Hello everyone,
A case has come to my attention recently of a Catholic community here in Jerusalem that prays together with Muslims.
Does anyone know of a Magisterial document that says that this is wrong so that we could take action and write to the superior of the community?
thanks in advance,
Ariel
Catholics for Israel
Sorry, it’s not necessarily wrong. So we should give them the benefit of the doubt.
Why* wouldn’t *this be wrong?
Because we share the same God, as the Catechism authoritatively attests.
Praying with them is legitimizing their religion as proper conduit to God.
No, it’s not. There’s no logical reason why praying alongside them constitutes such an implication. Until you can justify such an assertion, there’s no reason to take seriously the claim that praying alongside them is morally problematic.
It is one thing to show respect for a religion, but praying with another faith is akin to letting a Muslim approach the Eucharist.
We’re not talking about “praying with another faith” but rather praying
alongside individual Muslims. The latter certainly is
nothing like “letting a Muslim approach the Eucharist.”
Praying with them gives no fruitful outcome.
We don’t know that.
I don’t even think it’d be a stretch to say that the Muslim God was not the same as ours.
I’m sure you know that the Catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly asserts that we and the Muslims have the same God.
I don’t recall the prophet Elijah praying with Baal priests.
Baal is a pagan deity. Despite the errors of Islam, their God is still the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so the two situations are not logically comparable.
You would be praying to a different God, they do not believe in the Trinity,
I really do believe this would be breaking the 1st commandment.
Nothing personally against Muslins.
Well, Church teaching - which explicitly asserts that Muslims and Christians worship the same God, and which permits praying alongside those of different religions -
especially Jews and Muslims - disagrees with you. Thus so do I.
Muslims are incorrect to believe that God is not a Trinity. But they intentionally direct their prayers and worship to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Thus the truth is not that their God isn’t Triune; rather, they mistakenly believe that God is not Triune.
See?
Now why can’t Catholics participate in communion with the Lutherans and Methodist?
Praying alongside someone doesn’t require religious unity between the individuals involved.
Eucharistic reception
does. That’s the difference.
Seriously, if we can no longer discern the difference between praying next to someone who disagrees with us, and receiving the Holy Eucharist…
