Scripture scholars now highlight that one of the most integral aspects of Jesus’ public ministry was that he welcomed all to the table. Indeed, one of the first charges made against Jesus was that he ate “with tax collectors and sinners” (Mark 2:16). Sharing a meal together in Jesus’ culture held a unique weight; it reflected respect, acceptance, and full inclusion. Jesus intended his disciples to promote a community that welcomes and honors all.
I am a Catholic woman studying comparative theology at Boston College and working in interfaith understanding and peacebuilding. I am often asked why and how I became interested in my field, and what continues to nourish me? My most precise answer is Jesus’ example of welcoming all to the table and my Catholic faith.
My freshman year of college, I studied Arabic under the tutelage of a Syrian Muslim woman named Lana. Along with teaching myself and my classmates the language, Lana told us stories of her homeland, her religion, and the difficulties she faced as an immigrant in the United States. She lamented the misunderstandings between Muslims and Christians. From the perspective of my own Catholic faith and Jesus’ teaching of respect for all persons, I heartily agreed. Six years later, the call to action Lana offered remains the spark for the work that has become my vocation.
In addition to my graduate studies at Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry, I serve as the camp director and assistant program director for the non-profit Kids4Peace Boston, an interfaith organization that educates, trains and inspires Christian, Jewish, and Muslim youth from diverse backgrounds to become interfaith peace leaders. I work to provide middle school youth with opportunities to share their faith traditions with one another in an experiential learning setting, while having fun at summer camp. This is a very unique program, one where a myriad of faith traditions are expressed in one community.
Imagine walking around your home or house of worship and collecting the most treasured items that represent and symbolize your faith, gathering them up, and laying them down in front of a group of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian twelve and thirteen year olds. What a vulnerable exercise!
One at a time, participants select an object with which they are unfamiliar; inspect it closely and touch it (if it is respectful to do so), passing it around the circle for all to see. Eventually, one person who knows what the object is will begin to explain for the group, with the response growing in a collective cacophony with help from others of the same tradition. More questions will be posed and answered, and parallels amongst other traditions will be drawn.
The faith identity of each participant is quite literally laid down in front of the group, with trust and understanding that it will be met with respect, honest questions, and appreciation. These young people are living their faith in a real and tangible way, modelling non-violence, compassion, and co-existence. Ultimately, they take these lessons home to their individual communities.
At Kids4Peace Boston there is room for all at the table. The experience is humanizing, nourishing our participants and staff, feeding them through liberation from stereotypes and educating them about the spiritual truths and values of their neighbors. The “other” is engaged in all of their particularity, not flattened into a prescribed mold. Reality is confronted, enabling dialogue with the difficult and painful as well as the beautiful spiritual wisdom that emerges from each tradition.
My undergraduate experience with Lana led me to study comparative theology at Boston College, to engage in interreligious dialogue and precisely to enrich my own living faith. At first, I simply wanted to know who was who, what was what, and most importantly: I wanted to be right. I quickly learned that faith traditions – and those who live them out – are rarely cut and dried; they all reflect something of the Mystery which they address. While interreligious dialogue offers more information with which to work, simple “answers” about faith traditions are not something it provides. It offers intentional space for persons to say, “here I am, this is what is most dear to me, this is what I believe.” As a result, it invites people to better appreciate their own traditions and to respect the faith traditions of others.
At Kids4Peace Boston I have been blessed to find a larger community with which to express and explore my Catholic faith, and with people who are seeking something similar. This diversity lends me more room in which to live out my own faith. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, an authentic Christian life is one that is lived in community with others. In his Summa Theologiae, Aquinas classically defines a person as one who exists in relationship with others. This communal understanding of ourselves is at the center of Christianity, and Catholicism in particular. There is no better way to live out our vocation as relational beings, as well as our Catholic faith, than to come to know all our brothers and sisters, in their reality and particularity, and be able to respect and understand their religious traditions.
Deepening my understanding of other faith traditions through encounter and personal relationships has served to reveal new facets of my own Catholic faith life that were previously unknown to me. Reading selections of the Qur’an, Torah, and Bible with Muslims, Jews, and Christians has offered me a new perspective on stories whose readings felt like second nature to me. Observing Muslim jum’ah (Friday) prayers and the Jewish Shabbat Kiddush has allowed me to find fresh beauty, wonder, and awe within the rituals of my own Catholic tradition.
Watching twelve year olds: Muslim Palestinian Americans, Jewish Israeli immigrants, Irish Catholics, first-generation Cape Verdian Muslims, Puerto Rican Catholics, observant Jews, form friendships and teach one another about themselves and their traditions – and play basketball! – has taught me to live my faith in a way unique compared to any classroom experience. It has provided me the opportunity to see the love of God, evident in every human person, in action.
For Christians participating in experiences of such ecumenical outreach and understanding as reflected in Kids4Peace, Pope Francis explains that we are in good company. He says there is hope to be found in a reality that is radically inclusive, “To Christians, the future does have a name, and its name is Hope. Feeling hopeful does not mean to be optimistically naïve and ignore the tragedy humanity is facing. Hope is the virtue of a heart that doesn’t lock itself into darkness, that doesn’t dwell on the past, does not simply get by in the present, but is able to see a tomorrow. Hope is the door that opens onto the future” (Pope Francis, “The Future Includes Everyone,” TED2017).
The door to the future is open now, where grappling with the present and past is necessary, and looking to the future with hope is possible. And it is beginning with Muslim, Christian, and Jewish young people right here in Boston. For me, learning alongside these youth is the best way I can imagine living out my faith in action and reflecting the spirit of hope in the world, where all are welcome at the table.
MEGAN HOPKINS is a graduate student at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry and a graduate assistant at the Church in the 21st Century Center. A 2015 graduate of Villanova, she also serves as an assistant program and camp director with Kids4Peace Boston.
PHOTO CREDIT: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim youth share and learn about objects from their religious traditions as part of an activity with Kids4Peace Boston. www.kids4peaceboston.org