A former volunteer in Eritrea writes of another level of dialogue and conversin.”I thought that perhaps this one time I could offer something in the ongoing discussion your writers are producing regarding the relation of Catholicism and Islam.
I have some experiences that are (unfortunately) rare and that I think might help to provoke further thought. In 1993-1994 I volunteered with the De La Salle Christian Brothers in Asmara, Eritrea at one of their post-secondary schools.
While I was there I witnessed a number of amazing things.
First, I saw that the Orthodox Christian, Muslim, and Catholic communities each had their own solemn processions through the streets of the city to mark their festivals. I participated in some and watched others. While watching a Muslim procession, which sadly I still do not know exactly what it was, I greeted one of the men and wished him a happy festival. He invited me to tea right then and there and I spoke, in broken Italian, in a small tea shop with a very educated Muslim man about the need for dialogue between religions. [He said a lot more, but I understood almost nothing then except the point about the need for dialogue.] Eritrea, by the way, is mostly Muslim.
Catholics number in a very small minority. However, as part of my stay, and this is the second amazing point, I visited a number of Catholic clinics and schools run by the brothers and the Daughters of Charity in different locations throughout the country. These brothers and sisters were trying to serve Muslims and Catholics and Orthodox for the simple reason that they believed what was most important was the call to serve each other for the love of Jesus.
,P.
When you have seen the starving being fed and the afflicted being comforted, as I have, in their presence, you realize something important. These brothers and sisters knew that there were risks in Eritrea. They talked about them, but they would never have wanted their deaths to be used as evidence against another religion, against a whole group of people. They lived, and they told me so, with the knowledge that what they tried to do was simply to serve. These Catholic people, who became and still are my role models, simply said that they were not trying to make converts-and they weren’t.
Before I left the US for this volunteer experience, someone involved with visas told me that I should be very worried about being an American in a Muslim country. I left being quite worried.
And then, and this is the third amazing point, one night I found myself dancing in the street celebrating Eritrea’s independence day with at least 100,000 other people who did not look at all like me. And I was surprised to realize that I did not feel afraid.
One more experience I would like to share: Before I came to Providence College, from the fall of 2001 until 2004, beginning two weeks before the September 2001 attacks, I taught at a Jesuit college in Jersey City. Many of my students were Muslim. The neighborhoods I walked through around the school had Arabic signs and Arab shops. I would be lying if I said after September 11 I wasn’t afraid and angry. I was. I could see what happened from the third floor of our classroom building. I ran through those neighborhoods on the way to the PATH train after that.
But as the months went on, I found out that my Muslim students were scared and angry too. And I found that they were good people and thoughtful. Some of them studied philosophy, even became philosophy majors, and were darn good at articulating the truths in Aquinas, just for an example. I learned a great deal from being with them, and I learned a great deal from running and then slowing down and walking in the streets of Jersey City for three years.
Can you imagine a scared white man walking into Arab delis and buying lunch? I couldn’t…until I did. As a finite person, I often feel afraid and angry. As a finite philosopher, I know that I must at least try to resist allowing those emotions to make my arguments for me. Thanks for letting me share these with you. I welcome your responses.
Peter Costello, Ph.D. is a Professor at Prvoidence College.
