AUBURN — Maine’s Catholic Church is gathering local people from several faiths — Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam — for a discussion of peace and tolerance.

The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at St. Dominic Academy in Auburn on Thursday, the same day that Pope Benedict XVI is meeting with leaders of several faiths to talk peace in Assisi, Italy.

It’s been labelled The Peace Summit.

The meeting also marks the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s first gathering for peace in Assisi.  

“(The Auburn event) is an opportunity for people of different faiths to own up to the fact that we have had religious-based violence,” said Rabbi Hillel Katzir, who leads Temple Shalom Synagogue Center in Auburn. “And any religious basis for violence is generally not acceptable.”

Katzir will join three other speakers for the discussion.

The others are: Reza Jalali, an Islamic scholar who teaches Islam at Bangor Theological Seminary and is an associated chaplain at Bates College; Ashok Nalamalapu, who practices Hinduism and works in the Sadhana Spiritual Center in South Portland; and Monsignor Michael Henchal, vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Portland.

Each of the four are scheduled to deliver some prepared remarks, said Sue Bernard, spokeswoman for the Catholic diocese. The formal presentation should last less than 90 minutes, she said.

However, there should also be time for more informal discussion between the guests and the audience, she said.

Katzir, also an associated chaplain at Bates, said Monday he had yet to prepare for his portion of the talk. However, he expects his point to be the same as the others.

“Targeting anybody for their religious beliefs with violence, with hate, is wrong,” Katzir said. The world’s major religions all have kernels of the same truth: that we should treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated. 

Those truths seem to get lost on faith’s fringes, he said. And too often, those fringe dwellers are portrayed as standard bearers, whether it’s Judaism, Islam, Christianity or Hinduism.

“We tend to look at the world as black and white,” Katzir said of Americans. “We don’t want to take the time and the effort to understand shades of gray.”

People need to be reminded of the value of peaceful co-existence, he said.

“It would be real nice if everybody would understand what we’re saying and go play golf or something,” Katzir said. “But it isn’t going to happen.”

Rather, the aim is to get people thinking.

“We have to keep saying it,” he said. “We have to get it out. If it keeps one person from doing one hateful thing, then it’s been worth it.”

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