Lebanon, March 6th, 2012 – In the Middle East, where Catholics are minorities and there is a general atmosphere of instability and civil unrest, there are huge challenges for Catholic higher education. Father Hady Mafouz, President of Holy Spirit University of Kaslik in Lebanon, while attending the 23rd General Assembly of the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU), gave his insights on the Catholic university in the Middle East, specifically in Lebanon. Catholic universities in Lebanon make a big contribution to the promotion of higher education, and give Lebanon a very good reputation in higher education, in the Middle East and all over the world.
The importance of interreligious dialogue was stressed by father Mafouz, who believes that not only the curriculum but also the application of the knowledge learned is essential. All our Catholic universities practice interreligious dialogue and we have organized many conferences, lectures and meetings on interreligious dialogue. So, we are concerned with promoting dialogue and peace in Lebanon and in the Middle East. We have an atmosphere of dialogue in our universities. And in the curriculum, we have elective courses chosen so that students are surely able to choose something on dialogue and religions.