Muslims' call for dialogue:
Why it disappoints Christians

		The Catholic  Difference  George Weigel

On October 11, at the end of Islam's holy month of Ramadan, 138 Muslims from around the world addressed a letter to Pope Benedict XVI and numerous other Christian leaders. Entitled "A Common Word Between Us and You," the letter was released in a media-savvy rollout in several world capitals and was welcomed with enthusiasm by one of the addressees, Canterbury's Rowan Williams.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the reconstituted Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, was cordial but cautious, suggesting that while there were certainly things to talk about based on a shared commitment to the two Great Commandments of love of God and love of neighbor, there were also many difficulties.

Pope's invitation

Something else struck me about "A Common Word" and the media commentary on it: both the letter's signatories and the reporters writing about it seemed unaware of the proposal for framing a new dialogue between Christianity and Islam made by the Holy Father last December, in his Christmas address to the Roman Curia.

There, Benedict XVI proposed that the dialogue focus on the question of how religious traditions assimilate the positive achievements of the Enlightenment. Those achievements include the victory of the idea of religious freedom as an inalienable human right - a human right that, acknowledged in law and thus erected into a civil right, leads to distinctions between religious and political authority in a just state.

Catholicism, the pope reminded the Curia, had spent the better part of two centuries trying to find solutions to the questions of faith, freedom, and governance posed by the Enlightenment, a process that bore fruit at the Second Vatican Council. Might there be something in this Catholic experience of retrieval-and-renewal for a Christian-Islamic dialogue to ponder?

Religious freedom

These do seem to be the most urgent questions. For unless Islam can find within its own spiritual resources a way to legitimate religious freedom and the distinction between religious and political authority, the relationship between two billion Christians and a billion Muslims is going to remain fraught with tension.

"A Common Word" speaks at length about the two Great Commandments; it says nothing about their applicability to issues of faith, freedom, and the governance of society: issues posed, for example, by the death threats visited upon Muslims who convert to Christianity and by the refusal to allow Christian public worship in Saudi Arabia.

"A Common Word" also seems rather defensive, as if it were 21st century Christians who, in considerable numbers, were justifying the murder of innocents in advancing the cause of God. But that is manifestly not the case.

Need genuine dialogue

Knowledgeable analysts of Islamic affairs have also raised questions about the composition of the "138," which includes a considerable number of government functionaries as well as figures with connections to Wahhabism, the fanatic sect whose teachings and financial influence inflame so much Islamist agitation around the world.

Be that as it may - and it's not an insignificant thing - I would suggest that the better approach would be to ask the people who put "A Common Word" together why the pope's invitation of last December was not addressed.

Do these 138 Muslims agree or disagree that religious freedom and the distinction between religious and political authority are the issues at the heart of today's tensions between Islam and the West - indeed, Islam and the rest? Would it not be more useful to concentrate on these urgent issues of practical reason (which bear on the organization of 21st century societies) than to frame the dialogue in terms of a generic exploration of the two Great Commandments (which risks leading to an exchange of banalities)? Why not get down to cases?

It is of the utmost importance for the human future that a genuine inter-religious dialogue unfold between Islam and Christianity (and Judaism, which is largely ignored in "A Common Word"). Genuine dialogue requires a precise focus, and a commitment by the dialogue partners to condemn by name those members of their communities who murder in the name of God.

It is unfortunate that "A Common Word" took us no closer to cementing either of these building blocks of genuine dialogue into place.

George Weigel is a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

My favorite things: A different view

		Grand Mom  Audrey  Mettel Fixmer

It's Thanksgiving time again and that means repeating some things I have said before. We all need reminders of what we have to be thankful for, don't we? Isn't that why Thanksgiving is an annual affair?

In the early years of writing this column, the early 90s, I quoted two of my good friends, Mary McBride and Patricia Gits Opatz, and their inspiring attitudes about thankfulness as a way of life.

Thankfulness

McBride is well known in this diocese as a humorist who entertained thousands with her humorous talks and books. She wrote for famous comedians like Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers. It was Diller who told her son, Fr. Bill McBride, "Your mother is one of the most thankful people I know."

Thankful people are the favorites of caregivers. The notorious "grouchy old men" aren't as likely to get the same TLC as their thankful counterparts.

I am so grateful to see the good care my husband is receiving at the Black Hawk Senior Living. It has a lot to do with the management of the facility, of course, but I also like to think it is the respect and thankfulness he shows for his caregivers. Everyone knows they are overworked and underpaid, so a show of appreciation may be the one thing that keeps them on the job.

New version of 'My Favorite Things' Maalox and nose drops and needles for knitting, Walkers and handrails and new dental fittings, Bundles of magazines tied up in string, These are a few of my favorite things. Cadillacs and cataracts and hearing aids and glasses, Polident and Fixodent and false teeth in glasses, Pacemakers, golf carts, and porches with swings, These are a few of my favorite things. When the pipes leak, when the bones creak, When the knees go bad, I simply remember my favorite things, And then I don't feel so bad. Hot tea and crumpets and corn pads for bunions, No spicy hot food or food cooked with onions, Bathrobes and heating pads and hot meals they bring, These are a few of my favorite things. Back pains, confused brains, and no need for sinning, Thin bones and fractures and hair that is thinning, And we won't mention our short, shrunken frames, When we remember our favorites things. When the joints ache, when the hips break, When the eyes grow dim, Then I remember the great life I've had And then I don't feel so bad.

A different tune

The other friend that I mentioned in that column of 14 years ago was Patricia Gits Opatz. She passed away seven years ago, but she was another one who shared her wit and humor right up to the end. While she was battling breast cancer, she wrote a song to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean," calling it "A Song For Older Women On Days When They Don't Feel Thankful."

The first verse went, "I thank God I'm finally aging. I welcome each line on my face. I know that each new sag and wrinkle brings dignity, wisdom, and grace." Another verse was "Thank God I've survived all those tough years of babies and bottles and bills. I welcome the pleasures of aging, retirement, trifocals, and pills."

When she spoke somewhere, she often passed out the printed words and the audience sang along all the verses and chorus, which was "So long, goodbye to spring chicken days with their cares and strife. Three cheers golden years, I've waited for this all my life."

(I confess that I shamelessly used her song with some of my audiences, too. It was amazing to see how even glum old ladies perked up and sang along happily.)

New favorite things

I was reminded of this recently when my friend Lois sent me an e-mail about a revised version of "My Favorite Things" (see box), the song Julie Andrews made famous in The Sound Of Music. I encourage all of you to sing it to that famous tune. You'll deserve a standing ovation for focusing on your blessings instead of your shortcomings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Grandmom" likes hearing from other senior citizens who enjoy aging at P.O. Box 216, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538.