Sorry..some 1300 years of history have to be..ah...how shall I say...sort of set aside to believe this quote from this article:  "..When Catholics in the U.S. are hearing about Islam and Muslims, they're not hearing about the heart and soul of the tradition...".

The heart, soul (and critically, crucially, the 'means') of the Islamic "tradition" for 1300 years - when push comes to shove - has been "the sword".   As soon as the percentage of the population crosses some number like 10-15%, the sword is what dominates. 

Sure there can be "peace" and coffee klatches and conferences at Boston college long before that threshold is reached...but after that number has been reached...out comes either the Zulfiqar or the Scimitar.