Present: Marina Rose Parisi, Barbara Gfeller, Cecilia Calva, Teresa Tsang, Rosemary Everett
(Alice Tobriner withdrew due to her hearing limitations)

We welcomed Teresa Tsang. Teresa formerly lived in San Francisco, but now lives in Portland. She visits the sick in St. Ignatius Parish, and teaches Chinese language and piano to students on Sat. afternoon in a SE Portland Chinese community. She also sings in the Holy Family Choir with Pat Nizic. Teresa's e-mail address is snjmt@yahoo.com

Prayer:
Holy Spirit, Source of the truth found in all faith traditions, we ask you to open our hearts to this Truth, who is Christ.
We ask for respect and sensitivity in our efforts to meet our brothers and sisters of faith and good will.
We hope to listen, to grow in trust, and to reach out in building bonds built on common values and the deep human desire for peace.
We pray in Christ's name. Amen

Our goal is to educate ourselves in other faith traditions and cultures and then to share our learning and experience in groups.

Last time we agreed to begin reading a book about another tradition/culture; and possibly be in touch with a specific faith tradition?
Where are we with that?

Barbara and Rosemary have read:Three Cups of Tea (Story of Greg Mortenson who was a mountain climber who became aware of the dire need for schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and his experiences in raising the money and learning to work with the Himalayan people. Very inspiring.)

In addition, Barbara read 1000 Splendid Suns (stories of Afghan women)
And Lemon Tree

Marina Rose is reading: Mary Boys' book, Has God Only One Blessing? (Jewish-Christian relations through history)

Barbara and Marina Rose also watched the CNN program on Judaism on Aug. 21 and the program on Islam on Aug. 22.

Cecilia read The Kiterunner, about life in Afghanistan.

Some of us have read The Interreligious Dialogue for Peace, by Joan Kirby, RSCJ, available on our snjm website, and also on the LCWR website Vol. 16, #2.

Another resource is The Temple of Understanding (further clarification needed?)

In discussing our future approach we decided to invite a member of another religious tradition to share with us on a particular topic. Rosemary has some contacts through the Muslim woman who coordinates interfaith events at a nearby mosque. Once she knows the tradition of the person who agrees to be on our call, she will let us know and then we can each do some research on that tradition. The first topic is prayer.

We are encouraged to read the LCWR keynote address by Laurie Brink, O.P.
Barbara suggested that we check the Saudi-Aramco World.com website, and ask to receive their magazine free of charge. (Saudi-Aramco Magazine, P.O.Box 2106, Houston, TX 77252-2106)

I went through the library on our snjm website and found some books on Buddhism and Judaism.

Marina Rose will be in Peru Sept. 10-Oct. 4. During that time she will attend the wedding of one of her former students in Arequipa. We wish her well and pray for a safe and happy time.
Marina Rose's new e-mail is mrparisi@charter.net.

Next call: Thurs., Oct.11, 7:00 p.m.

We will ask our speaker to lead us in prayer.

Please call my attention to any errors or omissions.
Thank you,
Rosemary