Wishing You Peace and Joy at Christmas and Throughout the New Year
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Issue 109 December 2018 Wishing you Peace and Joy at Christmas and throughout the New Year INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Nobel Peace Prize 2018 13 Editorial 2 Nobel Prize and Religion 14 Pope condemns Anti-Semitism 3 Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan 15 Service for Pittsburgh Synagogue 5 News in Brief from PCID 16 Deepavali 6 Encounters 17 Remembrance at Mandir 7 Swami Vivekananda 18 Tree Planting Tool Kit 7 Vivekananda’s Chicago Address 20 Vatican Message to Sikhs 8 Breaking News 20 Multi-Faith Peace Ceremony 9 Peace Award 10 Correspondence 21 Peace Award Speech 11 Contacts 22 Interfaith in Islington 12 Calendar of Religious Festivals 24 Glimpses of a Holy City (4) 13 De Mello: Charism 28 Westminster Interfaith Editorial Welcome to the winter edition of our Interfaith Newsletter, which is packed with news from home and abroad, highlighting the growing interest, awareness and need for interreligious dialogue and engagement at all levels. It is always difficult to decide what to include, when there is so much happening at an interfaith level. We try to vary our articles so that the traditions of many faiths are represented. We often include events from abroad because what affects one part of the world, or a particular group of people, is likely to have an impact here in Great Britain, which probably has the greatest variety of religions and cultures in the world. We have just celebrated National Inter Faith Week, which, this year, was officially one day longer and included the 100th Anniversary of Armistice Day. Many events had World War 1 as their theme. Some were connected to religious festivals or were held before the week or postponed because of them. It meant that Inter Faith Week went on for about three weeks and attracted even more people than ever before, which is great news. It reflects a growing awareness that we need to get to know one another better. Indeed, I no longer feel that we are just a bunch of people who meet with good intentions, but, I feel we have become a family of brothers and sisters, who love one another and are working together to help build a better world of peace, harmony and mutual respect. This year, Parliament Week coincided with In- ter Faith Week. Many politicians got involved. Some MPs hosted interfaith events and activities at the Houses of Parliament. The web of fellowship is spreading. In this issue, some articles include some significant speeches. Pope Francis speaks on anti-Semitism and interreligious dialogue to a group of Mountain Jews. Swami Vivekananda addresses the first Parliament of Religions. Of course, we have includ- ed our own Sister Elizabeth’s acceptance speech when she was awarded a Peace Prize for her interfaith work. Congratulations! We try to avoid politics, but it seemed appropriate to mention Pakistan and the awful blasphemy laws, which affect all religious minorities, especially now that Asia Bibi has been released from 9 years in prison but still cannot leave the country. At the time of writing, Muslims are celebrating the Birthday of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Sikhs are celebrating the Birth Anniversary of their first guru, Guru Nanak. The Jewish festival of Chanukkah begins as Christians enter the Advent season in preparation for the Birthday of Jesus, which we commemorate on Christmas Day. We wish all our readers joyful religious festivals as well as a fruitful and inspiring 2019 filled with much joy, peace and blessings! Jon and the Westminster Interfaith Team 2 Westminster Interfaith Pope Francis Condemns Anti-Semitism On Sunday 28 October, Pope Francis spoke to the crowds in St Peter’s Square as usual and denounced the inhuman” and “terrible attack” on a synagogue, and prayed for an end to the “flames of hatred” that fuelled it. He was referring to the attack that took place the day before at a Shabbat service, when a gunman started shooting indiscriminately inside the Tree of Life Synagogue, while shouting, “All Jews must die” and anti-Semitic slurs. The attack left at least 11 adults dead, and wounded several others including four police officers. It was one of the deadliest attacks against the Jewish community in the USA, and took place amidst a cli- mate of hate-speeches and violence, as the nation moved towards crucial midterm elections. Pope Francis has frequently spoken out against religiously inspired violence and anti-Semitism. He had an opportunity to repeat his views ten days later, when he received a delegation of Rabbis from the ancient community of Mountain Jews. I am pleased to be able to include a Vatican translation of his speech below. Pope’s Address to Mountain Jews Dear Friends, I offer a warm welcome to you, the delegates of the World Congress of Mountain Jews from different countries. It is the first time that Jewish brothers and sisters belonging to your ancient tradition have come as a group to visit the Pope. For this reason too, our meeting today is a reason for joy. Most recently, I met with a Jewish community in Lithuania on 23 September last. It was a day devoted to the commemoration of the Shoah, 75 years after the destruction of the Vilnius ghetto and the murder of thousands of Jews. I prayed before the monument to the victims of the Holocaust and I asked the Most High to comfort his people. The Holocaust must be commemorated so that there will be a living memory of the past. Without a living memory, there will be no future, for if the darkest pages of history do not teach us to avoid the same errors, human dignity will remain a dead letter. Speaking of the Shoah, I would like to recall two other tragic events. Another dramatic seventy-fifth anniversary took place on 16 October last: that of the raid on the Roman ghetto. Just a few days from now, 9 November will mark the 80th anniversary of the Kristallnacht, when many Jewish places of worship were de- stroyed, not least with the intent of uprooting from the hearts of individuals and a people that which is absolutely inviolable: the presence of the Creator. The at- tempt to replace the God of goodness with the idolatry of power and the ideology of hatred ended in the folly of exterminating creatures. Consequently, religious 3 Westminster Interfaith freedom is a supreme good to be safeguarded, a fundamental human right and a bul- wark against the claims of totalitarianism. Sadly, anti-Semitic attitudes are also present in our own times. As I have often re- peated, a Christian cannot be an anti-Semite; we share the same roots. It would be a contradiction of faith and life. Rather, we are called to commit ourselves to ensure anti-Semitism is banned from the human community. I have always sought to emphasize the importance of friendship between Jews and Catholics. It is based on a fraternity grounded in the history of salvation and it finds concrete expression in concern for one another. Together with you, I would like to offer thanks to the Giver of every gift for the blessing of our friendship, which is a reason and an impetus to mutual dialogue. In these times, we are called to promote and to expand interreligious dialogue for the sake of humanity. In this regard, I readily think back with you to the moving interreligious encounter in Azerbaijan two years ago, where I remarked that religions can be builders of har- mony “based on personal relations and on the good will of those responsible”. This is indeed our path: “a path of dialogue with others and a path of prayer for all. These are our means of turning ‘spears into pruning hooks’ (cf. Is 2:4), so as to give rise to love where there is hatred, and forgiveness where there is offence, without ever growing weary of imploring and tracing the ways of peace”. For “now is not the time for violent or abrupt solutions, but rather an urgent moment to engage in pa- tient processes of reconciliation” (2 October 2016). It is to this fundamental task that we are called. I ask the Almighty to bless our journey of friendship and trust, so that we can dwell always in peace and be, wherever we find ourselves, artisans and builders of peace. Shalom aleichem! With thanks to Zenit News from the Vatican PS. Mountain Jews date back to the 5th Century. They are descended from Persian Jews, who came from modern day Iran. They were known to be great warriors and horsemen, who lived in mountainous communities near the Caspian Sea for many cen- turies. After the fall of the Soviet Union, they are now spread across many regions, with the largest communities living in Russia and Azerbaijan. They have never visited a Pope before. Pope Francis was delighted to receive them. Date for your Diary 34th Annual Pilgrimage for Peace will take place on Saturday 8th June 2019 (Vigil of Pentecost / Shavuot) in and around Wimbledon in the Borough of Merton. 4 Westminster Interfaith Memorial Service for Pittsburgh Synagogue I was shocked, upset and disgusted, when I heard about the vicious attack on the Synagogue in Pittsburgh, while the Jewish community were at prayer, celebrating Shabbat and holding a naming ceremony for a child. I felt we should do something immediately to show our solidarity with the Jewish community. I was in France at the time, nowhere near a synagogue, so when the West London Synagogue (WLS) invited me to a Memorial Service on the 31st October, I knew I had to be there. We had returned from France that afternoon.