Sept. 11 Interfaith Service Planned

Rowland To Give Keynote Speech

September 10, 2002
By FRANCES GRANDY TAYLOR, Courant Staff Writer

Leaders of the Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Sikh, Buddhist, Bahai and Unitarian faiths will offer prayers for remembrance and peace during a special prayer service at noon Wednesday at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, to honor victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Gov. John G. Rowland will give a keynote speech during a ceremony that will call for peace and recall the heroism of those who died in the attacks.

When the service was held last year not long after the attacks, it marked the first time that so many faiths had come together to worship at one time in Connecticut. Representatives of the Jain faith, an ascetic faith practiced by a small percentage of Indians, will participate for the first time this year.

Last year's ceremony was focused on healing, but this year's service will have a dual focus, said the Rev. Connie Sternberg, chairwoman of the Connecticut Committee for Interreligious Understanding, which is sponsoring the service. "This year we are not only remembering those who died, and worked so valiantly to save others, but it will also be a prayer for peace," Sternberg said.

"Last year we were trying to make sense of things while grappling with a deep sense of grief," said Nirmal Singh of the Sikh Gurdwara in Southington. "This year we are striving for greater understanding of the situation we now have, and what the answers might be."

Dr. Heidi Hadsell, president of the Hartford Seminary, and the Rev. Stephen Sidorak, president of the Christian Conference of Connecticut, also will speak.

Prayers will be offered by Hartford Roman Catholic Archbishop Daniel A. Cronin; Jhita W. Blackman, Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of Hartford; Nirmal Singh, Sikh Gurdwara, Southington; Venerable Thich Tri Hoang and Hoai Xuan Wu, Buddhist Association of Connecticut; the Rev. Robert C. Dvorak, Evangelical Covenant Church; Bishop Daniel A. Hart, Diocese of Norwich; Rabbi James Rosen, Beth El Temple, West Hartford; Dr. Faquir Jain, Jain Center of Greater Hartford; Dr. Reza Mansoor, Islamic Association of Greater Hartford; Aruna Gogineni, Connecticut Valley Hindu Temple Society; and Terasa G. Cooley, Unitarian Society of Hartford.