Heartfelt prayers at interfaith vigil for peace in Gaza

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interfaith-gaza

A bashful Sukerit Kaur, 9, sings a message of human solidarity

He is my father

She is also my mother

She is my best friend

He is my brother

An interfaith prayer vigil and reflection for peace in Gaza was held in the hall of the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Penang last night, attended by about a hundred people.

interfaith-gaza-051Among those who led the prayers for peace was Fr Francis Anthony, the parish priest of the Cathedral. JIM central committee member Mohd Rashid Hasnon (centre) sang the azan and stressed the importance of peace in Islam.

Representatives of other faiths – Sikhism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Brahma Kumaris – also led the crowd in similar prayers and meditations for peace.

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lilian
26 Jan 2009 11.41pm

May I answer Ganesh’s questions here. I am from the church mentioned and yes, we pray for all, including Kugan during our masses. We remember him and all the victims of war crimes, poverty and other situation. However, not every one of our prayers were highlighted on blogs. As for this interfaith prayer, a lot of work/coordination has to be put into getting all the people of different faith to come together and the Gaza issue is close to all their hearts, hence we had the rare opportunity of having them with us. May I invite you, Ganesh to join… Read more »

anna brella
anna brella
25 Jan 2009 1.08am

This is fantastic and such a good healing sight for my sadly sore and tired eyes! I am so impressed with Encik Mohd Rashid Hasnon for breaking down the barriers with his, no doubt beautiful singing of the azan there in that friendly collective Church of Reason & Fellowship. Now….that could very possibly be that ultimate “WOW” factor that the now flailing-about UMNO/BN would die for perhaps! So can we have MORE and MORE of these ignorance-busting, fellowship-building inspired churches of reason please? And last but not least, here’s another cut on the dice and slice perspective for those who… Read more »

gregwar
gregwar
24 Jan 2009 9.46pm

Thanks Anil for the quick report. I am sending a longer version to the Herald. Your input was very informative.

Ganesh
Ganesh
24 Jan 2009 7.45pm

I agree with Shankar. We got even bigger problems in Malaysia. Better to pray and hold a vigil for Kuhan and his family.

No point looking elsewhere when you got issues in your own country.

Charity begins at home.

There are far more people suffering here from unjust practices than Gaza.

There are mothers and babies starving here because of the greedy behaviour of the corrupt wanting to get richer by depriving the poor masses from earning higher wages.

Their sufferings are equivalent to being bombed anyway.

shankar
shankar
24 Jan 2009 1.12pm

I think the Herald should stop using Allah and use something else not associated with Islam…

tehsin
24 Jan 2009 12.51pm

Dear Anil,

Please sign the petition to the ICC to try israel for War Crimes:

http://www.petitiononline.com/sr8c1952/petition.html

Please read my initial post here:

http://malaysiantigress.blogspot.com/2009/01/malaysian-citizens-petition-to.html

Thank you.

lucia
lucia
24 Jan 2009 10.58am

anil, the parish priest of the cathedral is fr FRANCIS ANTHONY (not francis xavier), fondly known as FA among us parishioners.

i’m glad i was there as get to learn how the different faith pray. no time to blog about it yet as in the process of updating my blog. hope to blog about it tomorrow.

Oops, I knew that. Must be getting old! Thanks for pointing that out. Now corrected. Anil

shankar
shankar
24 Jan 2009 10.54am

Nice, now, do one for the (custodial deaths at the hands) of police. Don’t you think that Malaysia comes first before others?

Drachen
Drachen
24 Jan 2009 8.22am

We are all a bit like frogs under coconut shells. We need to get out and find out what the other guys are doing if we want a better Malaysia. Gaza, Aceh, Sichuan, Sri Lanka, Mumbai, Bosnia, etc etc – we should all lend a hand if we can.

lilian
24 Jan 2009 8.17am

Anil
It’s Father Francis Anthony. (you can delete this comment 🙂 )

Thanks…It was past midnight when I blogged that, so I wasn’t thinking straight! Anil

Ganesh
Ganesh
24 Jan 2009 6.58am

How come no one is having interfaith prayers for Sri Lanka? After all, more people have been killed there than Gaza. More women and children suffer there.

Loads of rape occur. Infact, dead corpse also kena rape.

How come Malaysia not giving attention and prayers to those victims?

Or is the interfaith vigil practising selective prayers?