KUCHING, Malaysia (UCAN) -- A Muslim team's recent visit to a Catholic church here to engage in discussion and attend Mass is a breakthrough in interreligious dialogue at the grassroots level.

On Oct. 14, 10 Muslims sat in the pews among Catholics attending Mass at Holy Trinity Church in Kuching, the Sarawak state capital, 980 kilometers east of Kuala Lumpur.

Several Church sources told UCA News they were sure this had not happened in the history of Kuching archdiocese and had not heard of it happening anywhere else in Malaysia either. Sarawak is one of the two eastern Malaysian states on the northwestern coast of Borneo Island.

Religion, like ethnicity, is a sensitive and highly politicized issue in this multireligious but Muslim-majority country. A belief commonly held by both Christians and Muslims is that Muslims are forbidden to enter a church, let alone attend a worship service. The Muslim visitors at Holy Trinity, however, initiated the visit themselves.

Shah Kirit Kakakul Govindji of the Kuala Lumpur-based Islamic Information and Services Foundation led the team that largely comprised local Sarawakian Muslims. They said the aim of the visit, supported by Archbishop John Ha Tiong Hock of Kuching, was to "build bridges" and enhance interfaith relations and understanding.

After Mass, parish priest Father Stephen Lim invited the visitors as well as parish council members for breakfast and a dialogue session at which participants openly discussed faith matters.

Shah Kirit explained that the purpose of the visit was to discover similarities and common traditions shared by Islam and Christianity, and to respectfully "agree to disagree" on differences. Two members of his team pointed out the Qur'an teaches Jesus is a prophet who was born of the Virgin Mary and performed miracles.

The Muslim participants asked many questions about the proliferation of Christian denominations, formation and training for the Catholic priesthood, the Church's various ministries and apostolic work, and Christ's second coming.

At the request of Holy Trinity Parish, Shah Kirit promised to send copies of the Qur'an in English. The participants also discussed a reciprocal visit by Catholics to a mosque in the near future.

A parish council member who wished not to be named told UCA News the immediate impact of the interaction and open exchange was "a sense of amazement."

Kuching archdiocese is one of nine Church territories in Malaysia. Covering the western part of Sarawak state, it has 153,000 Catholics in 10 parishes, out of a population of about 1 million, according to archdiocesan records.

Of Malaysia's 26 million people, government figures say 60 percent are Muslims, 19 percent Buddhists, 9 percent Christians and 6 percent Hindus.

END