News Story

Mormons Participate in Interfaith Service for Healing and Peace

In a world of increasing turmoil and uncertainty, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are committed to learn from and associate with those of other religions whose members also desire mutual respect and understanding.

 

An “Interfaith Service of Meditation and Solidarity for Healing and Peace” was held February 6, 2017, at the Metropolitan United Church in Toronto in remembrance of six Muslim men killed January 29 while praying at a mosque in Quebec. Taking part in the service were invited leaders and representatives from over a dozen faiths and religious organizations, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Following the invocation, as the name of each victim of the massacre at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Quebec was read, a candle was lit in remembrance.

Letters of condolence from the Toronto Area Interfaith Council (TAIC) and the Toronto Interfaith Conversation were read by the president of TAIC, Zul Kassamali.

During the service, a liturgy was repeated after each of the nine different faith group speakers, who included Chander Khanna (Hindu), Rabbi David Seed (Jewish), Imam Habeeb Alli (Muslim), Charles Hill (Behá’í), Reverend Chris Harper (First Nations), Reverend Earl Smith (Scientology), Reverend Zenji Nio Acharya (Buddhist), Dr. Jehan Bagli (Zoroastrian) and Father Damian MacPherson, SA (Roman Catholic).

Representing four different faiths, Andrew MacPherson (Emmanuel College student), Sister MaryAnne Olekszyk (Felician Sisters), Reverend Carmen Llanos (Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto) and Jim Wilson (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) shared a litany for healing based on scripture from the book of Isaiah.

Five Faith Partners united in support of this initiative: the Toronto Area Interfaith Council, the Greater Toronto Area Canadian Council of Christian Churches, the Christian–Jewish Dialogue of Toronto, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto and the Intercultural Dialogue Institute of Toronto.

Allowing all the privilege of worshipping God according to the dictates of their own conscience has always been part of the doctrine of the Church, whose members follow the teachings of and worship the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Prince of Peace (see the Church’s eleventh article of faith).

“Religion, like salt, seasons the interactions between strangers, adds flavor to our civic relations and preserves the dear things of our common existence. To be the salt of society means to savor its success” (“Why Religion Matters: The Salt of Society”).

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