Monday, September 25, 2000
Peace activists make pleas here
By Jennifer Mrozowski
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Thousands of Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Christians and people of other faiths gathered at Xavier University Sunday to hear a collective message of peace.
It came from a mix of world religious leaders and activists.
Among them: Northern Ireland peace activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who petitioned the crowd at the Millennium Peace Celebration to use love as their common language.
“We need to stretch out to different religious traditions and understand and listen to each other,” Mrs. Maguire said.
Four thousand tickets were sold for the event, organizers said. It featured song, dance and prayer from diverse religious groups.
Ten of the world's leading peace activists — members of the International Peace Council — lined center stage during the two-hour gathering. The event also marked the opening of Xavier's new Brueggeman Center for Interreligious Dialogue.
Cathy Counts of Finneytown said she brought her son and daughter to the celebration in part to be a good parent.
“Part of our commitment as parents is to raise children conscious of, and open to, people of all faiths, backgrounds and cultures,” Ms. Counts said.
Mrs. Maguire's sister, Anne, killed herself after losing three young children in 1976. A British soldier shot an Irish Republican Army soldier as he was driving; the car crushed the children.
Mrs. Maguire, a Catholic, later co-founded Community of the Peace People with a Protestant co-worker.
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