The year was 2003 and the September 11 attacks were still recent history. Reg Weissert who was once described by the National Catholic Reporter as a “veteran Catholic Peacemaker” had noticed the unearned malice and suspicion directed towards Muslims both nationally and within the local South Bend community. She felt empathy towards those who were being unfairly discriminated against. However, she also realized that her feelings were nonspecific - because she didn’t know any Muslims personally.

Reg Weissert brought this concern to a priest who directed her to a Holy Cross Sister - Marianne Farina, CSC - who, at the time, was working closely with women from the Mosque. Sr. Farina agreed to help Weissert connect with a few Muslim women she knew. Originally called the Christian/Muslim Women’s Group, its purpose was to build relationships that went beyond the stereotype, rooting them in the kind of narrative empathy that is nurtured through relationships and encounter.

Join the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion in hearing from indigenous author and inter-spiritual advocate Kaitlin B. Curtice as she reads from her latest book Living Resistance. Kaitlin Curtice is an award-winning author, poet-storyteller, and public speaker. As an enrolled citizen of the Potawatomi nation, Kaitlin writes on the intersections of spirituality and identity and how that shifts throughout our lives. She also speaks on these topics to diverse audiences who are interested in truth-telling and healing.

Last week, Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs hosted a panel discussion: Can Interreligious Engagement Be a Realistic Tool for Diplomacy and Peacemaking? The discussion centered around a dossier on Religion and Peacebuilding in Contemporary Global Crises published by the Italian Institute for International Political Studies.

The dossier was released after the Rome Summer Seminars on Religion and Global Politics convened this summer, designed as a multi-level colloquium built on existing partnerships between the University of Notre Dame Rome Global Gateway (RGG), Keough School of Global Affairs and its Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion; the Pontifical Gregorian University (PUG); the Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (ISPI); the Sinderesi Foundation; the Adyan Foundation of Lebanon; the Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies of Jordan; the Hanns Seidel Stiftung and John Cabot University (JCU).