THURSDAY, MAY 14, 7PM – HOLY CALL, HOLY FUTURE – Interfaith Worship Service at St. Ignatius Church
The service took place at St Ignatius Church in conjunction with the Manresa Gallery exhibition – Under Cover: Liturgical Garb as Investment in Mystery.
Service participants included: Rita Semel (Founder of the San Francisco Interfaith Council), Rabbi Lawrence Raphael (Congregation Sherith Israel), Shundo David Haye (San Francisco Zen Center), Sr. Sukyana Belsare (San Francisco Brahma Kumaris), Julia Dowd (Director of USF Ministry), Swami Vedananda (Vedanta Society of Northern California), GL Hodge (Providence Baptist Church and Board Member of the San Francisco Interfaith Council) and Shaykh Suleyman Schwartz (Executive Director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism), Father Gregory R. Bonfiglio S.J. (Pastor of Saint Ignatuis Parish), and Father James Blaettler, S.J. (Manresa Gallery Director).
The occasion of the exhibition, comprised of liturgical vestments from various faith traditions, inspired us to invite fellow sojourners to pray together for a shared future of peace, justice, and harmony.
We gathered to celebrate a shared sense of our purpose as human beings. We did so in hopes to experience a common vision and to acknowledge as faith communities our diverse strategies for shaping the future of our planet. We strive to support each other as we commit to be faithful to the Foundation and Source of all being. And we responded to a call to each of us from the Author of all history to nourish the world with our spiritual fruit.