Jan 242009
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.
Among 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.
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?
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Anil
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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
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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.
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Nice, now, do one for the (custodial deaths at the hands) of police. Don’t you think that Malaysia comes first before others?
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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
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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.
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I think the Herald should stop using Allah and use something else not associated with Islam…
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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.
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Thanks Anil for the quick report. I am sending a longer version to the Herald. Your input was very informative.
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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 are sometimes unfortunately blinded into the self-destructive comparison and measurement game mode in fields and matters where it does not apply:
It is my understanding from personal experience – so whether rightly or wrongly or whether you may agree or think it so or not – that the impact on the human psyche from all truly unnecessary human pain and suffering is the SAME wherever it happens and to whoever it happens and irrespective of whatever arbitrary and convenient box one may want to put that human sufferer or suffering into to either rationalise the guilt away or to justify it as being just collateral damage.
“Imagine Power To The People” John Lennon.
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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 us in our mass so that you can see for yourself that we are not merely doing selective prayers according to the ‘hot trends’? The Herald also serves as our information source because The Herald features all the problems faced by the world. So, if you do not mind, do ask for a copy of The Herald for reading.
(sorry if I sound like a broken loudspeaker but I love my church
)
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