One of the Muslim movements with whom I have found much common understanding is what is often called “the Gülen Movement.” The name is technically a misnomer, as the founder and spiritual leader, M. Fethullah Gülen, has denied that he has any movement of his own, but describes the movement rather as one of like-minded colleagues and students who share a common vision and commitment to society. I came to know the Gülen movement back in the 1990s through a close friend of mine, Msgr. George Marovitch, who is the secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Turkey. Over the years, I have met members of this movement, and I have grown in respect for who they are and what they are seeking to do in society. It is about this movement that I would like to speak to you today. It is significant that Gülen’s reading of the needs of today’s world has led him and his movement to put interreligious dialogue at the center of their concerns. This was not an entirely original insight on the part of Gülen. The Gülen community inherited its openness to interreligious dialogue and cooperation from the writings of Said Nursi in the Risale-i Nur, but this commitment has been renewed and given new impetus in the writings of Fethullah Gülen. In his speech in 1999 at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Capetown, Gülen presented an optimistic vision of interreligious harmony.

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