Queensland Intercultural Society participated in a joint pilgrame to Istanbul and Rome with a group of Australian Muslim and Catholics leaders. This first of its kind event has enabled religious leaders from both faith groups to study and understand each others religious principles, customs and significant institutions by means of a close encounter. The important pilgrimage was organized under the umbrella of the historic MOU signed between the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne and the Australian Intercultural Society.

This tour was the first interfaith pilgrimage tour conducted jointly with Affinity and AIS. This tour had 23 participants, 11 Muslims and 12 Christians, from all around Australia however predominantly from Melbourne. The 23 participants also had some prominent figures in the Church, Islamic Councils and Academia. It featured the following people.

The Christian participants were::

1. Bishop Christopher Prowse : Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne, Member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.
2. Fr John Dupuche : Chair of the Catholic Interfaith Committee and member of the Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission.
3. Mr David Schütz : Executive Officer of the Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.
4. Dr Stewart Sharlow : Director, Asia-Pacific Centre for Inter-religious Dialogue at Australian Catholic University.
5. Mrs Charlotte Haine-Sharlow : Member of the Catholic Interfaith Committee of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.
6. Fr Denis Stanley : Parish Priest of St. Francis Xavier's Catholic Parish, Frankston; Vice President Victorian Council of Churches.
7. Dr Gwenda Rait : Member of the Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission and Catholic Interfaith Committee of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.
8. Dr Max Stephens : Australian Catholic University / University of Melbourne. Member of the Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.
9. Dr Anita Ray : Research Fellow at the Asia-Pacific Centre for Inter-religious Dialogue, Australian Catholic University (Melbourne) and former lecturer in Sanskrit at the Asian
   Studies Department, La Trobe University.
10. Dr Anne Hunt : Campus Dean of the Ballarat Campus of Australian Catholic University.
11. Fr John Pearce : Priest of the Passionist order. He is currently Parish Priest at St Brigid’s Marrickville (Sydney), and is part of the local Ministers Fellowship and Multi-faith Round
    Table.
12. Prof Greg Barton : Professor of Politics and Director of the Centre for Islam in the Modern World at Monash University. (Greg Barton joined us for 6 days of the tour)

The Muslim participants were::

1. Mr Mehmet Saral : Affinity Intercultural Foundation, New South Wales, President and Cofounder.
2. Mrs Zuleyha Keskin : Affinity Intercultural Foundation, New South Wales, Vice President.
3. Mr Orhan Cicek : Australian Intercultural Society, Victoria, Executive Advisor and Cofounder.
4. Mrs Turkan Cicek : Australian Intercultural Society Women’s Network, Victoria, Coordinator.
5. Mr Fatih Asar : Queensland Intercultural Society, President.
6. Prof Ismail Albayrak : Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Fethullah Gülen Chair.
7. Mr Ikebal Patel : Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, President.
8. Mr Osman Karolia : Arkana Islamic College, New South Wales, Principal.
9. Mr Mustafa Ally : Crescents Community News, Queensland Editor-in-Chief.
10. Mr Albert Fatileh : Member of the Victoria Police Multicultural Advisory Unit, Secretary of the Victoria Police Multi-Faith Council.
11. Miss Heba Ibrahim : Board member of the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV), secretary to the executive committee (portfolios are: government, policy and advocacy as well as interfaith).

I really enjoyed going in to a Turkish Muslim home for dinner and seeing how similar they are to Australians – Gwenda, Doctor

2009 Itinerary of the tour

Whilst the tour was jam packed with visiting historical places known for their Open Air Museums in two great Cities in Istanbul and Rome, there were also visits and meetings with prominent people from both the Muslim and Catholic communities of each City. Some of these visits are outlined below:

ISTANBUL

1. Visiting Sultan Ahmet Square, Istanbul, which contains the Blue Mosque (aka Sultan Ahmet Mosque), Haghia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, Hagaia Erenia Church in Topkapi palace, Hippodrome, Obelisk of Theodosius, Serpentine Column, German Fountain of Wilhelm II and the Sixth-century Byzantine cistern. The history in just this square was so substantial that most of the ~8 Million tourists who visit Istanbul every year do not leave without visiting the Sultan Ahmet Square.
2. Grand Bazaar, Istanbul, is a small town in itself, with miles of passageways, mosques, banks, police stations, restaurants—and ~4000 shops. It is a very historical site, built by the Ottomans and is the largest number of shops in a shopping centre found anywhere in the World. All the shops have traditional bazaar authenticity about them.
3. Meeting with Istanbul Deputy Lord Mayor Along with our tour partners in Turkey – PASIAD (Asia-Pacific Social & Economic Solidarity Foundation), our touring party visited the Istanbul Major City Deputy Lord Mayor, Mr Ahmet Selamat, gave us a brief description of Istanbul and its 39 Council regions across Istanbul. Mr Selamet said that Istanbul has had major renovations done to its roads and highways. They have also built Metro Bus systems to ease traffic control on the European side of Istanbul. They are in the planning phase of building a Metro Train system to run on the Asian side of Istanbul, which will be state of the art. They are also about to complete the building of an underground tunnel through the Bosphorus Sea, to ease the current traffic across the 2 bridges. Istanbul is a City with 15Million people today with an increase to 20Million expected in the next 5 to 10 years. With such rapid expansion, the Council is making incredibly fast advances to make Istanbul a clean City. It actually is the largest user of Solar Energy in the World. You could spot a solar panel on most Apartment rooftops.
4. Meeting at “Gulen movement” Colleges in Turkey There are around 500 private colleges run by the Gulen movement in Turkey. The colleges have state of the art facilities with the most advanced educational and recreational facilities for students. We visited two of these colleges in our 7 days in Turkey. -Cemberlitas FEM College in Istanbul: We met His Eminence Mr Mehmet Ali Sengul from the Gulen movement who inspired us with his great words of wisdom. -Buyukkoyuncu private college in Konya, where a Whirling Derwish presentation was conducted by students from the College.
5. Meeting at Writers and Journalists Foundation Another “Gulen” inspired foundation that we visited was “The Writers & Journalists Foundation”. Formed in 1994, this foundation’s main focus was to conduct dialogue initiatives in a country which is 98% Muslim amongst the minority groups in Turkey, such as Greek, Armenian, Assyrian Orthodox Churches, Alawi groups etc. The organisation was a frontier in creating positive social changes for minorities in Turkey. This initiative has led to the creation of other similar interfaith and intercultural foundations by Gulen movement in other parts of the World.
6. Visit Pope Roncalli House and Catholic centre and Vatican Ambassador for Istanbul Visiting the Roncalli House, which was the residence of Pope John XXIII (Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli) whilst Ambassador to the Vatican in Istanbul between 1930 to 1940, was a very momentous moment for the touring party, as he laid the foundations for Interfaith dialogue between Catholics with Muslims and Jews, at the 2nd Vatican Council in 1962. The Turks loved Pope Roncalli so much that they named a street after him. We were hosted by Vatican Ambassodor to Turkey, Archbishop Antonio Lucibello.
7. Visit Assyrian Catholic Leader, Yusuf Sag Visiting His Eminence Yusuf Sag, Deputy Patriarch of the Assyrian Catholic Community, was a thrill a minute meeting, with Yusuf Sag showing his great sincerity towards interfaith dialogue. He made the whole touring party laugh from the moment we entered to the moment we left. His sincerity to dialogue shone as he spoke.
8. Visiting Fatih University Fatih University is one of the 6 Gulen inspired Universities in the World. It teaches subjects in Engineering, Sciences and the Arts. It has become one of the most popular Universities particularly to overseas students.
9. Visit to Rumi’s Tomb and Mawlana Museum and historical sites of Konya
   One of the most popular poets among Western readers today is actually a long dead poet of the East. Rumi, the 13th century poet still inspires with his works evoking ecstasy and the divine. Rumi came from the tradition of mystical Islam. One of its better known features is the whirling dervishes whose swirling dance is aimed at creating a sense of transcendence.Visiting the Tomb of Rumi as part of our joint pilgrimage is not only important for Muslim’s, but also very important to many people in the West. The famous saying of Rumi continue to inspire people Centuries later, "Come, come again, whoever you are, come! Heathen, fire worshipper or idolatrous, come! Come even if you broke your penitence a hundred times, Ours is the portal of hope, come as you are."
10. Visit Istanbul Deputy Mufti Mehmet Asik
    The Turkish Religious Affairs Ministry Deputy Mufti, Mr Mehmet Asik, was also visited. The Religious Affairs Ministry of Turkey provides trained and College educated Imam’s to head up many of the Mosque’s in Turkey. It also provides University educated Imam’s to conduct theological research including producing many Islamic publications and to perform sermons at Mosque’s during the Friday and Eid Festival prayers.
11. Visit to “Academia”
    where a Group discussion took place with Academia’s scholars Acedemia’s focus is to publish books on various Islamic and contemporary issues facing the World today. A lot of the thoughts of Gulen are also published here by many scholars.
12. Visit to “Gulen inspired” Samanyolu Television Station (STV)
    STV TV station is one of the most popular watched TV stations in Turkey. There are now 6 TV stations that have sprung from this initial one, with a BBC type news channel, a religious channel and a channel broadcast in English in the USA called Ebru TV.
13. Visit to Zaman Newspaper,
    Turkey’s highest circulation Daily Zaman is the highest circulation daily in Turkey with ~1 Million subscribers/sales. The newspaper was first inspired by Fethullah Gulen, who wanted a daily which didn’t sensationalise news and which presented unbiased news with true facts.

ROME

1. Visit to Historical places in Rome
   Rome, like Istanbul, is an Open Air Museum, with so many historical buildings to see.  From The Forum, the Colliseum, Piazza, The Pantheon, Piazza Navona, The Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps to the Vatican City itself with St Peter’s Basilica, there is so much history through the streets of Imperial Rome.
2. Reception with His Excellency, the Hon. Tim Fischer, Australian Ambassador to the Holy See
   The Hon Tim Fischer hosted the touring party in a reception at the Australian Embassy to the Vatican’s residence. As you would all know Mr Fischer was the former Nationals Leader and Deputy PM of Australia during the Howard government. There were many dignitaries at the reception including the Turkish Ambassador to the Holy See, Mr Muammer Dogan Akdur, Protestant and Catholic Clerical leaders and the Director of English and Italian Programming for the Vatican Radio, Mr Sean-Patrick Lovett.
3. Meeting with staff of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue
   We were received by Monsignor Khaled Akasheh, who was the Head Officer for Islam in the Pontifical Council. He gave us a rundown of the works undertaken by the Council and the relations it has with people of other faiths, particularly Islam.
4. General Papal audience
   The group attended the weekly Papal Mass at St Peters Square. The Pope and the audience were notified of our Muslim-Christian group’s presence and the fact that we were making an interfaith pilgrimage to the Vatican, which was a pioneering achievement.
5. Institute for the Study of Religions and Cultures (Gregorian University) Director: Felix Körner SJ
   We attended the Gregorian University and attended the Study of Religions & Culture Department under the leadership of Jesuit leader Felix Korner. This was the Institute where Bishop Prowse had studied in Rome many years back.
6. Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies: Director: Fr. Miguel A. Ayuso
   Fr Miguel Ayuso gave us a very good run down of the Institute for Arabic & Islamic studies. He informed us that the Institute currently has 55 students with 25 Professors. There are 37,000 books in Arabic and Islamic Studies. The Institute published a book in 1975 called “Islamachristiana”. Version 34 of this book was published this year. They also published a second book called “Ecumenism in Islam” and a 3rd book is out soon as well. 
   
7. Istituto Tevere
   The Istituto Tevere is an intercultural centre established by the Gülen  movement in Rome. His Eminence Abdullah Aymaz, Gülen  movement coordinator for Europe and Mustafa Cenap Aydin, Coordinator for the Tevere Institute, gave us a quick rundown of the Centre and answered many questions from the touring party. Afterwards, they brought us all to the finest restaurant in Rome for dinner.
8. Visit to Francis of Assisi
   Visited the Town of Assisi, which is 2 hours north of Rome. We visited the St Mary of the Angels, Basilica of St Francis and the Basilica of S. Chiara. We also walked through the medieval city with its original streets and houses.
9. The Great Mosque
   We attended The Great Mosque in Rome to allow for the Muslim participants to attend the regular Friday prayers. The Mosque would have had around 3,000 people attending the Friday prayer that day. It was a wonderful Mosque built and paid for by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.