October 24, 2012

A letter to Fethullah Gulen from a Catholic Priest

In Niğde, we visited the schools of the Sungurbey Education Foundation, established by by a private businessman-donor, Celal Afşar, whom we were privileged to have as our host.

He is also a close colleague of Fethullah Gülen and good friend of Fr. Alexei Smith. Mr. Afşar asked Fr. Alexei to write a letter to Mr. Gülen describing our group and the nature of our trip, which Mr. Afşar will deliver personally to him when he visits him next week in the USA. Here are excerpts from the letter:

Southern California priests participate in landmark trip to Turkey

Paula Doyle

Twelve archdiocesan priests are exploring ancient Christian sites and visiting Catholic faith communities in Turkey this week, as part of a trip organized exclusively for Catholic clergy by an organization of Turkish-American Muslims that promotes intercultural and interreligious awareness.

Father Alexei Smith, archdiocesan director of ecumenical/interreligious affairs, and Msgr. Thomas Welbers, pastor of Good Shepherd Church in Beverly Hills, are co-leading the trip, which is being sponsored and organized by the Pacifica Institute.