Rita George Tvrtkovic, Ph.D., presents on the shared figure of Mary in Islam and Christianity. BARBARA VASQUEZ / THE QUADRANGLE
Barbara Vasquez Editor-in-Chief
This past Thursday, April 24, Rita George Tvrtkovic, Ph.D., came to the Manhattan University (MU) campus to deliver a lecture titled “The Virgin Mary: Bridge or Barrier in Christian-Muslim Relations?”
This lecture delved into the Virgin Mary, and particularly whether her position as a shared figure in Islam and Christianity presented her as a connecting point or a dividing point in interreligious relations. Tvrtkovic is an expert on interfaith dialogue, being appointed as a consultant for the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue by Pope Francis in 2020, holding her position as dean and professor of theology at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, as well as writing numerous books on the subject.
The event, presented by the Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith (HGI) center at MU, began with a portion by the director of the program, Mehnaz Afridi, Ph.D., who introduced Tvrtkovic with a few words.
“I want to say that Rita is very special to me and to the university, because she carries with her the weight of dialogue, which is very hard these days,” Afridi said.
Tvrtkovic opened up with some precursory points, one regarding interfaith dialogue and its importance, especially with today’s political climate.
“Right now in the world, and especially in the United States, there is a rise in Islamophobia, anti-semitism, xenophobia – all the ‘-isms’ and ‘-phobias’,” Tvrtkovic said. “So, I think talking about the history of dialog and polemics is very important in this day and age. Interreligious dialogue is important in this day and age: Why? Deepen your own faith, increase understanding of [the] other, and, most importantly, build relationships and decrease dehumanization, because that’s what’s happening in our country right now. We dehumanize those we don’t know. So these dialogs are really, really important for peace.”
For Tvrtkovic, emphasizing interfaith dialogue is vital amongst all groups of people, but engaging in this dialogue with college students is particularly interesting.
“You are the future,” Tvrtkovic said. “Not only are you the future, you’re the now. And I think you guys are really good at dialog, because you’re open. What’s great about college students is that interreligious dialog includes people who are not religious. In fact, sometimes non-religious people are the most inquisitive, knowledgeable, and they ask the best questions.”
Tvrtkovic went on to discuss the historical backing to the relationship between Christians and Muslims, calling upon Nostra Aetate and prominent shared figures in both religions. Finally, she prefaces the inclusion of Islamic images in her presentation, addressing the fact that imaging in Islam is a ‘complicated thing,’ especially in regards to creating images of prophets or religious figures, but that the images are important for the context of the discussion.
“I want to spend my time on historical Christian images of Mary with Muslims, and I want you to think about this idea of Mary: is she a bridge or a barrier, because in some of these images she’s a bridge, and some she’s definitely a barrier,” Tvrtkovic said. “And there are different ways to view Mary as a bridge. Is she a bridge to conversion, or is she a bridge to dialogue and friendship?”
Tvrtkovic continues to go through various examples of images, texts and shrines, dissecting which messages were being portrayed via which media. She ends off her lecture shortly, tying it all back to choosing Mary as a topic in the first place.
“She [Mary] teaches us to believe, not to close ourselves up in certainties, but to remain open and available to others,” Tvrtkovic said. “She was courageous. She let the angel in [in reference to Luke 1:26-38], she asked questions, she pondered. That’s the image I want you to end with: Mary is a model for all of us, and not just for women. Gentlemen, she is a model for you too, for her courage, her purity, her strength. So I want to leave you with that idea of Mary as a model for all of us.”
The Quadrangle spoke to attendees of the event afterwards to gain some student perspective on this topic brought to MU’s campus.
“I honestly came for class, but it was a good dialogue,” Christina Camalo, senior computer science major at the school, said. “Everyone knows Islam, Christianity, Judaism have similarities, but this went a lot more in detail, and also focused on varying aspects of [the topic].”
Serxhio Nikolli, a senior at MU, also attended the event alongside Camalo. When asked by The Quadrangle if he found the event valuable in any way, he shared his thoughts.
“It was definitely very insightful,” Nikolli said. “Especially the dialogue in the end, [it] gave me some different perspectives.”
To stay up to date with similar events hosted by the HGI center, follow @hgimanhattan on Instagram, or visit the center in person, located on the fifth floor of O’Malley Library.