Oct 31, 2019

As special assistant for dialogue with Islam for the Order of Friars Minor, Fr. Michael Calabria, O.F.M., Ph.D., director of St. Bonaventure's Center for Arab and Islamic Studies, has been speaking in a variety of venues on the 800th anniversary of St. Francis' encounter with the Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil in 1219.

In September, in Istanbul. he organized an international gathering of Franciscan friars and sisters, as well as other religious and lay people, to discuss the historical encounter and its contemporary applications. He returned to Istanbul Oct. 14-19 to teach about Christian-Muslim relations in a course offered by the friar community.

Other upcoming speaking engagements on these and related topics will take Fr. Michael to the Catholic University of America, Viterbo University and the Catholic Theological Union.