Source: Muslim American Society

http://www.masnet.org/views.asp?id=1018

On March 5, 2004 the Muslim American Society reported that speakers and attendees at the February 24 Catholic-Muslim Dialogue Day event "stressed that Catholic and Muslim communities can only establish meaningful bonds when each community rids itself of the us vs. them mentality, and learns to recognize that both Catholics and Muslims have similar concerns, from upholding their traditional values to figuring out how to deal with their unruly teenage children...   The Catholic-Muslim Dialogue Day was established in 2000 by the Vatican-Muslim Committee, a joint venture by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Permanent Committee of al-Azhar for Dialogue with Monotheistic religions.   The committee designated February 24 as an annual dialogue day to commemorate Pope John Paul II’s historic visit to al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt... The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC) and the Archdiocese of Chicago sponsored two events hosted locally by the Chicago chapter of Muslim American Society in Bridgeview, Ill., and the Islamic Cultural Center in Northbrook, Ill."