NZ Catholics will mark Anniversary of Assisi Peace Meeting

A multi-faith prayer service will be held in all of New Zealand’s Catholic dioceses to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Assisi Peace Meeting.  The New Zealand Catholic Bishops Committee for Interfaith Relations is organising the events, which will take place on or around the 27 October 2011.

The St Francis of Assisi Day of Prayer for Peace began on 27 October 1986, when Blessed John Paul II initiated a meeting in Assisi with members of different faith communities. Another meeting followed in January 2002.

The New Zealand services will consist of prayers read from members of different faith communities and conclude with a shared prayer of the Decalogue of Assisi for Peace, a prayer of commitment to peace first used at the 2002 meeting in Assisi. The faith groups participating include Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Baha’i and Sikh.

Chair of the NZCBC Committee for Interfaith Relations, Sr Catherine Jones, says the Assisi Anniversary is important for us in New Zealand, “as we are drawn ever more into peacemaking in our own lives, in our country, and in the world”.

“Being a “pilgrim” means that we are on a journey with others, seeking the way ahead, step by step, day by day,” she says. “Organising a multi-faith prayer event is an invitation to each one to enter more deeply into our own faith tradition, and to receive the gifts of truth and of peace that other believers can offer us”.