http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=4d4a1b76-7b13-4cc4-bd36-12a2a691bf28

Venerating the Quran in a Roman Catholic Cathedral?. Why not in a Mosque?.

I can think of a few possibilities.

1. Non-Muslims are not allowed in a mosque? (I don't know the answer to this question.)

2. Local Muslims did not issue an invitation to the mosque?

3. Non-Muslims are too scared to go to a mosque?

4. The local political noisemakers did not allow the building of a mosque?

5. The Bishop is sincerely trying to make a gesture of peace?

6. To recycle an old pejorative -- "Fruits and nuts thrive in California?"


I think number five is closest to the truth. The release of doves is a distinctly Christian symbol of the Holy Spirit, but also a symbol of peace.

Reading from the koran by someone who has some understanding of the context might actually lead some listeners to a better understanding of what we have in common with some of our neighbors. I see that the priest from the Cathedral read from the Beatitudes.

Roses are placed on caskets at funerals, rose petals are scattered at weddings, roses decorate Churches at times. Once again, symbolic, but not liturgically significant.


I don't think the events described in the article rise to the level of "veneration", in the Catholic/Orthodox understanding of veneration of icons or the gospel.

I don't think this event was particularly useful, and would not have attended, but I don't think it is worth getting worked up over.

In closely reading the article, it appears that: (1) this event was held on the steps of the Cathedral, rather than inside it; (2) that the 'blessing' to which the article's headline refers (and which is used in the article itself) consisted in each participant placing a rose on the Quran and reciting 'Let there be peace, and let it begin with me'.



I agree with my brother.

Many years,

Neil

To Muslims the Qur'an needs no blessing, but rather is The Blessing of Allah to Man. What a rather strange ceremony. I am sure both Muslims and Christians found it rather odd and out of place. The song "Let there be peace" I first heard upon visiting a Church of Religious Science in my youth--never went back. The world keeps getting more and more odd as time goes by, lol.

What on earth are "Vedic Druids"?

I agree with our brother, Two Lungs, that this action does not constitute "veneration" in the normal liturgical sense.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

You know the news media. Anything to throw dirt in the eye of Catholics and confusion with our terminology. Though I think enough Catholics are confused without the media's help.

Kyrie eleison,

Manuel

LOL - well you should ask, my brother.

Vedic religious praxis is generally considered a precursor of Hinduism and study of its texts and praxis has apparently become very popular in modern Celtic Druidic circles, which see some parallels between the two (and, apparently, consider there to be a likelihood that the Celtic Druids of old derived from the Vedic practitioners in the Celts travel from their lands of origin to Western Europe). Accordingly, Vedic Druids are, as best I can figure, modern day practitioners of some amalgam of the two religious cultures.

Are you sorry that you asked?

Many years,

Neil

Given the nature of this event it would hardly have been complete without the Vedic Druids there. This whole thing seems to demonstrate the ultimate in event planner wisdom. Form is everything substance is nothing. Now we would expect an article about the associated $250 a plate dinner with an Imam who is a converted Catholic priest as speaker telling the assembled dignitaries how we should all love one another even though the Chrisian west is responsible for all of the problems in the Middle East and Muslim world.

Neil,

I am glad I asked

http://blog.beliefnet.com/deaconsbench/2010/09/was-a-quran-blessed-at-a-catholic-cathedral.html

I think this sums up what occurred rather well.

If this really happened like it was alleged,it's priests like that that give the Church a bad name.
They are lucky that I am not their Ordinary.
Stephanos I

I'm a resident of Sacramento, and read the initial article in our local paper. From what I can determine, this is a rather accurate representation.