The book, Interfaith Engagement in Milwaukee: A Brief History of Christian-Muslim Dialogue, is the result of a research project begun in spring 2017 by Marquette professor Irfan A. Omar and his students in a seminar called “Christians and Muslims in Dialogue.”

Omar, a professor of theology specializing in inter-connections between Islam and other religions, said he was aware of the strength of local interfaith dialogues and asked his students in the seminar “if they wanted to do research on Milwaukee. But we didn’t know the depth of the engagement in 1980.” The book, edited by Dr. Omar and Kaitlyn C. Daley, one of the students in the seminar, is “a window into the history of interfaith activism in Milwaukee,” Professor Omar said in an interview.

Dr. Abbas Hamdani, who passed away last year; Sr. Jessine Reiss, OSF (Order of St. Francis); and Sr. Lucille Walsh, OSF, who passed away in 2013 at the age of 101; were the three original founders of the Islamic Christian Dialogue.

The three had known each other since the 1970s and were “interested in learning about world religions,” although, Omar said, “interfaith stuff was not fashionable at the time. After the Second World War, Jewish-Christian relations were just beginning to come online.” Jewish-Christian dialogues had been established in Milwaukee since 1975, Omar said. “One turning point for these people were things that came out of the Second Vatican Council in the late 60s.”

The research project focused on collecting documentation on events, meetings, and workshops, retrieving narratives through interviews, and the collection of artifacts like flyers and programs, including letters to and from the Vatican. “The students found a treasure trove,” Omar said.

Sr. Lucille Walsh’s 1985 letter to His Holiness John Paul II is included as Figure I in the book. At the time, Sr. Lucille was chairperson of the Interfaith Group, which, according to the letter, had the full support of Milwaukee’s archbishop at the time, Rembert Weakland. “They sought advice, encouragement, and ways to celebrate their work that was rooted in, as they rightly declared, the sacred scriptures they uphold and follow. The letter to the Pope did not go unnoticed,” as Dr. Omar wrote in his introduction to the interfaith book.