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MISSION IMMERSION EXPERIENCE: Cairo 2009

CROSSING THE BOUNDARIES  

As we enter the final days of preparation for our gathering in Cairo I wanted to let you know who is coming and what we hope to do.  Also I ask your continued prayer for the safety of our group while travelling, and for a successful outcome.

The participants are:-

            Maryanne Waimba mfic and Jacinta Tangi mfic:  Papua New Guinea.

            Claire Carey and Margaret Gallagher:   Ireland.

            Bev Ragonesi and Maree Knight:  Mt Alvernia Kedron, Australia

            Yasmine Nagui and Catherine White mfic: Cairo, Egypt. 

            Josephine Rush and Barbara Molloy mfic: Cairo (community members)

Of course life is very different in Egypt so difference is just a part of the everyday.  There are many wealthy Egyptians and others living in Cairo and they access services and goods through very upmarket and high tech business and commercial companies and shops.  But there are also many very poor Egyptians and refugees, particularly Sudanese refugees who  try to make ends meet in the markets and street stalls of Cairo.  So there are huge differences in the population which some estimate as being as high as 21 million people – just in Cairo.

Then there is the wide variety of Christian Churches: Coptic Catholic, Coptic Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Maronite, Latin Catholic and so on.  Christians are about 6% of the population, and Latin rite as about 1% by some estimates.  Then the other 94% of the population is Muslim.  Churches or varying styles as well as mosques are plentiful in every area.

Our small group for the immersion experience is a mixture of backgrounds and cultural origins. We are all Catholic and all women however.  We will be joined by a young Coptic woman from Cairo.  Also we will have the opportunity to interact with the men and women from many country and backgrounds who come to Mass here at St Clare’s, as well and the mix of Muslim and Christian staff and students at the College.

As well as our, learning, reflection and sharing time together we have the following plans in place:

Walkabouts around the markets near here in the local street markets.

Two days at the Mokattam Centre where the garbage pickers live and work we will work  with women and hopefully teach a few new skills - patch-working and bilum making.

Session on Islam and Muslim - Christian dialogue by the Nuncio Michael Fitzgerald who was President of the Pontifical Interfaith Council for a decade or more.

A visit to the Dominican Centre for Christian/Muslim studies

A visit to the Sudanese refugee school - we will teach a class and hear of needs and         possibilities for supporting them.

A visit to the Coptic Icon Studio in the Coptic University.

A visit to the Orthodox parish for a three hour Mass

A visit to the monastery of St Macarius (has the bodies of John the Baptist and Elisha!!!)

We will go to the Greek and Marionite Churches for Liturgy.

Sessions on life in Egypt and some differences in the culture here to the west, and an orientation to Cairo .

We will add in some visits to tourist spots like the pyramids and the Nile.

Blessings and peace

Catherine, mfic