February 7, 2009
Talks compare practice of Islam, Christianity
By Denise MacLachlan
Herald staff
At St. Mary Church in Sacramento, Carmelite of Mary Immaculate Father James Narithookil discusses the Quran during a lecture series comparing Christianity and Islam. Cathy Joyce/Herald photo
On a recent Friday evening, more than 50 people gathered in St. Mary Church in Sacramento to hear a lecture comparing the theology and practice of Christianity with the theology and practice of Islam, the religion of more than one billion Muslims worldwide.
“Understanding other religions promotes harmony and peaceful living together,” Carmelite of Mary Father Narithookil, pastor of St. Mary Parish, told The Herald in an interview. “To know about another religion from an objective standpoint helps all of us to avoid ignorance, prejudices and misunderstanding.”
Father Narithookil, pastor of St. Mary since last September and an authority on Islam, is giving the talks as director of the Chavara International Center for Indian and Interreligious Studies.
He holds a master’s degree in Islamic studies from Aligarh Muslim University in India and a doctorate in Islamic studies from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He spent 25 years teaching Islamic studies in seminaries in India, and is fluent in Aramaic, Sanskrit and Latin.
After the Second Vatican Council concluded in 1965, Father Narithookil said, the church decreed that Islam be taught in all Catholic seminaries in order to foster dialogue with the Muslim community, Father Narithookil said.
So after his ordination to the priesthood in 1973, he embarked on a lifelong study of Islam and a career of teaching comparative religion to seminarians and laypeople.
The Vatican II documents discuss Islam in two important passages, Father Narithookil said, citing No. 16 in “The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,” and No. 3 in the “Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions.”
“The church regards Islam with esteem,” he quoted the Vatican II documents as saying, “and urges us to forget the past and to work sincerely for mutual understanding, to promote social justice and moral welfare, peace and freedom.”
“The church teaches us cooperation and collaboration with the Muslim community,” he added. “We are all brothers who should respect one another and live in harmony.”
Over the course of the Friday night lectures, Father Narithookil will discuss religious and cultural prejudices, consider the religious teachings of Islam objectively and in the light of the Catholic faith, and emphasize areas of agreement.
He observed that Christians and Muslims acknowledge the same creator God and agree on living a moral life and facing judgment after death. Even though Muslims do not consider Jesus as the son of God, they respect him as a prophet and honor his mother, he said.
In his first two lectures, Father Narithookil said that his audience in Sacramento asked far more questions that his audiences in India. He ended his lecture at 7:55 p.m., but people asked him questions until nearly 9 p.m. and he likes the audience participation, he added.
Lecture series
The Chavara International Center for Indian and Interreligious Studies is offering a 10-week lecture series, “Christianity and Islam: A Comparative Study.” The speaker is Carmelite of Mary Immaculate Father James Narithookil, director of the center. The free lectures began Jan. 16 and will continue on Fridays through March 20 from 7 to 8 pm at St. Mary Church, located at 1333 58th St. in Sacramento. For more information, call Father Narithookil at (916) 452-0296, ext. 16, or Father Francis Chirackil at (916) 452-0296, ext. 23.
