Islamabad (Fides Service) - In Pakistan, where anti-war demonstrations continue and Christians fear a resurgence of Muslim fundamentalism, the Catholic Youth Commission for Justice and Peace in Toba Tek Singh is organising initiatives of mutual understanding and collaboration between young Christians and Muslims.
To mark this season of Lent, the Commission, made up of young people aged 19 to 23, has arranged meetings of prayer for world peace, as well as concrete acts of solidarity to build friendship and promote sharing. In fact at the end of last year the young Catholics kept a fast during the Muslim month of Ramadan, in solidarity with the followers of Islam and at the moment during Lent a number of young Muslims have joined Christians in fasting, prayers and good works. Here is one example among many. Recently a group of young people, Catholics and Muslims, paid a visit to a Catholic woman confined to a wheelchair by polio. The youngsters offered the lady a bright smile and a donation of money which they had collected among themselves. One Muslim girl in the group said: "We wanted to show her our affection and assure her that she is not alone; we promised to return often to visit her."
The Commission is led by Fr Bonnie Mendes, Director of the Human Development Centre in Toba Tek Singh. Fr Mendes is happy with the results achieved so far, and says that collaboration in acts of goodwill and sharing towards the poor and the suffering builds harmony and mutual understanding among people of different religions and shows that every religion gives a central place to the human person, human dignity and values such as peace, solidarity and reconciliation. PA (Fides Service 25/3/2003 EM lines 21 Words: 292)