On January 21, The Institute of Interfaith Dialog hosted an event with Tulsa's Catholic community.  The topic for the evening was Mother Mary in Islam and Catholicism.  Monsignor Patrick Gaalaas presented the audience with the Catholic point of view.  He explained Mary's position as mother of humanity and talked about the reverence and devotion Catholics direct toward her.  Melek Oyludag presented the Islamic point of view. She talked about Mary as a woman of the highest virture and her special place in Islam.  Some of the guests were surprised to learn how important Mother Mary is to both religions and realized we have a lot more in common than we do different.

In addition to the presentation about Mary, Mrs. Stacy McKeon shared some memories from her recent trip to Turkey.  She gave special attention to her visit to the House of Mother Mary near Ephesus.  She talked about how important that visit was to her as a Catholic.  And of course, what IID event would be complete without food.  Everyone shared a dinner of Turkish food, followed by a serving of Noah's Pudding.  Monsignor Gaalaas reminded everyone that "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach," noting that IID must know this well.