Interfaith prayer: Building bridges amid strife

In a world full of division and strife, the Interfaith Council of Central Florida is hoping a prayer service Sunday will help build a bridge to unity and peace.

The council is inviting people of all religions — and no religion — to attend the hourlong event starting at 3 p.m. at St. James Catholic Cathedral in downtown Orlando.

Th council’s message of respect, understanding and cooperation has particular relevance and urgency as the call for immigration restrictions and protectionism continues to dominate the national political discussion, said the Rev. Bryan Fulwider, chairman of the Interfaith Council.

“One of the benefits is we overcome our misconceptions of other people,” said Fulwider, who appears with two other clergymen on the “Friends Talking Faith” show on public radio station WMFE-90.7.

Sunday’s program will include Muslim, Buddhist, Unitarian Universalist, humanist, Jewish, Sikh, Baha’i, Hindu, Quaker and Christian prayer. It will include thanks for the community’s and the country’s blessings even as residents contend with terrorism and natural disasters.

Organizers plan to draw from every tradition and take care not to pray in a way that would exclude any group or make anyone feel ill at ease.

That way, “We can come and all go away refreshed and blessed for having been there,” said Jim Coffin, Interfaith Council executive director.

Louis Canter, director of music and liturgy at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Kissimmee, plans to play the closing song of peace, “Om Shanti Om,” on a shruti box, a wood instrument that resembles a briefcase and has a bellows.

“This is our common home,” said Canter, quoting a 2015 encyclical by Pope Francis on the environment. “Everyone was created by God. Therefore, we’re brothers and sisters.”

The Interfaith Council of Central Florida was started 15 years ago, but a precursor group existed for the previous 25 years or so, Coffin said. It once was affiliated with the National Council of Christians and Jews, now the National Conference for Community and Justice, but is now independent.

As Central Florida diversifies, the danger of conflict and prejudice expands — but the opportunity for reconciliation and mutual aid also grows, members say.

“We’ve been trying to bridge these [gaps] over time so when hard times come, we’ve already got these connections,” Coffin said.

Canter promises the service will be “enriching and very lifegiving” and hopes it will help attendees find common language and beliefs.

“Can you imagine being in a church where Buddhists and Sikhs and Jews and Muslims and Catholics and other Christians are under the same roof praying for the same thing?” he asked.

St. James Catholic Cathedral is at 215 N. Orange Ave. The service will be in the chapel.