Friendship is the “secret sauce” when it comes to building a society that embraces diversity and interfaith dialogue, award-winning journalist Geraldine Doogue has said. Source: ACU.
The veteran broadcaster made her comments yesterday at the ninth annual Federal Parliamentary Interfaith Breakfast co-hosted by Australian Catholic University and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Milton Dick.
Speaking to nearly 250 parliamentarians and notable faith and community leaders, including Cardinal Mykola Bychok CSsR, Ms Doogue said the way forward for interreligious relations was friendship, quoting one of the Catholic Church’s preeminent leaders in Christian-Muslim dialogue.
“Cardinal Michael Louis Fitzgerald, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, is obsessed with friendship as a way forward for interreligious relations,” Ms Doogue said.
“He cited the example of young French people who for a few weeks come to Marseille from all over France to spend time in that fascinating city’s northern districts: they might arrive, as he says, with pre-conceived ideas about Islam but ‘they leave with Muslim friends … and that changes everything’.
“I truly think that friendship is the secret sauce to all this.”
As the former host for 20-years of Compass, ABC TV’s flagship religion, ethics and belief program, Ms Doogue said people of “developed traditions” were often more collaborative and available for an exchange of ideas than those who were “unknowing”.
The challenge for those committed to interfaith dialogue today was making this openness to faith exchange and dialogue a mainstream habit. This was particularly necessary in 2025, the 60thanniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s landmark declaration on interreligious dialogue, Nostra Aetate.
ACU Vice-Chancellor and President Zlatko Skrbis said the breakfast had become a cornerstone of ACU’s commitment to dialogue about the vital role religion plays in the Australian community.
“For more than a decade, this event has stood as a testament to the foundation of trust, dignity and love that underpins our democracy, reaffirming our embrace of the multitude of cultures and faiths that define Australian life,” Professor Skrbis said.
“But the interfaith breakfast is more than symbolic. It is active and participatory, and it requires something small of each of us.”
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Geraldine Doogue reveals the secret to a “strong and supple” Australia at interfaith breakfast (ACU)
