wfn.org | ACNS3393 The Archbishop of Canterbury's Opening Remarks at the

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ACNS 3393     |     LAMBETH PALACE     |     8 APRIL 2003

The Archbishop of Canterbury's Opening Remarks at the 2nd 'Building Bridges'
Seminar in Doho, Qatar

Your Highness, eminent guests and friends:

My first duty, which I discharge with the most sincere pleasure, is to thank
His Highness the Amir of Qatar for welcoming us to his country and doing so
much to facilitate this meeting. From earlier days when my predecessor was
welcomed here, His Highness has shown exemplary commitment to this dialogue
and has pursued it with an energy and vision characteristic of all he has
done as ruler of this small but rapidly evolving country. He has shown
precisely the kind of enthusiasm for honest exchange and deepened
understanding which meetings such as this are designed to assist, and we are
all profoundly grateful. It is a kind of openness that is also making
possible significant gestures towards the Christian community here and for
that too let me express my gratitude.

I have mentioned my predecessor, and I cannot let the opportunity go past of
paying tribute to the courage and imagination with which he addressed these
issues of mutual understanding across the frontiers of our communities of
faith. I hope to continue such work, conscious all the time of doing no more
than building on foundations which he laid through much labour, much thought
and prayer, and much tireless fostering of relationships in many lands.

For many, a real dialogue about what we specifically believe and the
thoughts we have about our faith ought to take second place to discussions
concerning the practical tasks we can share, whatever our faith - and this
is thought to be especially true at a time of tension. But this dialogue has
been conceived rather differently. Christians are Christians and Muslims are
Muslims because they care about truth, and because they believe that truth
alone gives life. About the nature of that absolute and life-giving truth,
Christians and Muslims are not fully in agreement. Yet they are able to find
words in which to explain and explore that disagreement because they also
share histories and practices that make parts of their systems of belief
mutually recognisable - a story reaching back to God's creation of the world
and God's call to Abraham; a practice of reading and absorbing scriptures
and of shaping a life in response to the Word God speaks to creation.

We are here to discover more about how each community believes it must
listen to God, conscious of how very differently we identify and speak of
God's revelation. It is a significant meeting not primarily because it
coincides with a time of such conflict and anxiety but because it highlights
again a deeper and abiding need - a need which the run-up to this present
conflict has made all the more urgent. Listening to God and listening to one
another as nations, cultures and faiths have not always had the priority
they so desperately need. So this space for reflection is all the more
important; it is both a symbol and an example of this kind of engagement.

In this dialogue, we are not seeking an empty formula of convergence or
trying to deny our otherness; indeed as we reflect on the holy texts we
read, we shall be seeking to make better sense of how we relate to the
other, the stranger with whom we can still speak in trust and love. As we do
this - experience shows us - we learn more of the depths of what nourishes
us in our own faith; and we hope to go from this dialogue better equipped to
witness in a deeply troubled world, to witness to what faith and humble
obedience to God and patient attention to each other might have to offer to
struggling and suffering nations throughout the globe.

__________________________________
For details about the Enthronement of the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Most Revd Rowan D Williams, visit http://www.anglicancommunion.org/

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