Muslim chaplain is familiar face on Catholic college campus

Published: 2006-11-28

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Immediately after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Imam Yahya Hendi's phone started ringing off the hook. Everyone, from White House officials to major media outlets, wanted to talk to the full-time Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University, hoping he could explain Islamic tradition or at least place it in a modern context. "They were all searching for answers," he said five years later in an interview in an office at Georgetown University's campus ministry building. These days, his interview schedule might lack that same degree of urgency, but he isn't any less busy with meetings, e-mail correspondence, teaching and ministry. His work still primarily involves interreligious dialogue and is driven by a strong belief that people need to be educated about one another's faith traditions.

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