Thirteen years ago, I spent Holy Week in the Holy Land. In a rare convergence of faith celebrations, Jews were observing Passover and Muslims were in the middle of the monthlong fast of Ramadan that same week. That spring, I received a crash course on the great faiths of Islam and Judaism, from my Palestinian co-worker explaining why he couldn't brush his teeth during daylight, to my Jewish neighbors showing what food had to be thrown away or sold before Passover.

Fortunately, it's not necessary to travel to the Middle East to learn more about Judaism and Islam. Excellent Web resources on both faiths abound. In this time of war in the Middle East and misunderstandings among Christians, Muslims and Jews, it is helpful to learn more about these great faiths and what we all hold in common.

Studying Judaism

A good place to begin an exploration of Judaism is Judaism 101. The site does a thorough job of explaining core Jewish beliefs, holidays and practices. For instance, it devotes a lengthy page to why some Jewish sources view gossip as a sin equal to murder and incest. Another nice feature: The site tailors its pages for beginner, intermediate and advanced inquirers.

Jewish.com is for those with an interest in Israel and politics, but there's plenty of great basic information here too on Jewish spirituality and ideas. There are even downloads of Jewish music, recipes and want ads. And the Jewish portal MavenSearch will lead you to thousands of sites on the Jewish Web, all categorized according to topic.

Passover begins on the evening of March 27, 2002. More and more Christians are holding Passover seders in their churches on Holy Thursday to commemorate Jesus' last meal with his disciples (although many Jews frown upon this, since Passover in Jesus' time was quite different than it is today). To learn more about this ancient festival, which celebrates the Exodus, check out Passover.net (for fun, click to navigate with Mr. Matzah!).

Learning About Islam

Similar to MavenSearch, Islam.com is a gateway to all things Islamic, from Muslim baby names to politics to discussion forums on marriage. There are basic explainers on the Muslim faith, the life of the prophet Muhammad, and Muslim holidays and practices. There are also busy discussion threads about terrorism and interfaith issues.

Like Jewish.com, IslamOnline.net emphasizes politics (the two sites write about many of the same events, though from vastly different perspectives). But there is also good explanatory information for beginners outlining the central practices of Islam (belief in one God, daily prayer, mandatory charity, fasting and pilgrimage).

For resources on Islam and Judaism from a Catholic perspective, go to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' section on Ecumenical and Religious Affairs. Their primer on Islamic-Catholic relations, issued at the beginning of 2002, is especially helpful. AmericanCatholic.org also has several resources for those wanting to learn more about other faiths. Catholic Update's World Religions: A Primer for Catholics explains why Catholics need to be familiar with other faiths and gives a thumbnail sketch of eight world religions.

Finally, for more on interfaith understanding, check out the upcoming April 2002 issue of St. Anthony Messenger, coming online next Thursday, March 26. It features a report from January's peace gathering in Assisi as well as an article on common ground and differrences among Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

Julie Zimmerman is managing editor of AmericanCatholic.org and sister sites. She previously served as a writer for PlanetFeedback.com and as religion editor for the Cincinnati Enquirer. She has an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Chicago.

Web Pick

DMOZ Catholicism Page
Edited by the pseudonymous theologian IC XC NIKA ("Jesus Christ Conquers") this is the source of many of your Catholic "finds" on the Internet. It's the Catholicism page of the Open Directory Project (DMOZ), a source page for some major search engines. It's a good launching point for the curious Catholic surfer.

Check Out

PARISH
stfrancisofassisi.com
St. Francis of Assisi parish in San Jose, California, shows how a parish can use the power of the Web to keep everyone informed. In addition to announcements and all the various ministries, we see a PDF version of the parish construction feasibility study. There's a nice applet on the home page that rotates images from parish life.

MEDIA
one-o-five Live
Here's a new site from Vatican Radio, whose orginal equipment was installed by Marconi himself! You'll find daily Catholic news, daily Catholic features—a full range of streaming audio features and archives.

A CURRENT CONCERN
USCCB's "Restoring Trust"
Re: clergy sexual abuse. Linked pages include U.S. bishops' president Wilton Gregory's statements, explanations of diocesan policies, outreach to victims, a history of the bishops' efforts since the mid-1980's to grapple with the widespread damage caused by a relatively small number of priests.

Celebrating Easter With Children

How to explain challenging topics and make hot cross buns with your kids this Easter Season.

From Friar Jack

Once again I was overwhelmed by comments on my second column on evil. Thanks for taking the time to write. Your feedback is very helpful and meaningful to me. I'm sorry to say it's just impossible for me to respond personally to such a great flood of comments--there are simply too many. Here are some highlights of emails received:

Sondra: "Just wanted to let you know that I e-mailed your article to the White House. I'm praying they'll read it."

Sr. Sarah: "I'm hoping you will take the opportunity to address some of the abuse issues going on in our Church at this time."

Jack: "Your musings, and your struggle with musing, are affirming to those of us who preach, teach or speak on behalf of the Church...Thanks for trying to find words to express what so many deeply believe about violence, prejudice, hate and evil."

Teresa: "It's unbelievable that we have learned nothing in these past centuries, with all the marvelous, surreal technological advances, about solving our problems."

Friar Jack responds: I am deeply grateful for all of your comments. A lot of you pointed out the story of Jesus driving the money changers from the Temple to show that Jesus did not hesitate to confront evil or express his anger at evil, yet without physically hurting anyone. I couldn't agree with you more.

On another note, I hope to comment on the scandals in the Church in a future column. In the meantime, we are providing an interesting link regarding that topic at the very bottom, lower left of this e-newsletter. We have an editorial coming out in the May edition of St. Anthony Messenger (alas, it takes so much longer to get things into print!). Finally, our AmericanCatholic.org team is working on a news feature that will be on the web site soon.

By the way, for you newcomers, I am a real Franciscan friar. You can find out more about me here. Peace and all good!

Challenge a young person to consider life as a priest, brother or sister. It could be a good fit for them.

Daily Prayer Intentions

Submit a prayer intention and join with us each day as we pray for others and our world.