DUBLIN, Ireland, October 9, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – A Catholic school in Dublin invited a Muslim leader to issue a blessing to the students, as well as to offer a prayer in which he referenced Christ as a mere “prophet.”
A local imam joined Fr. Fergal MacDonagh at Our Lady of Dolours Church, Dolphin’s Barn, in a prayer service to mark the commencement of the new school year.
The Muslim leader said: “We ask the almighty to send salutations on all his beloved servants, Abraham, Jesus, Muhammad, David…” Fr. MacDonagh stood nearby, with arms extended during the proclamation.
The imam continued by ending with a prayer taken directly from the Koran. After reading the Arabic text, he offered the English translation which referred directly to Christ being only one of the prophets. “O Lord all praises to you, and we ask you to send your salutations and peace to all your beloved servants, the prophets, Jesus Christ, Abraham, Muhammad, and all of them.”
There was no final prayer or blessing given afterward by Fr. MacDonagh.
The recent joint prayer service is not the first time that Fr. MacDonagh has promoted Islam during his services. In an interview given in April of this year, Imam Ismail Kotwal told the Dublin InQuirer that Fr. MacDonagh had previously invited him to speak at one of his sermons on fasting.
Through accepting the invitation, the imam credited Fr. MacDonagh with informing him about the concept of moving his prayer services online. “A great blessing happened to me. It was an idea of Fr Fergal…He said to me that he has a system where they can do live broadcasting.”
A similar occurrence was seen in April of this year, as a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Tuam, Ireland, invited local Muslims to offer an Islamic prayer during a Mass. On that occasion, two Muslims sung an Islamic call to prayer, which as noted at the time by Church Militant, “categorically proclaims Islam’s supremacy over its forebears — Judaism and Christianity.”
Cardinal Burke stated in a 2016 interview, that “I don’t believe it’s true that we’re all worshipping the same God, because the God of Islam is a governor.” Warning of the dangers of viewing Catholics and Muslims as worshiping the same god, Burke said “this is not helpful and ultimately it will be the end of Christianity.”
His teaching was echoed by Bishop Schneider in a recent statement he issued in reference to the Abu Dhabi Document promulgated by Pope Francis in June of this year. Schneider said: “That we Catholics adore with the Muslims the one God is not true. We do not adore with them.”
Schneider also warned that Muslims view Christ as a prophet, not as the Second Person of the Trinity. “the Muslim conception of Jesus is a rejection of the Christian idea: for the Koran states that God cannot have a Son, and so they reject the Incarnation even if they accept the Virgin Birth.”
In his book-length interview, Christus Vincit, Schneider categorically taught that “Islam in itself is not faith…Faith is applicable only to belief in the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
Passages from the Koran itself support this. One section of text reads: “The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, was but a messenger of Allah and His word which He directed to Mary and a soul [created at a command] from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers. And do not say, ‘Three’; desist – it is better for you. Indeed, Allah is but one God.”