WASHINGTON -- A Virginia leader of multiethnic and religious dialogue was one of five people to make a presentation to Pope Benedict XVI at an interfaith meeting last night -- the pope's final event in the nation's capital.

Saman Hussain, a 22-year-old Muslim woman who lives in Fairfax County, gave the pope a copy of the Quran, the holy book of Islam, encased in a silver box and decorated with mother of pearl.

Four others delivered to the pope gifts reflecting Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism at the meeting with about 200 leaders of diverse religions.

Hussain, who was selected by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to make the Muslim presentation to the pontiff, spoke briefly with Benedict upon delivering the gift in a televised ceremony.

"I explained to him what it was and thanked him," she said in an interview. "He looked at it and said, 'This is beautiful.'"

She said she was glad to see the pope turn the world's attention to religious diversity during his historic visit to Washington.

As an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, where she first studied Judaism before expanding to other world religions, Hussain worked to foster interfaith dialogue, eventually working at the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington upon graduation in 2007.

As coordinator of the 2007 Washington Unity Walk in memory of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, Hussain has seen religions work together.

"I believe we worship the same God -- Christians, Muslims and Jews. It's important we realize that," she said.

Before the interfaith event, Benedict spoke to about 400 Catholic educators, including Annette Parsons, the chief schools administrator for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond.

Speaking at Catholic University of America, the only university in the United States chartered by the Vatican, the pope told educators that classrooms were the place to encounter "the living God" and called on administrators to keep their private education accessible to poor families.

The cost of a Catholic education in Virginia runs about $8,000 a year, said Parsons, who oversees Catholic schools in the Diocese of Richmond, which has 25 diocesan schools and four private schools.

"Rural schools -- those are the ones we're particularly concerned about sustaining," Parsons said. "He said those schools were a priority."

Benedict also called on educators to welcome immigrant students. "There is a rising Hispanic population that we know we need to reach out to," Parsons said.
Contact Neil H. Simon at nsimon@mediageneral.com or (202) 662-7669.