Peace will be the common theme when the Archdiocese of Toronto’s Office of Interreligious Dialogue and Mosaic Interfaith gathers together seven faith groups in hopes of reigniting a culture of encounter. 

The interfaith event, Gathering for Peace: Sacred Texts, Poems and Stories, takes place Feb. 23 at St. Luke’s Church in Thornhill, north of Toronto. It’s an invitation for the faithful to mark the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate.

“So many Catholics may know about Nostra Aetate, but many do not know that it was a document that pushed us to enter more into dialogue with people of other faiths,” said Fr. Anthony Prakash Lohale, director of the Office for Interreligious Dialogue for the Archdiocese of Toronto.

Guest speakers from Christianity, Islam, Hindu Dharma, Judaism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism will reflect on their faith’s religious experiences with peace through text, poems and stories. 

The event is part of a program in collaboration with the Office for Promoting Christian Unity and Religious Relations with Judaism giving Catholics monthly opportunities to reflect on the anniversary of Nostra Aetate. 

The end of January saw the program promote the Christian Commemoration of International Holocaust Day, an event Lohale described as  dialogue in action, one of the four main pillars of interfaith dialogue. 

The upcoming sacred texts, poems and stories is a prime example of “dialogue of reflection of religious experience” with seven unique faith groups joining together in sharing messages of peace through their spiritual texts, poems or stories. 

“ We wanted to come together to answer what would be something that we think would be meaningful. As we have many prayer gatherings for peace, we wanted to include stories of peace through small texts from their scriptures, from the Quran or from the Gita for example,” Lohale said. “They could even talk about peace through a poem or some incident where, as interfaith people, they have brought peace to their community.”

The event will also feature an interfaith choir directed by Greg Benoit, the music director at St. Luke’s, featuring  songs and psalms that all faith backgrounds can participate in. 

With  World Interfaith Harmony Week commemorated until the beginning of March, Lohale believes the timing of the event will shed light on the importance of Catholics’ connection with people outside of the faith, even 60 years after Nostra Aetate’s proclamation by Pope Paul VI. 

“ We think it is a great time to do this not only because of the anniversary but also because it is a good way of inserting ourselves in the common program of interfaith peace that others in Toronto and around the world are doing — this gives us a way of highlighting what we are trying to do,” said Lohale. 

Those interested can register for the event online.