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Special cross-religious moment of prayer and reflection brings different faiths together

Video download link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11cTwE-YLgC0VN7f9YUJ1oYcJBGh1GEte/view?usp=sharing

Thursday, 14 May 2020:   Limerick Diocese has adopted a COVID-19 world solution for a COVID-19 world prayer by bringing all key local religions on video for the first time in a joint expression of hope in the midst of the pandemic.

Leaders and Members of the Church of Ireland, Judaism, Islam, and Sikhism faith communities joined at the invitation of Bishop Brendan Leahy of the Catholic Diocese of Limerick for a special prayer published today to mark the World Day of Prayer to implore God to help humanity overcome the coronavirus pandemic.

Each recorded their own player on their phones and these were then combined into a two-and-a-half-minute video published on Limerick Diocese Facebook account today.

The participants in the special prayer were Bishop Brendan Leahy, Catholic Bishop of Limerick; Imam Khalid Ghafour, Limerick Islamic Cultural Centre; Bishop Ken Kearon, Church of Ireland Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe; Dr. Wolodymyr “Vlad” Smishkewych, Member of the Munster Jewish Community; Gurmukh Bimbra Singh & Rajwinder Kaur Bimbra, Members of  the Mid-West Sikh Community and Dr. Patricia Kieran, Member of the Mid-West Interfaith Network.

Said Bishop Leahy: “All over the world, people are striving to stop the COVID 19 pandemic; researchers, health care workers, governments and many more. But today across the world, there’s a particularly beautiful manifestation of human fraternity in that faith communities and many traditions are joining in prayer to ask for us to be relieved from this pandemic.

“As difficult as the Coronavirus has been for all of us, we have seen a lot of very positive things happening at this time; people reuniting across the internet in many new ways, young and old writing letters, people singing for each other, groups of all kinds coming together in ways they haven’t before. It’s a heartening flourishing of unity in the face of the pandemic.

“Today’s coming together of our faith communities here in Limerick is another powerful example of this. All who were asked took up the invitation despite each being very busy. They sent us through their prayer last evening on video and we collated it. The end result is something that we will look back on in time as another very positive moment for us all.

“I want to thank all for participating, for giving their time and bringing us together in this way, in this new format. It shows that love will always find a way.”

Ends