On January 4, Pax Christi Illinois, along with over 20 communities and organizations representing Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, Bahai, Buddhist, Sikh, Zoroastrian, Celtic, and Hindu faith communities, co-sponsored the 21st annual World Peace Day Interfaith Prayer Service. This year’s attendance was the largest ever, with nearly 450 participants gathering in the Wentz Concert Hall on the campus of North Central College in Naperville.
Pax Christi members took the lead in organizing these events, which were inspired by the witness of Pope John Paul II, who gathered religious leaders from around the world to come to Assisi to pray for peace at a time when the US “war on terror” was enflaming religious hatred and mistrust. The originators of these annual gatherings felt it was important for faith communities to speak out against the weaponization of religion and to demonstrate that we have much more in common than what makes us different.
The theme for this year’s service was “Speak Up! Power in Collective Action.” During the service, 198 participants signed up to become part of an action alert network that would be activated in response to any act of hatred or any threat of violence against any faith community.
As Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace Tom Cordaro stated, “We invite each of you to show up, to stand up and to speak up in defense of all our faith communities by rejecting all forms of religious nationalism and all forms of religious extremism.” He went on to say, “Because of who we are, we hope to bring more of what we dream—– but have not dared. In doing so, we pray for the strength to direct our power and our passion to putting flesh of action on bare-boned intentions; to lighting fires against the midnight of indifference; to throwing bridges of care across canyons of loneliness.”
