Young, Jamaican and Muslim: receiving others with tenderness and mercy By Joe Palmisano SJ At the turn of the century, John Paul II highlighted the importance of having a generous hospitality towards the religious other. He wrote about this way of proceeding in dialogue in his Jubilee document, Novo Millennio Ineunte. Delivered in January 2001 and quoting from The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, 11 and 44, respectively, the Holy Father states: “Even as she engages in an active and watchful discernment aimed at understanding the ‘genuine signs of the presence or the purpose of God,’ the Church acknowledges that she has not only given, but has also ‘received from the history and from the development of the human race.’ This attitude of openness, combined with careful discernment, was adopted by the Council also in relation to other religions. It is our task to follow with great fidelity the Council’s teaching and the path which it has traced.” The recent backlash against Islam in some parts of the world prompted my students and me at Campion College, a 1,400 student, co-educational Jesuit secondary school in Kingston, Jamaica, to reflect on the question “Why interreligious violence?” This is a pressing question for Jamaicans, and for others living in Jamaica, as our reflections on interreligious strife take place against the local horizon of a record-breaking homicide rate for 2004. But even raising the question of interrelgious dialogue may, at times, become a complicated matter within the Christian community in Jamaica. The Catholic community on the island is a minority community, and yet it is one of the leading organizations engaged in social outreach and education of youth. While this minority status is reflected within Catholic educational institutions among the student body and faculty, the Catholic way of proceeding in generously extending hospitality towards other religions is influencing how the larger Christian majority receives the religious other. This movement towards a greater reception of the religious other(s) may, in some way, even contribute to an ecumenical détente among Jamaican Christians. Furthermore, an openness to dialogue for the sake of the larger project of bringing peace to a society that faces epic levels of violence and strife might be realized through such a way of proceeding, a way that is foundational to our Jesuit pedagogical aims. To that end, the ongoing interrelgious dialogue among students from Campion College was recently enriched by the insights of a 15-year-old Muslim student named Mehar. While the Muslim community in Jamaica dates back to the 17th century, Mehar and her family are more recent immigrants to Jamaica; she is a third generation Jamaican. She is one of approximately 500 Muslims in the greater Kingston area out of an island-wide population of about 3,000 Muslims. She will graduate from Campion in July and hopes to pursue studies in engineering. She also plans to have a family. What follows is a brief excerpt from a recent conversation I had with her on how Jesuit education may be a force for positive change by encouraging peace across religions. Q: What has your time been like at Campion—a Roman Catholic and Jesuit College? A: My time at Campion College … has been the most fulfilling experience that I could have had at any institution in Jamaica. …My teachers and peers have been understanding and accommodating of my views, beliefs and perspectives. In fact, as I have spent five years at Campion College, the more I am challenged, the more I learn about myself, my school community and the more I am able to understand the views of persons who are different but still very much alike. Q: When you reflect upon the mission of this school, what do you think is the advantage to a Jesuit education? A: We are mentally and emotionally geared towards being respectable and educated citizens of our society. We are taught key principles of life through our core values: creativity, accountability, love, open-mindedness, respect, integrity and excellence. Peace is endorsed and it helps to discourage crime and violence in society. We are challenged to perform our best in all areas, striving for excellence at all times. Q: What do you hope for Campion College and other Jesuit institutions of education in regards to religious diversity? A: In regards to religious diversity, I hope that Campion will increase in its awareness of other religious groups. Religious Education should be taught with an open mind, encompassing all religious groups where current issues that affect our society are discussed. This may help to increase the bond among us as Campion students and help to influence the future of Jamaica because it will have a positive effect on our society. In light of Mehar’s perspective, I am struck by the continuing prophetic role our educational institutions within the developing world serve in building God’s Kingdom of justice and peace. Our evangelization through excellence in education is a real way, as Mehar says, to “endorse peace” within our societies and to check the suspicion one feels towards the religious other in our midst. Our endorsement of peace through creating a forum for the interrelgious encounter, where the subtle tensions within the larger society may surface in an atmosphere that is neither threatening nor objectifying, will be a way of educating our young in the ways of tenderness and mercy. “We set in the hearts of those who followed Him tenderness and mercy.” Qur’an 57:22. Palmisano is a regent at Campion College, Kingston, Jamaica.