30/04/2006

Prayer for Peace
The Courage of Dialogue

Adherents of most of the world's religions are gathering this week in Washington, D.C. to discuss their faiths and pray for peace. The International Prayer for Peace, which is sponsored each year by the Community of Sant'Egidio, a Catholic lay organization, aims to further religious understanding and act as an example of the possibility of world peace.

In a day-long conference Thursday April 26 at Georgetown University, Christians, Jews and Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and others are taking part in the 2006 International Prayer for Peace, entitled "Religions and Cultures: the Courage of Dialogue."

It is the 20th annual such event sponsored by the Community of Sant'Egidio, religious group dedicated to prayer, service and friendship.

The first gathering was convened by Pope John Paul II in the Italian city of Assisi in 1986. The International Prayer for Peace is the world's largest ongoing intereligious event, according to organizers. This is the first time it is being held in the United States.

Growth in Respect and Dialogue

"I think America deserves it. It is certainly a very religious country and a country of great diversity," said Andrea Bartoli, a long time Sant'Egidio member and conference organizer, who heads the Center for International Conflict Resolution at Columbia University. "Religious people do need to grow in respect and dialogue. I think that is important at a time when the role of religion in culture is very much in the debate. We are saying there is a way in which we can dialogue."

Throughout the day conference participants will share ideas on matters ranging from religions' role in fighting global poverty to the portrayal of religion as a source of conflict in news media. Other panel discussions include Religions and Pluralism in Democracy, Religions Facing Terrorism, and The Bible, Spirituality and Humanism.

The event concludes with simultaneous prayers for peace by each of the religious congregations present, their distinct petitions rising in unison to a shared deity.

Side by Side

"At the first gathering it was a major theological concern, is there a way that you can pray together in different traditions?" Bartoli explained. "Every day, during any given time, at any given place you have millions of people praying from the traditions that have been handed down to them through millennia. All can pray in their own way, side by side."

The prayer gathering is not meant to be a political demonstration like those that convene on the Washington Mall, although its message for peace and respect is certainly political.

"It is a moment of great import, but it doesn't have to be large," Bartoli said, though he noted the importance of a gathering dedicated to peace in the capitol of a nation waging war.

"The goal is to create intimacy, respect. We need images that show that co-existence is possible. We actively rejoice in the presence of each other," he said.

In addition to the panel discussions and prayer, conference participants will draft and sign a statement calling for peace and reconciliation among the world's people.

It is not just a feel-good gesture. In 1990 the Community of Sant'Egidio convened peace negotiations between warring factions in Mozambique. In 1992 they signed a peace agreement ending 16 years of civil war.

Eileen Markey