Religious leaders hold vigil

Boston University chaplains and other area religious leaders led community members in prayers for peace in Iraq yesterday on Marsh Plaza, as American forces continued to close in on Baghdad.

The session, organized by a School of Theology graduate student, was held in response to recent political movements at Boston University. Marsh Chapel dean ad interim Reverend Hope Luckie, BU Catholic Center director Paul Helfrich and two STH students spoke at the event.

Event organizer Daniel Valez-Rivera emphasized that the event was merely an event to pray for peace, not to send a political message.

‘[Boston University] has had many political rallies … but I want the opportunity to pray as a community,’ he said during the event.

Each speaker took on a different tone during their remarks, though each focused on the importance of peace.

Helfrich requested protection for all those in harm’s way during the war on Iraq.

Hema Viswanasth, representing the Boston Vedanta Society, gained attention by simply chanting a traditional prayer of her Vedanta beliefs and stating a few words calling for peace.

Zina Jacque, an associate minister at the Union Baptist Church in Cambridge, closed her eyes in reverence to the magnitude of the situation. She presented her prayers in a highly emotional manner, asking God to ‘break us’ from the ways in which human nature turns toward hatred and violence.

Following the prayers, the audience was invited to offer their prayers silently or aloud. All words were encouraged, though audience members were discouraged from commenting on the war. The attendants were also encouraged to introduce themselves to one another in order to create a personal tone to the prayers.

The subject of the prayers ranged from those in the United States armed services and their families to the loved ones to the people, especially children, of Iraq. Other prayers were offered in a general hope for justice and peace throughout the world.

Velez-Rivera, a graduate student in both the School of Social Work and STH, said the formal prayer was an opportunity for a diverse audience, consisting of undergraduates, graduates, faculty, alumni and religious figures to come together, despite differing viewpoints on the war.

‘I wanted to have an interfaith gathering for people of different religions to come together in order to pray for peace,’ Valez-Rivera said. ‘There have been many political meetings and rallies, and I think it is very important for a wide range of religious affiliations to open their voices as one in prayer.’

Attendees came to Marsh Plaza for a multitude of reasons, but Ginny Pond, 1971 BU graduate, said she attended because she is ‘strongly opposed to war.’

Courtney Young, a first-year graduate student in SSW, came to support her peers.

‘One of my classmates organized the prayer and I haven’t participated in any other activities like this, such as vigils, on campus before,’ she said.

Jill Reece, also a first-year graduate student in SSW, attended because of the session’s non-political motive.

‘I think this event is important because it is solely geared toward peace,’ she said.