French Catholics and Muslims held a joint prayer service near Paris to celebrate the feast of the Annunciation, taking a similar tradition from Lebanon as their model and planning to make it an annual event in France.
Plans for the two-hour service at the Notre Dame de Bonne Garde (Our Lady of Safekeeping) basilica in Longpont-sur-Orge south of Paris began last year and took on added significance as grassroots groups sought ways to promote understanding following the Islamist killings of Charlie Hebdo cartoonists and Jewish shoppers in January.
The large church was full on 21 March for the two-hour service of hymns to Mary in French and Arabic, reading of the Annunciation accounts in the Gospel and the Qu’ran, statements by people of both faiths about Mary’s place in their lives, and a period of silent prayer.
Bishop Michel Dubost of Evry, head of interfaith relations for the French bishops’ conference, and Ghaleb Bencheikh, Muslim chairman of religions for Peace France, were among faith leaders attending the “Together with Mary” event.
“This communion between the two religions exists in Lebanon and we wanted to establish it here to promote peace,” Bishop Dubost said.
“We've been preparing this celebration for a year and it is even more symbolic today since we know what has happened recently,” Fr Frédéric Gatineau, rector of the basilica, said. “I didn't expect to see so many people. It's not easy these days. Some Catholics didn't want this joint service. But we have to teach people to get to know each other.”
In Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin and Kamel Kabtane, rector of the Grand Mosque, announced they would jointly mark the feast of the Annunciation on 25 March in Lebanon, where it is a national holiday.
Also on 21 March, Tunisia’s ministers of health, tourism and culture, and other Muslim personalities joined Tunis’s Catholic community at a Mass at St Vincent de Paul Cathedral in Tunis celebrated by Archbishop Ilario Antoniazzi in memory of the 20 tourists killed by Islamist radicals at the city’s Bardo Museum.
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