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Ecumenicalism & Mar Musa (2)

Image: Ecumenicalism & Mar Musa (2)

from susan.dirgham, 04.07.09

I was on a craggy hill in the desert monastery of Mar Musa with Bruce Petty and Mike Pearce to interview Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, the Italian priest committed to Muslim Christian dialogue, and a lot more. The priest who said,
"Muslims are us. This is the lesson the West has yet to learn." (June 2009 National Geographic, page 94). We had an appointment but reminders weren't given, I didn't ring to confirm, and so we arrived to find Father Paolo was in Damascus. It was not good news: we had walked up 500 steps (so our driver told us) to the monastery in above 30 degree heat, and it was getting hotter.

Our disappointment worried Sister Huda, who seemed to be in charge, and though she had a lot to manage - a bus load of visitors and a conference of students from Norway later in the day - she promised to find us an alternative interviewee. In the end, she offered herself.

I found her to be open-hearted and deep-thinking. You'll find no rhetoric or jargon in her conversation.  I'm grateful we had a chance to interview her before we finally encountered Father Paolo, another person with a formidable intellect and an all-encompassing heart. As we prepared for a difficult walk down, Father Paolo strode up the last of the 500 steps, apologised profusely, greeted us robustly, and whisked us off to a quiet place for his interview.

(NB: Although Sister Huda has what seems to be an Italian accent, she is a native of Damascus, coming from Bab Tuma, the Christian quarter of the Old City. Originally trained as an agronomist, she felt moved to become a nun after visiting Mar Musa some fifteen years ago. That decision led to five years' study in Rome which may account for her accent.)

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