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SYDNEY: An Australian Muslim school on Wednesday said
it will house hundreds of young Catholic pilgrims when Pope Benedict
XVI travels to Sydney this month on a visit organizers hope
encourages interfaith dialogue.
Hundreds of thousands of young
Australian and foreign Catholics are expected to arrive in Sydney
for World Youth Day celebrations from July 15 to 20, with many to be
lodged in Catholic and non-religious schools for their stay.
Malek Fahd Islamic School, in the
southwestern suburb of Greenacre, said it would also be hosting
about 350 pilgrims from July 14 until the Pope concludes his visit
with a Mass expected to attract up to 500,000 people on July 20.
“We’ve been regularly
involved in interfaith dialogue with other schools and we thought it
was our duty really,” the school’s welfare and discipline
coordinator Enas Darwich told Agence France-Presse.
“We didn’t think twice about
it.”
Darwich said there had been no
complaints from parents or students at the school, which will not be
paid for hosting the students, about the decision to use classrooms
as pilgrim accommodation during the mid-year break.
“I haven’t received any
negative feedback at all from anyone,” he said.
“The students are obviously
interested in what’s going on. It’s not every day that someone
comes and sleeps at their school.
“It’s a good opportunity for
them to see that there are many, many different types of religions
that are around.”
The organizers of World Youth
Day, a six-day celebration of the Catholic faith aimed at young
people, have stressed that they hope the event will be inclusive and
not just for Catholics.
“Like so much the Church does .
. . it seeks to serve all comers,” coordinator Bishop Anthony
Fisher said in May.
During his Sydney stay, Pope
Benedict XVI will meet with 40 representatives of other faiths
including Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu leaders. He will also
meet with the Australian leaders of other Christian rites.
--AFP
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