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A pilgrimage for peace

On January 24, 2002, more than 200 representatives of the world's religions joined the Pope on a Pilgrimage for Peace in Assisi to pray for an end to hostilities and the advancement of true peace in the wake of terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in September 2001.

On the same day, representatives of Glasgow's Christians made a pilgrimage around places of worship of other faiths in the city.

Words by Donna Nicholson, Pictures by Paul McSherry, of the Scottish Catholic Observer. Click here for a page of enlarged pictures.

The ecumenical organisation, Glasgow Churches Together (GCT) and the Churches Agency for Inter-Faith Relations in Scotland (CAIRS) were behind the pilgrimage which visited many of the city's faith communities.

Each visit consisted of a coming together with the representatives of each faith to share prayers and hand over a peace candle as a symbol of friendship and understanding, as well as talking and seeing round the various places of worship.

For Br Stephen Smyth, Ecumenical Officer for GCT, the day was one of invaluable experience where each community welcomed the pilgrims with "mutual respect and friendliness".

He said later: "We all came away from the day affirmed and enlightened by our experience. It showed clearly how much people of genuine faith have in common. It helped us understand more about the nature and richness of our many distinct spiritual traditions.

"I have no doubt that our symbolic pilgrimage for peace brought many blessings for all those who participated. This experience encourages us to seek more ways to work together for the benefit of all of our faith communities and for the wider communities of the city and society."

The pilgrimage began at the Church of Scotland's Glasgow Presbytery where the pilgrims said together an adapted version of the St Francis prayer for peace and the statement released by the Pope for the Millennium which calls for a "new start".

The Rev Crawford Logan, Methodist Church representative of the Glasgow Circuit, gave a blessing to the pilgrims and presented a peace candle.

From there the group went to the Hindu Mandir where Acharya-Ji, the Hindu priest, welcomed the pilgrims and talked of the Hindu religion and way of life, saying a Hindu prayer for peace. He was presented with a peace candle by the Rev Dominic Ind of the Scottish Episcopal Church.

Then it was on to the Central Mosque in Glasgow where they were met by Muhammed Tufail Shaheen. Mgr John Gilmartin, Administrator of Glasgow Archdiocese, later presented the peace candle to the Mosque community describing it as a "symbol of what is being prayed for in Assisi today by the major religions of the world".

In turn one Mosque representative said it was an "honour" to greet the pilgrims and one which he hoped to "repeat many times in the future".

From there the pilgrims went to the Garnethill Synagogue, Scotland's first ever purpose-built synagugue, which opened in 1879. There Mr Gerard Levon and the Rev Aharon Soudry welcomed the pilgrims and, on behalf of the synagogue community, accepted the symbolic candle of peace from the Rev John Spiers, Moderator of the Church of Scotland Glasgow Presbytery.

On presenting the candle, Mr Spiers said he was honoured to be able to take the message that "all people should be allowed to live in peace, harmony" to the Jewish community.

The prayers at the synagogue were followed by one member of the community reading out the First Alexandrian Declaration of the Religious Leaders of the Holy Land, which took place in Alexandria last week.

It's the first Middle East Interfaith summit and took place with the participation of the leaders of the three monotheistic faiths - Christians, Muslims and Jews.

The declaration documents the commitment of religious leaders who gathered to ending the "violence and bloodshed" in Jerusalem and the Holy Land which "denies the right to life and dignity."

The final stop for the pilgrimage was at the Sikh Gurdwara in Glasgow where Major Chris Connelly of the Salvation Army presented the peace candle to the oldest member of the community there, Najar Singh Juttla.

"Religion is a way of life, to build our character and improve our conduct, for it is by our conduct that we should be known and not by our uniform," Mr Raghbir Singh, a member of the community, told the pilgrims.

Summing up the pilgrimage, Major Connelly said: "It's been a spiritual day of discovery and a day to demonstrate the love we have for each other. "We have shown there is far more that unites us than will ever divide us."

In keeping with the standard procedure of worship in the Gurdwara, the pilgrims then joined the members of the Sikh community for a feast and a celebration of the end of a successful pilgrimage.