Cathedral to host annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service

Photo caption: Sayyid Muhammed Sayeed, then secretary general of the Plainfield-based Islamic Society of North America, speaks during an Interfaith Thanksgiving Service on Nov. 23, 2004, at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis. The seventh annual service will begin with prelude music at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 21 at the cathedral.

By Sean Gallagher

Representatives of six faith traditions from around the world who live in Indianapolis will gather with Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein on Nov. 21 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral for the seventh annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service.

Indianapolis-based leaders in the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist traditions will participate.

This year’s service will feature the preaching of Michael Saahir, resident Imam at the Nur-Allah Islamic Center in Indianapolis.

“Any time people of faith can come together on common terms is always important,” he said. “There is so much history that we have of the negative reports that go back for thousands of years.

“It gives us a chance to look beyond the outside, and see the inside of the person.”

Saahir has often taken advantage of the opportunity to enter into interreligious dialogue.

On four occasions, he has traveled to the Vatican to participate in dialogues sponsored by Focolare, an Italian-based Catholic ecclesial movement that is active in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

Saahir said he thinks the Thanksgiving holiday is an appropriate time for people of world religions to come together to pray according to their various faith traditions.

“We do have as one strong tradition in all of our belief systems that we have to be people who are thankful and who are grateful,” he said. “And we tend to express that in our individual pockets, in our home churches or in our home mosques.

“But this [service] will give us the chance to see how … other[s] may express their thanks and their gratitude.”

Ed Greene, director of music ministries at the cathedral, helped organize the first Interfaith Thanksgiving Service in 2000.

He said that in the six years since the first service was celebrated, the event has taken on more importance as tensions between religious groups around the world have risen.

“It seems to me we have more in common than we sometimes think we do,” Greene said. “So for me personally, and I think for other Roman Catholics, it’s important to underline those commonalities and the fact that we really are all good people.”

Prelude music will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will feature the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, the cathedral’s choir, Laudis Cantores, and the Handbell Choir of Speedway Christian Church.

The service will start at 7 p.m.

An offering of canned goods and monetary donations for the Julian Center, a shelter for women and children in Indianapolis, will be collected during the service.†