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Reflections of a Catholic Participant in the Abraham Festival
Helen McCarthy
Inspiration
The Abraham Festival began on a blustery winter day early in January, 2003. It was a "snow day" at St. Peter's High School. The students of my World Religions class were not at school, but my guest speaker was. I slinked down the stairs to meet her, fully expecting to find someone justifiably miffed that I had neglected to call and postpone the speaking engagement. Nothing could he further from the truth! Elizabeth Rahman was a  cheerful, generous person who came to school through the whirling snow to be sure she didn't miss speaking to my class.
As I spoke to Elizabeth Rahman about her Muslim faith, it was obvious within minutes that Christianity and Islam had very much in common. We live in such a troubled world. Too many of the difficulties seem to come from misunderstandings among the monotheistic religions. Information sharing is a way to reduce fear and misunderstandings and to teach about the impact God has had on others. Elizabeth and I decided our common experiences had to he shared and celebrated.
I tried to think of the origins of our commonality; Abraham was the natural choice. The notion that God has never abandoned any of us was so compelling to Elizabeth and me that we knew we had to include the third partner of our mutual story, the Jewish community. The Abraham Festival seemed to be the right thing to do.
Beginnings
The following Sunday at the 7:00 p.m. mass at St. Alphonsus Parish, my home parish in Peterborough, I asked Fr. Paul Massel, our pastor, if we could have something called "Abraham Days." His eyes shone immediately and he said, "An Abraham Festival. What a great idea!" We chatted over the next several weeks and everyone we spoke to had the same reaction. There was a "knowing" light in their eyes. There was something magnetic about the Abraham story; sharing his story with the other "children of Abraham" moved me deeply. Because I teach a course on the world's religions, I already had contacts with guest speakers. All I had to do was ask.
Having Fr. Paul sponsor the Abraham Festival was key to our success. He immediately made himself and his staff available for meetings at the rectory. Early in the summer, all three faith communities began a series of meetings at the St. Alphonsus Prayer Garden. Ron Molnar and Heather Pollock came from the Jewish community, Elizabeth Rahman and Imam Hamed Mohammed represented the Muslims, and Fr. Paul, Fr. John Rathinaswamy, Ann Farlow and I represented Catholic Christians. We began each gathering with a prayer from each group. Hearing the Imam sing in Arabic to God at our Catholic rectory was one of the holiest moments I've ever experienced.
We agreed that our vision was that we would come together in each other's houses of worship to see what Abraham meant to each of us. We agreed that we would not debate teachings; we wanted to find our common understandings and to see what intrigued us about each other's ideas and rituals. Elizabeth, Heather and Fr. Paul insisted that I remember our differences were also very important and we agreed to celebrate our diversity too.
We devised a simple statement that was to he read at the beginning of each gathering. We would begin with "Greetings, sons and daughters of Abraham." We decided, too, that each group would provide snacks for socializing afterwards. Finally, we created response sheets to ask people what they felt we had in common after each session. The sheets also asked what participants found intriguing about each faith.
We wrote up a brochure indicating the protocol expected at each place of worship. This included yarmulkes for the men at the synagogue and headscarves for women at the mosque. In addition, we were to leave our shoes in the cubby holes at the entrance to the mosque. In all places of worship, a dress code of modesty was in place.
I remember that I was very anxious to not offend during the early meetings and was concerned that this whole idea might he considered quite inappropriate. This anxiety ended during one gathering on a midsummer night, when Heather said that the synagogue probably didn't have enough yarmulkes to give out to all the visiting men at the front door. Hamed asked if she could use extras if he brought them along from the mosque. Heather said, "That would be great!" My fears were replaced by deep feelings of warmth for these people and the communities they represented.
Our goal was to set up instruction nights on Tuesday evenings and worship services on the following weekend. Before long we discovered that our religious calendars were very complex and we couldn't avoid scheduling conflicts. l the event were to happen at all in 2003, we had to manage without the company of the Jewish community on September 26, the Jewish New Year, the night we would experience Muslim prayer.
At the Mosque
We began on September 23 with Islam because Muslims have a special day of worship on Fridays. Everyone was rather nervous the first night because we had no model to follow and we weren't sure what the turnout would be. But as I rounded the comer where the mosque is situated, there were cars pulling up from all directions. The turnout at the Mosque was far greater than we expected. It was thrilling!
Inside were Jews and Catholics and Muslims sitting in rows on the floor as the Imam concluded an evening prayer in Arabic. I loved seeing all those Catholic women's faces looking out from under their scarves.
Hamed had set up a PowerPoint presentation to show us Mecca and the Muslim story of Abraham. He told us about the Muslim perspective on Mary, Jesus' mother, and the fact that Muslims see Jesus as one of their five greatest prophets. Hamed explained the meanings of the Arabic inscriptions on the walls of the mosque and told us there were no pictures or images out of respect for the greatness of God. We were invited to ask questions at the end. One Catholic man began to ask about the current situation in Iraq and he was reminded that we wouldn't be talking about politics. A visiting imam put us all at ease with some jokes. (He came to all the events and was a tremendous asset in lightening the mood.)
Our Muslim hosts then escorted us downstairs to join them in some wonderful snacks, tea, and coffee.
We arrived at 6:45 p.m. the following Friday to pray at sunset. People lined up according to the carpet pattern and faced Mecca. The imam chanted in Arabic and then translated into English for us. After the prayer, he invited a guest to come forward to try all the standing, kneeling and bowing positions. The young man had some difficulty with all the movements and the imam said that the Muslim prayer routine—five times a day—keeps a person fit in body, mind and spirit.
At the Synagogue
The instruction at the synagogue was conducted by two lay people, since the congregation is so small there isn't a resident rabbi. Heather Pollock gave a detailed explanation of what Abraham means to people of the Jewish faith. Heather told me later that when she spoke about how hard it is to teach children another language (Hebrew), she could see all the Muslim heads nodding.
Dan Houpt said he was "the show and tell guy"; he showed us the Torah and read some lines from it in Hebrew. He said he had memorized them for his bar mitzvah. Then he blew a rams horn for us and told us that the horn reminds people of the ram that God substituted for Isaac as Abraham's sacrifice. At one point during his presentation Dan told us that we had to finish on time so our Muslim cousins could get downstairs in time for prayer.
At the synagogue the following weekend, participants followed along in a Jewish prayer book as words from the Torah were prayed and sung. Children were very much a part of the ceremony.
At the Church
The Catholic presentation explained the story of Abraham and Isaac. Children performed a pantomime of the events of Holy Week and the choir sang. We recited the Lord's Prayer. During question period visitors asked us how the confessional process works as well as various questions about changes since Vatican II.
At the Park
At the Millennium Park in Peterborough, we came together for a final time to unveil a plaque featuring a map showing Ur, Mecca and Jerusalem. It says, "Abraham's Journey through Three Faiths: the Story Continues, 2003.
We also generated a book of responses to the whole experience that reflected on the commonalities we discovered during the instruction times. This booklet also recorded ideas that intrigued us.
The Journey Continues
I went back to the synagogue two weeks after the plaque ceremony, as we were all invited to hear Michael Soberman, a Jewish educator speak about his visit to Auschwitz. He described the Holocaust as a human tragedy. It happened once in a modern western society and it could happen again. He told us that we all must stand up when human rights are being violated, as they are in the case of Muslims who are presumed to be terrorists simply because they are Muslims. 
At the time of writing we are sitting down for a debriefing on the Abraham Festival. People have told us they're delighted with what we have learned and are learning about our neighbours. We have been profoundly moved by their spirit of hospitality, their wisdom, and their values of humility before God. People from all three traditions have asked what we're doing next. The story is continuing indeed.
The fact that this idea was conceived and developed at the grassroots level was a factor contributing to its success. Expectations were met every time, mainly because we didn't expect much—only that we recognized that we were all inspired by the same God. This was authentic and therefore huge.
For me, this is becoming the adventure of a lifetime.
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Helen McCarthy teaches world religions at St. Peter's High School and is a member of St. Alphonsus Parish in Peterborough, Ontario. She and partners from the Muslim and Jewish communities are currently planning the seven-day Second Annual Abraham Festival (Fall 2004), the theme of which will be "What Family Means to Our Tradition."
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