Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and archbishop of Westminster, expressed in recent days a willingness to “offer the assistance of the Catholic community to the Moslem community in every possible way”. Receiving in Westminster Sheik Badawi, chairman of the Council of imams and mosques, accompanied by five veteran leaders of Britain’s Moslem community for the first formal meeting of this kind since his election as archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal O’Connor expressed to Badawi a wish to “deepen dialogue and mutual understanding between the two faiths” in the country and “to cooperate in fields of common interest”. Badawi in turn spoke of the “affection and gratitude that the Islamic community” feels for Catholics, and of the need for “the leaders of the two faiths to remain united in this time of international tension”. Badawi also said he was “happy to be able to pursue the cordial relations” established by O’Connor’s predecessor, Cardinal Basil Hume. The meeting ended with the decision that the Catholic and Moslem leader should continue to meet together on a regular basis to discuss issues of common interest, in particular human rights, the importance of faith at school, and the family. They intend to “remain united against violence committed in the name of religion” and “in the defence of the religious freedom of everyone, wherever in the world this risks being violated”. The areas of cooperation identified include the commitment to the assistance of the elderly and the poor, and the encouragement of the youth of both faiths to meet together in churches and mosques to strength mutual understanding and forge bonds of friendship.
