My name is Marie Keefe. It is likely that I will be crying before I get through five more words, because as I look at you; you are just wonderful people, and it is you who have modulated the trip. I am here largely because of someone who I admire, but secondarily because I find the whole notion of peace and social justice more elusive than I would like it to be, and that’s a catalyst for me to come to a place where I thought we would talk about interfaith and intercultural stuff, which we haven’t done, because what we’ve done is far more important!
We have listened to different people talk about Gulen movement as it pertains to them as individuals, not strictly as members of a movement or hierarchy. We have witnessed by behaviors something that’s not a new idea, but I personally had lost completely and I initially distrusted. It is part of the origins of church all over the world: It began with one person and a small group. For me to think there is not a hierarchy that is making this work that there is not a tender plan I can’t believe that I would be so resistant, because it is in the origins of the Catholic Church. So before I left I had asked my community if there is anything you want me to ask; here is your chance, and one woman said to me “Well ask what is the one thing, if we can only do one thing to create peace, what would they say?” I haven’t asked yet, but I would say: Go to Turkey! That’s what you need to do (laughs). That’s the most simplistic thing. The depth of the experience is because of who has come and you the vision to understand that is not only who you give us access to but it is we who come. So because there are Arabic speakers here I see this differently. Because there are Muslim women here I see it completely differently. Because there is a priest here I am absolutely in a different place than when I am in a Synagogue, I think of you, but also I think of her when our tour guide is speaking about the Jews. I am thinking does he know we have one of them? So it is true your individuality that this has meaning to me. We have a friend in our community who used to say it is probably when you get to the gates of heaven and St. Peter asks you something: He is not going to ask you how you lived your life; he is going to say, “who did you bring you with you?” and that’s what I see in the Gulen movement, and that’s what I see among these people here. Who do you bring with me? This young man over here is always checking to see which one of us isn’t there (laughs), he is always making sure we get there. So I think the question about what’s the thing we can do for peace that has become so clear to me, in addition to the in-your-bones feeling that this place has experienced all of our religions and all of our humanity and we dare not lose sight of that. It is not who is there today, it has absolutely been a passage for all, but I do think the response is to start here in this fashion. I don’t know that I can put words to it, but I am hoping pictures may help. I am eternally grateful for that experience!
