MECHANICSVILLE — A crowd of more than 30 people visited the Schuylkill County Islamic Society mosque Friday for a special open house.
“It is an interfaith outreach for the Islamic Society. We do this at least once a year. Our last one was in December,” Zarina Wahaab, the society’s president, said at the mosque at 1043 E. Norwegian St.
There were speakers, including Kay Jones, Orwigsburg, executive director of Schuylkill County VISION, and students from Alvernia University, Reading, like Sydni Gajewski, Pottstown.
Gajewski said she did not grow up following a particular faith.
“There’s a Buddha in my house, but my mom follows the Methodist church. And I’ve grown up accepting many faiths, and I enjoy making an effort to get a better understanding of many faiths so I can relate to others to see where they’re coming from. And I’m a health care science major and I want to work with people of all different types,” Gajewski, a sophomore at Alvernia, said into a microphone when introducing herself at the mosque Friday.
“I’m so happy that you’re here tonight because this is so important. And it’s incredibly important today because we’re living in a very chaotic time and there are people that don’t understand how we’re worshipping in different ways,” Jones told the crowd.
“So what we have to do is break some of these barriers down. And we feel it’s extremely important to do that because we’re Americans and we’re living together and we really need to understand each other,” Jones said.
One of the members of the mosque, Rubina Tareen, is an interfaith chaplain at Alvernia.
“This is our first time here, but Rubina has led trips to other mosques,” said Joseph J. Cicala, vice president for University Life and Dean of Students at Alvernia.
Cicala said he hopes such visits give his students “understanding and a greater sense of the harmony in the world.”
“This is my third time to a mosque and I’ll come back every time I’m invited,” Gajewski said.
Another Alvernia student there was Becky Jones, Reading, a freshman social work major.
“I love to learn new things and this seemed like a great opportunity,” Jones said.
“One of the things a lot of people don’t know about Alvernia is it’s a Franciscan university,” Cicala said, referring to St. Francis of Assisi. “And for Francis, the very essence of our humanity is to live in harmony with one another and with creation and with our creator.”
“I thank you so much for coming tonight. This is really important and I hope when you go back to your congregations and communities that you talk about your experience here,” Jones said.
The event also included food and a prayer service, Wahaab said.