| Search for: | ||
| Advanced search | ||
 Interfaith prayer ceremony blesses area educators
Joe Cory Catholic Key Reporter
KANSAS CITY - About 40 teachers, both public and private, were blessed at an interfaith prayer ceremony at St. Monica Church on Aug. 25 marking the start of the new school year. Father Phil Egan, pastor of St. Monica Parish, Rabbi Mark Levin of Congregation Beth Torah, and Imam Bilal Muhammed of Al Inshirah Islamic Center all blessed teachers at the ceremony. The three spiritual leaders also spoke briefly on the ways that educators impact children. "Teachers raise a generation and teach children how to be authentic," said Rabbi Levin, "how to be as God intended them to be." "Our teachers are our most important guardians because it is the teachers that pass on the qualities that will save or condemn our world," Rabbi Levin said. "We say 'May peace be onto you,' not just because we wish you blessings," he said. "but because we wish the blessings of peace to go through you to our children. For only in that way can we have a peaceful world." Father Egan began by speaking of the biblical stories of seeds, which appear in both the Old and New Testament. "Teachers, your classrooms are like greenhouses," said Father Egan. "You have many different sizes, shapes and colors of seeds that come through your classroom year after year. Your job is to impart on those children that which will bring them peace, righteousness and dignity." After the remarks, the teachers in attendance came forward to have their palms blessed. The interfaith partnership sprung from the Congregational Partners Program, a local organization dedicated to assisting congregations of different denominations, faiths and ethnicity to build relationships of trust and unite to serve the metropolitan community. Faheem Abdul-Alim, a teacher at the Al-Inshirah Islamic School, was glad to attend such an event. "It's a great thing," he said, as are the benefits that come from the partnership. "When one of us goes through either good or bad times, we are there for each other," he said. "We have a very special relationship, we have become great friends." "We look to what we have in common," said Father Egan "and one of the the things we have in common is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." "We bring ourselves together around those things we all share, like teachers - Jewish, Muslim, Christian. Let's bless everybody. Let them realize that God is with them, and then they go out and make a difference in the classrooms." "It's all about going beyond the walls that separate us," he said. This year's event drew twice the number of teachers as last year's ceremony, event organizers said, and they hope that next year's blessing ceremony will be bigger still. END
|
©2001 The Catholic Key - 816-756-1850
P.O. Box 419037, Kansas City, MO 64141-6037