from Lebanon, the United States, Nepal, Kenya, Turkey, France, India, Thailand, Sweden, Switzerland, El Salvador, Panama, Argentina and Paraguay.
The idea behind promoting the meeting took place after a similar event in Lebanon. Last year, Nelson Arns Neumann, the coordination of the International Children’s Pastoral, a doctor and the son of Zilda Arns, the organisation’s founder, participated in the meeting of the Secretariat for the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children, in New York, in which he heard the Lebanese Mohammad Sammak, secretary general of the Committee for Christian-Muslim Dialogue, speak about the event. The World Day of Prayer and Action for Children is an initiative of the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC).
On returning to Brazil, Neumann approached the CNBB, seeking support of the Catholic Church, with Muslim leaderships. The initiative was approved in both scopes. The theme chosen was “Mary, an example to us all”. The figure of Mary, a mother figure, makes sense for the meeting as the Children’s Pastoral works with pregnant women and children up to six years of age. “The interest of wellbeing of children is common to both religions,” said Boufleur.
The meeting takes place from 9:00 am to 04:00 pm, but from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm, the main addresses should take place, by Dom Geraldo Majella Agnelo, the Brazilian cardinal and co-founder of the Children’s Pastoral, and by the Lebanese Sammak. There will also be addresses by other leaders, like Dom Dirceu Vegini, Bishop of the Dioceses of Foz do Iguaçu, and of the Religious leader of the Islamic Beneficent Society of Foz do Iguaçu, sheikh Mohamed Khalil, as well as by the mayor of Foz, Paulo Mac Donald Ghisi. In that hour, there will also be a moment in honour of Mary.
At other times of the day, those present will be invited to visit the Mary’s Tent spaces. In each one of them, experience will be exchanged about several topics involving Mary, like, for example, her example in care with children, pregnant women and the presence of Mary in the Bible and Koran, among others.
According to the organizers of the event, the community in Foz is the second largest Arab and Lebanese community in Brazil, with around 17,000 members. The city borders Argentina and Paraguay, and, according to Boufleur, the objective of the meeting is also to help break the image of Foz do Iguaçu, often called the city of terrorists. “We want to show that we are all builders of peace and to remove this negative stigma of the Muslims of the frontier,” said Neumann, in a press statement disclosed by the Children’s Pastoral.
Service
International Christian and Muslim Meeting
Saturday, March 24th, 2012
Itaipu Belvedere (Av. Tancredo Neves, 6.731), Foz do Iguaçu (PR)
Opening: 9:00 am. Closing: 4:00 pm
Congregation for Celebration of Mary: 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
*Translated by Mark Ament
