DICID received Elder Patrick Kearon, Senior President of the Presidency of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

01 Nov DICID received Elder Patrick Kearon, Senior President of the Presidency of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

On the morning of Thursday, October 21 2021, Mr. Muhammad Al-Ghamdi, Board Member of the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue, received at the center’s head office in Katara Cultural Village, Elder Patrick Kearon, Senior President of the Presidency of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – Salt Lake City, Utah, USA and his accompanying delegation, Mrs. Jennifer Carole Hulme Kearon, Mr. Boyce Fitzgerald, Director for Temporal Affairs of the Middle East/Africa North Area, and Mr. Dominic Genetti, President and General Manager ExxonMobil Qatar Limited.

At the outset of the meeting, Mr. Al-Ghamdi welcomed the distinguished guests, expressing his happiness for their visit, and stressed that the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue is fully prepared to open channels of cooperation with all parties wishing to work together, exchange experiences, enhance capabilities, discuss means of communication, and open horizons for dialogue between different cultures. For his part, Mr. Kearon stressed his keenness to visit the Doha Center for Interfaith Dialogue during his stay in Qatar on a short trip; For what he perceives of the center’s role in spreading true religious values and promoting a culture of dialogue between religions to achieve peaceful coexistence among its adherents, and he also praised the center’s fruitful contributions at the international level.

Speaking about the center, Mr. Mohammed Al-Ghamdi touched on the various activities of the center at the local and international levels. At the local level, he mentioned that the center regularly organizes training courses for students and teachers in independent and private schools with the aim of training in dialogue and communication skills with different religions and cultures. The center also organizes academic lectures and round tables for the communities residing in Qatar, in addition to the “Adyan” journal issued in Arabic and English, the periodical, translated books, selected letters, and publications related to the center’s activities, some of which are translated into many languages. The center also holds a specialized library in Interfaith Studies.

At the international level, the Center organizes numerous symposiums and international conferences outside Qatar focused on promoting a culture of dialogue and peaceful coexistence. The Center also intends to organize a conference in March 2020 on religious freedom and the rule of law in cooperation with the Multi-religious Neighbors Network Network (Open Gates: A New Path for Interfaith Interaction) in the United States of America, in order to build relations between religious leaders in Qatar, the United States and the participation of the international religious community leaders, in the upcoming 14th Doha Conference for Interfaith Dialogue, which will be held in May 2022.
During his speech, Mr. Patrick Kearon discussed the weakness and mistrust of many societies around the world, and welcomed the cooperation of the Latter-day Saint Charities, which he heads, and stated that it contributes about one billion dollars annually to international relief programs, which was also welcomed by Mr. Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, highlighting the center’s openness to cooperation in everything that serves humanitarian goals.

At the end of the visit, Mr. Muhammad Al-Ghamdi and the center’s staff accompanied the guests on a tour of the center’s building and its specialized library, which includes about two thousand books in religious studies, especially books specialized in the field of interfaith dialogue.

After that, the delegation went to visit the Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud Islamic Cultural Center (Fanar) to get acquainted with the efforts made by the center in the field of introducing Islam and the Arab and Islamic civilization to the various communities residing in Qatar, especially the non-Arab non-Muslim communities. During the visit, the delegation toured Fanar’s exhibition, and discussed how to correct misinformation about the Islamic religion and the relationship of Islam with other religions and cultures.

At the end of the tour, the Center presented Mr. Patrick Kearon and the accompanying delegation with some publications of the Center, as well as a special gift for them of a model written in Arabic calligraphy in their names as a memory of this kind visit.

On this busy evening, the delegation also visited the residential complex for Afghans hosted by the State of Qatar where integrated care is provided to them, while waiting for their new homes to be settled.

During the meeting, the delegation met with the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and the official spokesperson, H.E. Mrs. Lolwah Rashid Al-Khater, who in turn spoke about the efforts made by the State of Qatar in the process of coordinating with various countries to complete the evacuation process for the Afghans, and how to receive them and provide services to them, including what the residential complex provides. It is an upscale complex, mainly intended to receive delegations during the 2022 World Cup in Doha.

The delegation toured the complex to learn more of the services provided by the various support agencies in the State of Qatar, and even recreational activities such as some exhibitions and artworks done by Afghan children.
For his part, Mr. Patrick Kearon gifted one of his books to Her Excellency Mrs. Lolwah Rashid Al-Khater, as an expression of their warm reception and hospitality.