By Marco Tosatti
It is undoubtedly
a gesture of good will, but it might also be a colossal mistake. We are talking
about the initiative by Malpensa’s chaplain who decided to place the Chapel of
Our Lady of Loreto at the disposition of Muslims for their prayers.
We read of
the initiative here: (click here); it seems to be well-intentioned, but perhaps not very wise
Let’s try to
explain why.
The place a
Muslim community prays becomes Dar al-Islam, the house of Islam; a place that
will always be the property of the Prophet’s followers. Not like the rest of
the world -- the west in particular -- which is Dar al-harb, the house of war,
i.e. land to conquer for the true faith.
And it is
precisely for this reason that when the Saladin conquered Jerusalem and visited
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, he did this: he had the Cross destroyed, and
the bells broken but didn’t want to pray inside*, specifically to avoid the
Sepulchre becoming Dar al – Islam. In fact he wanted it to remain a place of
Christian pilgrimage (also for economic reasons, it seems: the pilgrims brought
good business).
It is not by
chance that the Italian Bishop’s Conference wrote this in its pastoral
document:
“So as to
avoid useless misunderstandings and confusion, the Christian community, must
not place churches, chapels and places reserved for Catholic worship at the
disposition of non–Christian faiths for religious meetings, as well as places
destined for parish activities. Likewise, before promoting religious cultural
initiatives or prayer meetings with non-Christians, careful consideration about their significance is required and the
guaranteeing of a correct style of interreligious
relations, following the dispositions of the local church.”
In fact, in
recent months, at a high level meeting with the Pope and his collaborators, the
problem of dialogue with Islam and its multiple aspects was discussed. The head
of an important ministry, who has great experience in the matter of the Islamic
world, said that we need to caution our pastoral workers, who perhaps naively
lend out churches and halls. In the collective memory of the Islamic faithful,
this data remains; and may become object of a claim in a more or less distant
future.
So perhaps
if there is a Bishop in Milan, he ought to do something to put the Chaplain’s
good intentions in order ...
Translation: Contributor Francesca Romana
[Source]
