WASHINGTON — The National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue met September 8-9 to continue its multi-year study entitled “Journeying Together.” The dialogue is staffed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops‘ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. This year’s session featured presentations by Sister Marianne Farina, CSC, and Dr. Anas Malik on the ecological crisis in conjunction with the tenth anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical letter on ecology, “Laudato si’,” and the publication of “Al Mizan,” the foremost Muslim statement on the environment.

The dialogue hosted an event at The Catholic University of America with keynotes by Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv., of Lexington, and Imam Saffet Catovic, current Muslim chaplain at Drew University and a member of the international writing team of “Al Mizan.”

Reflecting on the purpose and importance of the dialogue, Catholic Co-Chairman Bishop Elias Lorenzo, OSB, auxiliary bishop of Newark, stated: “The NCMD strives to foster greater understanding, mutual esteem, lasting friendship, and cooperation for the promotion of greater solidarity with the human family. We pursue these goals through collaborative study, the production of educational materials, and the coordination of public events to raise awareness and provide opportunities for mutual engagement.”

Similarly echoing the need for continued engagement to uphold solidarity, the Muslim Co-Chairman Imam Kareem Irfan, Esq., stated: “We convened our 2025 NCMD meeting in our nation’s capital with a sense of urgent concerns — not just for the environmental crisis confronting the world, and the distressing realities in the Holy Land — but also given the polarized viewpoints and lines of division fracturing our nation.”