2007 Interfaith Team from the Philippines opens eyes and hearts

Hadja Sharifa Mufalla, the Rev. Jay Rock and the Rev. Marilou Rezane in Louisville. Photo by Joseph Williams

Travelling first to Shenandoah Presbytery, Marilou Rezane and Sharifa Mujalla spoke and broke the Ramadan fast with Muslims and Christians in Harrisonburg, Va. They met with members of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Staunton and the McDowell Presbyterian Church in McDowell, Va. Lively interchange marked time with students at the community college in Clifton Forge and at Bath County High School.

In John Calvin Presbytery, the team made presentations and talked about issues at Southminster Presbyterian Church and Calvary Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Mo. They spoke to political science students and the Model United Nations Club at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin and with the religious Studies honor society of Missiouri State University in Springfield. An interfaith public forum was held at the Diversity Center of Drury University, also in Springfield.

Flying north to Mackinac Presbytery in Michigan, Marilou and Sharifa encountered chilly fall weather and spoke about Chrstian-Muslim relations at the First Presbyterian Church of Rudyard, the 1st Presbyterian Church of Sault Ste. Marie and Pickford Presbyterian Church in Pickford.

In North Alabama Presbytery, the team again shared in breaking the Ramadan fast and conversation with Muslims and Christians in Huntsville. They were also able to meet with a local group of Filipinos. Discussion and presentations were held with members of the First Presbyterian Church in Huntsville.

A quick visit to National Capital Presbytery in Washington, D.C., included an intense day and a half of briefings on the current situation in the Philippines with congressional representatives and their staffs on Capitol Hill, as well as teaching at George Washington University and holding a presentation/discussion at Western Presbyterian Church.

The team's final stop was in Charleston-Atlantic Presbytery. They made a presentation to the stated meeting of the presbytery and spoke at the First Presbyterian church of Hilton Head and at the Circular Congregational Church in Charleston. Their visit initiated a connection between Presbyterians and Muslims through a shared evening and breaking of fast at the Islamic Center of Savannah.