Interfaith

As part of the Diocesan Commission for Dialogue and Unity we are working towards realising the Church’s mission to enter into dialogue with those of other faiths in order to promote peace, justice and goodwill within our communities and beyond. In such a diverse Diocese as ours, covering urban and rural areas in the three counties of Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire as well as Bristol, there is much to do in raising awareness among Catholics of the importance of this Mission; in some places, mainly, of course, the urban areas of our Diocese, there is already awareness, cooperation and dialogue at varying levels, but the  aim is eventually to extend this to the more rural parts of the Diocese.  It is hoped that a programme to achieve this will be outlined and put in place shortly.

Women and Faith

One of the blessings of living in a multicultural society is that daily we rub shoulders with people of many different faiths and religious traditions. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus and Buddhists among many world religions, make up the rich tapestry of communities in our society.

As part of our contribution to this years’ Interfaith Week we welcome to our diocese, Dr Carmody Grey, Assistant Professor in Catholic Theology at Durham University, Dr. Yafa Shanneik, lecturer in Islamic studies at Birmingham University and Lindsay Simmonds who teaches at the London School of Jewish Studies who, together, will dialogue and explore with us the changing role of women in three religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

You can watch the video of the evening below:

INTERFAITH NEWSLETTER POST-PENTECOST 2018

REPORTS

Bishop Declan visits Mosque in Bristol

On Friday 25th November, Bishop Declan visited the Jamai Mosque in Totterdown, Bristol, after being invited by Zaheer Shabir.

As the pictures below show, he met many of the Muslims in the Mosque and said afterwards that he was ‘privileged and honoured to be there’.

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‘HAVE YOU READ? POPE FRANCIS : Evangelii Gaudium: The Joy of the Gospel: Apostolic Exhortation on the proclamation of the Gospel in today’s world (CTS. 2013) POPE FRANCIS’ dialogue with Rabbi Abraham Skorka – ‘On Heaven and Earth’ (ISBN 978-1-4729-0381-5) – published by Bloomsbury – and From the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales on the Church’s teaching with regard interfaith matters: Interfaith Dialogue: the teaching of the Catholic Church (2002) Meeting God in Friend and Stranger: Fostering respect and mutual understanding between the religions. (2010)