
(Click to enlarge.)
I attended a speech at Utah Valley University on Monday evening by Archbishop Bernardito Auza, who serves as the Permanent Observer of the Holy See (i.e., of the Vatican or the Roman Catholic Church) to the United Nations.
He spoke about challenges to religious liberty — mostly but not solely international threats, mostly in the Middle East — and about Catholic/Mormon ties.
It was an interesting address.
And it gave me an opportunity to reconnect, before and after, with several interesting people , including Paul Edwards, the editor of the Deseret News; Brian Farr, an assistant Utah attorney general and an active participant in interfaith matters in and around Salt Lake City; Brian Birch, who heads UVU’s Religious Studies program; and Matthew Holland, the president of UVU.
UVU has been doing very interesting things of late in terms of interfaith relations and religious studies. It’s a young and adventurous school, and fun to watch. And Matt Holland has been a major factor in that.
Here are two articles about Archbishop Auza’s remarks:
The BYU Universe (warning: includes a quotation from me)