September 2009
World Religious Leaders Hold Interfaith Conference in Poland
At the invitation of Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Kraków, and the Community of Saint Egidio, an Italian Catholic lay organization that received the16th Niwano Peace Prize in 1999, the 23rd International Meeting on Peoples and Religions was held in Kraków, Poland, September 6-8. Under the theme "Seventy Years after World War II, Faiths and Cultures in Dialogue," some 300 religious leaders and representatives of political and cultural circles from forty countries around the world took part. From Japan, thirty religious representatives of Tendai and Rinzai Buddhism, the Association of Shinto Shrines, and new religions attended, including Ven. Gijun Sugitani, supreme advisor of Tendai Buddhist Denomination, and Ven. Korei Hamanaka, chancellor of its administration. Rissho Kosei-kai was represented by President-designate Kosho Niwano and her husband, Dr. Munehiro Niwano, dean-designate of Rissho Koei-kai's Gakurin Seminary, along with Rev. Keiichi Akagawa, head of the External Affairs Group (Interfaith).
Before the opening assembly on the morning of September 6, Mass was celebrated in the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy. Greetings from Professor Marco Impagliazzo, president of the Community of Saint Egidio, were followed by a homily by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz. The Angelus and greetings from Pope Benedict XVI were broadcast live from the Italian town of Viterbo.
In the Auditorium Maximum, the opening assembly was held in two sessions. At the first, inaugural greetings were delivered by Cardinal Dziwisz and Mr. Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland's minister of foreign affairs. A keynote address was delivered by Professor Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Community of Saint Egidio, followed by a speech by Mr. Michel Camdessus, honorary governor of the Bank of France. At the second session, the keynote address was delivered by Mr. José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission. The speakers after that included Grand Duke Henri de Luxembourg; President Filip Vujanovic of the Republic of Montenegro; and Rabbi David Rosen, chief rabbi and director of the Department for Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee, Israel.
On September 7, in various parts of the Old Town of Kraków, 22 panels addressed such themes as "Do Not Forget Auschwitz," "70 Years After World War II, War is Not a Destiny," "John Paul II and the Spirit of Assisi," and "Faith and Science." Rev. Kosho Niwano joined the panel discussion on "Humankind's Spiritual Quest in a Time of Economic Crisis" in the City Hall and explained the significance of prayer and action in the Buddhist spirit of donation and explained one of Rissho Kosei-kai s peace activities, the Donate-a-Meal Movement.
On September 8 the participants moved to the city of Oswiecim and visited Auschwitz Birkenau Memorial and Museum, the former site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp under the Nazis, at Oswiecim's outskirts. The participants toured the dormitories and gas chambers in the museum and heard a talk on racism in Nazi Germany. They then walked in silence along the railway tracks to the gate of the former camp and held a memorial service before the International Monument to the Victims of Fascism. They also heard speeches by two Auschwitz survivors.
That evening the participants returned to the Old Town and divided into groups according to religion. In various places they prayed according to their own traditions. They then marched to Market Square for the closing ceremony, at which they held lighted candles and delivered the Appeal for Peace 2009. The appeal says, "Let us start afresh from the memory of World War II, from the prophecy of John Paul II, and be pilgrims of peace. With patience and courage, let us give shape to a new era of dialogue, uniting together in peace those who hate and ignore each other, all peoples, and all humankind."
The first International Meeting on Peoples and Religions was held in 1987 to commemorate the spirit of the Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi in 1986, initiated by Pope John Paul II. This year the 23rd meeting was held in Krakcow to commemorate 70th anniversary of the German invasion of Poland. Kraków is near Wadowice, the birthplace of Pope John Paul II, and he was archbishop of Kraków before his election to the papacy. The participants recalled his virtues during the event.
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