ECUMENISM AND DIALOGUE
A biblical Bedouin-style tent as a place of dialogue and reconciliation, and as a monument against violence and terrorism, was inaugurated by Prince Charles in London on 4 May, in the presence of representatives of the most important religions in the UK. The tent is placed in a symbolic place in the City of London, the financial heart of the capital of Great Britain. The Anglican church of St. Ethelburga, destroyed by a bomb blast by the IRA, the Irish Republican Army, in 1993, is situated there. People wanted the church, which is of medieval origin, and which had already survived the great fire of London and the bombardments of the Second World War, to be reconstructed as a centre of interfaith dialogue. The tent was inaugurated in the garden next to the church as a place of dialogue between Christianity and Islam. It will provide a venue for conferences, concerts, spiritual meetings and readings for educators, church leaders and simple passers by. Present at the inauguration were Archbishop Emeritus Michael Bowen, representing the Catholic Primate Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor, the Anglican Bishop of London Richard Chartres, the Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and representatives of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions. The tent, the work of London artist Keith Critchlow, has sixteen sides covered with goat-hair fabric woven in Saudi Arabia, as in the tradition of Bedouin tents. Coloured windows with the symbols of the various religions are set into the sides of the tent.
