STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, made his first visit to a mosque in New York City and it was the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center in Tompkinsville where he met with Muslim and other faith leaders.
The cardinal spent more than two hours touring the mosque and the Miraj Islamic School and having lunch with about 40 clergy and laity.
"I thank God that this day has arrived," the cardinal said. "I thank you for your welcome, I thank you for making me feel like a friend and a member of a family."
The cardinal asked questions about the Muslim faith and emphasized throughout his visit how much the two religions and their members have in common.
"You love God, we love God and he is the same God," the cardinal said of the Muslim and Roman Catholic faiths.
Cardinal Dolan stressed that Catholics and Muslims have a mutual love of the United States and of the religious freedom that this country affords, especially the ability to meet with people of different beliefs that would not be possible in some other nations.
"Your love of marriage and family, your love of children and babies, your love of freedom -- religious freedom particularly-- your defense of life, your desire for harmony and unity and your care for others, your care for God's creation and your care for those who are in need," the cardinal said, were Islamic values also shared by Catholics and areas where there could be mutual cooperation.
He likened Muslims to earlier waves of Roman Catholic immigrants who some 150 years ago faced the same challenge of "how to become loyal, responsible, patriotic Americans without losing their faith."
As those Catholic immigrants did, Muslims have learned the value of religious schools, he said. "Education without faith is missing something dramatic," the cardinal said.
The cardinal's trip to the mosque was in response to an invitation by leaders of the center who visited the archbishop in Manhattan in January.
"Thank God that we are a country that welcomes everybody and, as you mentioned, your eminence, only in America, and we want this example to be spread because we can do many more things when we eat together as brothers than when we stay against one another," said Imam Tahir Kukiqi of the Albanian Center.
Imam Kukiqi praised attendee Sarah Sayeed of the Interfaith Center of New York for "working tirelessly with Muslim communities and Catholic communities, especially to bring them together."
Imam Ghulam Rasul of the predominately Pakistani Masjid al-Noor in Concord led a prayer "to bring peace, harmony and understanding between the communities ... guide us so that we may be the souls of goodness, peace and harmony and understanding for the people of this country and for the community of this Island."
The cardinal is following on a local level the example of Pope Francis who has begun efforts to deepen and strengthen the relationship between the Islamic and Christian communities in Italy and other parts of Europe, said Monsignor James Dorney, a co-vicar of Staten Island. His co-vicar, Monsignor Peter Finn, announced that Wednesday was the 37th anniversary of Cardinal Dolan's ordination.
The Rev. Liam O'Doherty, pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel R.C. Church in Tompkinsville, was instrumental in arranging the visit and brought along many members of his parish council. Leaders of the Albanian Center and Masjid al-Noor invited the cardinal to visit their mosques during the month of Ramadan.
(This report has been updated with more detail, photos and a video.)
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