DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Michigan (LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Edward Weisenburger of Detroit attended and spoke at the grand opening of a mosque and the new headquarters of the Islamic Institute of America (IIOA) last week, praising the building and erroneously saying that Muslims and Catholics worship the same God.
In his brief remarks, Weisenburger lauded how he felt a “divine presence” as soon as he arrived at the Imam Al-Hasanain Mosque and erroneously claimed that all mosques, churches, synagogues, and other “places where God reaches out” are sacred spaces. The archbishop also offered his prayers that the new mosque and Islamic center will bring all of humanity “into a deeper communion with our ‘one god.'”
“There is nowhere that I feel greater honor, fraternity, and kindness, and from the moment I drove onto this beautiful property today, I very fully felt the sense of the divine presence,” the archbishop said.
“We are members of the same human family. All churches, all mosques, all synagogues, all places where God reaches out and touches with his finger are sacred,” he added. “This is a truly wonderful and sacred place, a place that will bring all of humanity, I believe, into a deeper communion with our ‘one god.'”
In Catholic theology, “communion” ordinarily denotes participation in the same faith, sacraments, and ecclesial unity. According to the Gospel, no communion is possible with Muslims and others who deny Jesus Christ as God, Lord, and Savior: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
In the six decades since the promulgation of the Second Vatican Council’s Nostra Aetate, the 1965 declaration on the relation of the Church to non-Christian religions, Catholic prelates have repeatedly engaged in interfaith dialogue, ceremonies, and prayer services with Muslims and other members of false religions.
READ: Vatican honors Hinduism, Islam with dance celebration on anniversary of Nostra Aetate
The document contains ambiguous language, such as the Church “esteeming” non-Christian religions, and says the Church “exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions … they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men.”
Nostra Aetate, or at least its common interpretation, has led to decades of interfaith events with Muslims and other false religions, as well as Pope Francis’ controversial 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti, a key reference text for ecumenical endeavors since its promulgation. That text touts a form of brotherhood without God and “religious indifferentism,” leading Church historian Roberto de Mattei to warn that when “fraternity” is divorced from Christian charity, “far from constituting an element of cohesion in society,” it “becomes the source of its disintegration.”
Weisenburger’s first year as archbishop of Detroit has also been marked by several controversies. Within weeks of being installed as archbishop, he enacted a sweeping prohibition of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in parish churches – allowing it only in select non‑parochial settings. Just months later, the archbishop dismissed three senior, orthodox professors from Sacred Heart Seminary: Dr. Ralph Martin, Dr. Eduardo Echeverria, and Dr. Edward Peters.
Weisenburger has also apparently ignored the pleas of two whistleblowers urging the archdiocese to investigate a parish priest over pornographic material found on parish computers and the alleged cover-up of the incident by the pastor. Indeed, like his predecessor, Archbishop Allen Vigneron, has also been accused of covering up clerical abuse for decades while serving as the vicar general of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, allegedly ordering the mass deletion of emails and records about abuse allegations and even enabling a defamation lawsuit against an abuse survivor.
READ: Detroit’s Archbishop Weisenburger covered up clerical sex abuse for decades: report