Catholics and Muslims together in Spain to help the migrants

Catholics and Muslims together in Spain to help the migrants

 

 

Catholics and Muslims will jointly coordinate efforts for refugees in the Community of Valencia and will hold a common prayer for peace. In Valencia, in the eastern region of the Iberian Peninsula, the Archbishop Cardinal Antonio Cañizares has promoted a meeting with the president of the Islamic Commission in Spain (CIE), Riay Tatary. It’s the first meeting with the Muslim community held in a Spanish diocese, aimed at coordinating joint initiatives for support to refugees. In the month of November, the promoters said, will be laid the cornerstone of strengthened, concrete efforts in favor of all those in a serious state of need.

Prayer for peace. The purpose of the meeting held at the end of October in the archbishopric of Valencia was to “pool all available resources and coordinate efforts to meet the needs” of the refugees. Riay Tatary said he appreciated the initiative of cardinal Antonio Cañizares, who “promptly” decided to establish dedicated communication between the Catholic and Muslim communities.

We have equally “pledged to promptly provide concrete – and not theoretical – action”, pointed out the Muslim religious leader, “in order to make headway to reach our goals”.

During the same meeting, participants decided to hold a prayer for peace scheduled to take place in Valencia (the exact date will be made known soon) in conjunction with all religious communities. Moreover, Tatary underlined, “it was decided to set up a committee in coordination with the archdiocese of Valencia to meet the challenge of welcoming refugees from the Middle East”.

Joint welcome. For his part, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, explained:“We will welcome refugees, wherever they come from”. He stressed the

firm belief of the Islamic and Catholic communities “that this unity, this peace, and the constant reaffirmation of the dignity of the human person, that is the key to everything, would not be possible without God”.

The prelate underlined the need to “pray together the One and only God for peace with all Christian confessions and world religions” and to show “the solidarity of the Islamic and Catholic community in welcoming refugees”. For the cardinal, “in a short time a consistent number of refugees will reach Spain, and we are ready to welcome them”. This cooperation is equally aimed at “helping them overcome language problems and find a home”, to ensure their integration. From this perspective, the archbishop of Valencia highlighted “the important role” of the Catholic University of Valencia that is planning the establishment of an Institute for Religious Studies, “to spread information on what religions have to offer: to strengthen the formation of all those at the service of the poor”.

There is room. In the meantime, in order to organize aids to the refugees, the diocese of Valencia “has set up a Commission comprising representatives of Catholic organizations involved in providing social support in dioceses. Before the summer the Commission launched a project for assistance to refugees to bring together all the solidarity initiatives promoted by the citizens of Valencia”. The project, named “In our homes there is room for another brother”, is jointly promoted by several institutions such as the diocesan Secretariat for Migration, the Commission for Support to Refugees and Persecuted Christians, the Diocesan Caritas of Valencia, the Spanish Confederation of the Religious of the Community of Valencia and the CEIMigra Foundation. Moreover, the diocese of Valencia will upload on the website of the diocesan Caritas of Valencia, “a form to be filled out by all those wishing to offer any kind of help, whether material or personal, with a banking account to collect offerings and an information hotline”. Finally, dedicated formation courses will be set up for all those involved in the care of refugees, organized by Caritas and by the Islamic Commission in Spain.