A delegation of Christian and Muslim leaders returned to the United States from Iran hoping that their six-day visit will improve relations between the two squabbling countries in a way that diplomatic channels have not. The four-member delegation, which included Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, hoped to be accompanied on the return home on Sept. 19 by a pair of American hikers who were incarcerated by Iranian authorities on charges of espionage and of entering Iran illegally. The two men were finally released on Sept. 21. The trip was arranged by Search for Common Ground “to try and deepen the relationship between the two countries by direct human contact on the basis of religious leadership,” said William G. Miller, senior adviser to the organization. Cardinal McCarrick believed discussions among Iranian and American religious leaders would deepen trust where diplomacy has failed. “The political channel doesn’t do too well right now. There should be another channel. The other channel is the religious channel,” the cardinal said.
Mission to Iran
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
Around the affluent world, new hostility, resentment and anxiety has been directed at immigrant populations that are emerging as preferred scapegoats for all manner of political and socio-economic shortcomings.
“Each day is becoming more difficult, but we do not surrender,” Father Igor Boyko, 48, the rector of the Greek Catholic seminary in Lviv, told Gerard O’Connell. “To surrender means we are finished.”
Many have questioned how so many Latinos could support a candidate like DonaldTrump, who promised restrictive immigration policies. “And the answer is that, of course, Latinos are complicated people.”
Catholic voters were a crucial part of Donald J. Trump’s re-election as president. But did misogyny and a resistance to women in power cause Catholic voters to disregard the common good?