The University of Notre Dame Australia will this month be host to an interfaith event celebrating the three religious traditions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam that share a common origin in Abraham.
Perth Catholic Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, Perth Hebrew Congregation Chief Rabbi Daniel Lieberman and Teacher and Leader of the Perth Islamic community, Sheikh Muhammad Agherdien, will each speak on the theme, “Care for our Common Home: Stewardship, Responsibility and the Gift of Creation”.
The panel discussion style event will take place on Thursday 27 October from 2.30pm – 4.30pm at Foley Hall and will include an audience Question and Answer session, followed by a reading and prayer from each faith tradition.
Speaking at the occasion in 2017 Archbishop Costelloe highlighted that people of faith should challenge themselves to welcome others in a genuine and caring fashion.
“A real welcome, a sincere welcome, comes from the heart, we might say it is all about one heart meeting another,” Archbishop Costelloe said.
“It is about a real human connection being established between two or more people, and it becomes the basis for a real, respectful, life-giving encounter which leaves all those involved acknowledged, affirmed, and uplifted.
“We might reflect this afternoon on whether or not our hearts are really in this project of welcoming, if they are those compassionate hearts that our three religions, which all look to Abraham as our common father and ancestor in our faith, seek to form within us.”
Archbishop Costelloe explained that people should call on the traits of courage, compassion and conviction to stand up for others, following the guidance of Abraham and the Good Samaritan.
“This Samaritan answers our question for us: who is the ‘other’? The ‘other’ is anyone who is in need of help, anyone who is downtrodden, anyone who is rejected or ill-used, and I want to suggest this afternoon that our three religious traditions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, have a vital role to play, and precious resources to bring to bear, in helping our society to become worthy of the gift of human life we have received from our creator, the one all-merciful God from whom we all come and to whom we will all return,” Archbishop Costelloe said.
Click Here to view the event Flyer.
For more information and to RSVP by Thursday 20 October, go to https://events.nd.edu.au/abrahamday or contact faith@nd.edu.au.