Mississauga Muslims help vandalized church clean up

Moved by the desecration of a Catholic church, the Muslim community in Mississauga donated thousands of dollars to help the church clean up, in a shining example of interfaith unity in the city, news agencies reported.
The Catholic church of St. Catherine of Siena was vandalized last month with a spat of vulgar statements sprayed on its walls.
Hearing the news, imam of the Sayeda Khadija Centre in Mississauga Hamid Slimi, paid a visit to the nearby church. “When I saw this, I thought it was pure injustice. It was just wrong,” Slimi said after Father Camillo Lando showed him some of the vandal’s behavior caught on security video.
“I told my community, there is nothing we can do now. But the church needs funds,” Slimi added.
Last Wednesday, Slimi presented Lando and the church board with the cheque.
“I told them, this is what any Muslim would do,” he said.
Lando plans to inform his congregation about the donation this weekend at mass. “I will tell my congregation that it was really a beautiful and generous gesture on their part,” he said. “And also it’s an act of confidence and understanding. We are walking together in this community. We keep our faith, and we have to honor and respect people of other faiths.”