Ecumenism Works Locally Too… · March 24, 2011
“People of a multitude of faiths gathered [in mid-September] at St. Ignatius of Antioch Church to heighten awareness of a common cause – peace.”
“The International Day of Peace, a celebration of interfaith relations and the common good, attracted about 400 people, including those of less familiar religions such as Islam, Sufi and Seventh Day Adventist, who shared celebrations of peace from their traditions.”
Attendees were able to browse the Qur’an, book of Mormon and other holy books as 14 faith groups. Participants felt closer to one another through an interfaith candle lighting ceremony, a collective meditation and prayer session and by reciting the various names of God for the first 15 minutes of every hour.
Other symbolic events included planting a 12-foot “peace pole” outside the Roman Catholic Church. Two families who performed a Pomo Native American ritual, which asked the Holy Spirit to live inside the pole, blessed the pole. Participants gathered around the pole and sang songs.
Tom Bonacci, a Roman Catholic priest founded the annual event, which is now four years old. It is organized around the time of the United Nations Peace Day, commemorated on September 21.
The ecumenical movement is designed to bring all faiths together under the Roman Catholic faith. This local event in Antioch, California is a good example of the integration of mindless ritual and ceremony that accompanies the ecumenical movement, which lays aside doctrine in the interest of finding unity. When doctrine is sidelined, there’s nothing left but ceremony. Biblical authority is replaced with human authority, particularly that of the pope.
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