Faith: Privileged to meet and speak to the Vatican Interfaith delegation & Muslim community leaders in Melbourne in October 2018
Photo: courtesy of ICV. Carl Gopalkrishnan (end of first row)
I was very honoured to be part of an inspiring conversation when I met with the Delegation of the Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission of the Archdiocese (EIC) at a meeting hosted by the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV). Hearing from so many voices, ideas for strengthening faith, while recognising the barriers still to overcome.
Engagement is not always easy, I know, but we need to keep trying. The act of meeting, of trying, matters to me. As an LGBTQ man of colour, an Australian and British citizen, and now as a non-denominational person of faith, continues to help me to represent a broader, less doctrinal intepretation of faith in all my art. Thank you Nail Aykan the EO of ICV for his generous invitation.
The delegation included Bishop Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot MCCJ, Monsignor Indunil Kodithuwakku and Fr Markus Solo SVD. As an artist I suggested to the Vatican that it become more interested in culture and the arts more generally, and to initiate contact with producers and culture creators to collaborate on the core values which they are striving to nurture. Without interacting with society, institutions grow fearful. We need to include young people of faith and non-faith, and find the common ground.
