Human Fraternity Conference 2025

By Joseph Sikora

On February 4^th well over 100 members of the Catholic and Shia Muslim communities came together in the magnificent Bute Hall of Glasgow University to mark the 6^th anniversary of the signing of the Human Fraternity Document by Pope Francis and Sheikh Al Tayeb from Al Azhar university in 2019.

Organised by the Ahl Al Bait Society Scotland and the Committee for Interreligious Dialogue of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland, the event this year focused on engaging young people in the work of interreligious dialogue.

The conference featured presentations from sixth year students from two of Glasgow’s Catholic schools, St. Roch’s and Holyrood secondaries. The schools were chosen for the religious, ethnic and cultural diversity of their student cohort.  In preparation for the conference Joseph Sikora, Secretary of the Interreligious Dialogue Committee and Dr. Ahmed Khweir, of the Ahl Al Bait Society – Scotland, visited both schools and conducted workshops with the S6 pupils many of whom were working towards their Pope Benedict XVI Caritas Award.

The workshop introduced the students to the collaborative work carried out by the Interreligious Dialogue Committee and Ahl Al Bait Society – Scotland. It also introduced the pupils to the context and content of the Document on Human Fraternity, focusing on the key themes contained in the document. The students were invited to engage in some interreligious work raising awareness of the document in their schools and to present their work to the conference.

Each school was presented with a tree sapling as a symbol of a new beginning and growth in interreligious dialogue in schools and collaboration with the organising bodies.

The keynote speakers at the conference were Bishop Brian McGee, President of the Interreligious Dialogue Committee and Dr. Mohammad Ali Shomali, the founding director of the International Institute for Islamic Studies and the Risalat International Institute, which has a focus on interfaith dialogue.

They both addressed the conference on the significance of engaging with young people in dialogue with a view due building a more just and harmonious future. Bishop McGee reflected on the significance of the event and the ongoing dialogue between Catholics and Muslims given that this year marks the 60^th anniversary of Nostra Aetate. Dr. Shomali, who joined the event online from Austria, repeatedly highlighted the sense of justice and eagerness to act that young people possess.

In the second half of the evening the pupils presented to the conference about what they had learned from the document and how they had and would incorporate it into their interreligious activities in the future. It was clear that both schools were already doing a great deal to celebrate the diversity within their communities in a way showed a respect and interest in difference religious traditions.

The final part of the conference was a general discussion on how young people could become more directly involved in interreligious dialogue and work and on how schools, universities and youth programmes could help in developing that capacity