‘My mum wants me to be Christian and my dad wants me to be Muslim,’ one child said

Last December, an interfaith group I’m part of organised an “interfaith dialogue cafe”, giving local children an opportunity to meet adults from four different faith traditions: Baha’í, Catholic, Muslim and Quaker.

I was host at the Catholic table in the cafe. Groups of six children, aged 11-12, spent 15 minutes at my table, then rotated to the next. On my table I put a prayer cube, a bright Latin American crucifix, a Bible, a puppet of a priest and a Nativity crib. I began by asking the children to look at the objects and guess what tradition they came from. They said all kinds of things. “The English religion?” “An Indian religion?” They wondered if the glove puppet was God. Many saw the crucifix and said, “Christian?” A few said, “Catholic?” With a big smile, one said, “I’m Catholic and I know everything about that religion – ask me.” I announced that this boy and myself would answer questions together.