By Emily Losito
Associate Editor
The McGinley-Carney Center for Franciscan Ministries has a distinguishing feature – the Interfaith Prayer Tower. University Ministries and The Center for Arab and Islamic Studies hosted an Interfaith Prayer Service to mark the beginning of Francis Week in the great room.
Fr. Michael Calabria, OFM, welcomed all religious people with different phrases like “a salaam u aleikum,” “namaste” and “peace be with you.”
“This is the first time we’ve had an Interfaith Prayer Service as part of Francis Week. It’s important to bring all faiths and celebrations to this week,”
Fr. Michael said. “[St.] Francis’ vision informs everything we do on this campus.”
Five candles stood on the large table at the front of the room behind statues, books and other religious items to represent Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Native American practices.
Students, including Keshav Seetharaman, Anna Aylward, Keegan Miller, Jordan Golden-Arabaty and Haylei John, read from the Bagavad Gita, the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, the Qu’ran and a reading from the Native American Chief Seattle.
Prior to the readings, the students lit the candles for the respective readings.
Fr. Francis Di Spigno, OFM, said, “[These readings are] an enrichment to who we are at Bonaventure.”
“Candles lit signify the different religions resembling the light we all share as a campus, a country and a planet,” Fr. Michael said during the service opening.
During the service, Fr. Michael said praying with people from other religions isn’t easy, but we should all respect the differences and learn to accept those differences.
“It’s so appropriate that we do this on a Franciscan campus, to encourage respectful and meaningful dialogue as Franciscans,” Fr. Michael said. “We didn’t want to hold this in the chapel because we didn’t want [people of other religions] to feel like we weren’t inviting them. We wanted everyone to take part in this on neutral ground.”
Paul Boyd, a freshman biology major, said he enjoyed the service and the inclusion of the Native American faith.
“As a Boy Scout, I’ve had experience in these mixed faith prayer services,” Boyd said. “It’s always good to see people of different faiths come together.”
Fr. Michael said he wanted the service to represent the religions he knew were present on campus.
“Where we live is home of the Seneca nation,” Fr. Michael said. “There are very deep roots here that are of the Native American tradition.”
More campus Interfaith Prayer Services are in the works.
“We want this to be more regular and not just because of Francis Week,” Fr. Michael said. “This isn’t just a Catholic thing. We want these services to be for everyone.”
lositoek14@bonaventure.edu
