In 1219, St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan Malik al-Kamil met in Damietta, Egypt, during a time of war, seeking peace and understanding of each other’s religion and culture and sparking an interfaith dialogue that would last centuries.
That conversation between a Christian monk and an Egyptian Muslim is the inspiration behind the Damietta Cross-Cultural Center at Siena College, a Catholic Franciscan institution. The director of the center, Oscar Mayorga, said he hopes to continue this same type of dialogue among students at the college.
The center is based on the belief that we’re all created equally, said Mayorga. `We’re all created in God’s image, and because of this we’re all called to love one another.`
Learning something you are not familiar with or having a discussion with someone who has a different cultural background than yourself is promoted by the center. The hope is that students will be able to gather information and discard their preconceived notions of what a particular religion or culture actually entails. Mayorga stresses that a lot of these stereotypes can produce fear of something that a student may not know very much about.
`There’s a lot of demonization and we’re really trying to break down those walls and say, ‘No, we’re all created equally and we’re all equal,` he said. `That’s what the center is trying to do. Having experiences where students get to be in a place they’re not normally in and to hopefully after that experience be able to reflect on that and say, ‘How did that affect me? What was the thought process of that?’`
Mayorga said the sole purpose is not to eliminate fear but to learn more about another culture and foster love. What can kill a democracy is constantly being suspicious of those who are different than you, said Mayorga.
`It’s acknowledgment that it is fear,` he said. `It’s not a situation where we can flip on a light and everything gets fixed. People have to process these, people have experiences, good and bad, or whatever it is, that they might have to process and get to that point and realize, ‘My fear was irrational.’`
Mayorga said that with the center located at a liberal arts college, one of the main goals of the center is to further the project outside of the classrooms and the college setting and produce students that are active members of democracy. Through that project, Mayorga hopes to help students get through disagreements and miscommunications that produce fear and lack of understanding.
`It provides an opportunity to really make mistakes, learn from them and improve from those mistakes,` he said. `So we’re here, not to prevent those things from happening but really hopefully, the dynamic nature of people talking to each other, hopefully from there, really, is where the learning is going to happen. Those differences and miscommunication are a blessing in disguise.`
When speaking of the differences between the Catholicism and Islam, Mayorga said he wants to establish a level of understanding and mutual respect between cultures. He said the historic events that took place in Damietta have been forgotten, and it is a story he makes sure to tell when first discussing the center.
`As I was looking at the job posting, ‘Why is it Damietta, what is this Damietta?’` he explained. `And when you start reading the history and doing the work you’re like, ‘Wow, this happened in 1219. We could use more of this.’`
To get the word out, Mayorga has been meeting with various faculty members at the college, student groups and residential halls to get the word out about the cross-cultural center. He said his biggest goal, though admittedly a tough one, is to get every student at Siena involved in one of these interfaith, cross-cultural conversations.
`I want every single student, I want 100 percent of the students that we have to have some experience in this dialogue process,` he said. `It’s a slow process. So part of it is working with classes and getting the residence life to actually get students involved.`
There are several groups associated with the center already, such as the Asian Students Association, the Black and Latino Student Association, the Gay Straight Alliance, the Muslim Students Association and a few others.
Mary Ellen Gilroy, vice president of student affairs at Siena, said this center is right in line with the school’s Franciscan mission.
`I think the most important issues in today’s world is having dialogue with people different than yourself and to promote cross-cultural understanding,` she said.
Mayorga said discussions can be marred by extremists of any religion, which he called the `small dogs that bark really loud.`
`They just need to make their presence known,` he said, adding that maybe yelling isn’t really the way to solve the issue. `Instead of just barking, the big dog just nudges the little dog; the little dog will quiet down.“