Interfaith service brings clergy together during Dalai Lama visit to UB
by JILL SCHMELZER Reporter

The 14th DALAI LAMA at the University at Buffalo Promoting PEACE ACROSS BORDERS through education Sept. 18-20, 2006

Peace. The world mission of the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso.

The Buddhist spiritual leader and advocate for world peace will visit the University at Buffalo from Sept. 18-20, promoting peace across the borders through education.

Local leaders of the world's religions will participate in an interfaith service held at 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 18 in Alumni Arena on the University at Buffalo's North Campus.

The one-hour service will begin with a procession of dignitaries, a platform party made up of leaders and representatives of faith communities in the Buffalo area.

The Dalai Lama will address the audience and members of the clergy, promoting his mission of peace. Hymns will be sung, and tribal music and dances will be performed.

"The way you make peace is by working together and learning to respect each other," said the Rev. Stan Bratton of the Network of Religious Communities office. "This is an event in which people learn and have the opportunity to demonstrate respect to each other as a building block to peace."

Jeannette M. Ludwig, associate professor of romance languages and literatures, will co-chair the prayer service with Monsignor J. Patrick Keleher, director of Catholic Campus Ministry at the Newman Centers at UB.

"This is a great honor and a unique opportunity for those who participate," Ludwig said. "It is very exciting to see how people have responded so generously to a genuine religious icon from a very small and beleaguered place."

The Rev. Scott Thomas of Amherst Community Church, said the Dalai Lama is a tremendous personal and moral force for cross-cultural understanding.

"I know that he has worked hard to include dialogue among those of different faiths," Rev. Thomas said.

Amherst Community Church, an affiliate of the United Church of Christ, prays for peace often.

"An attitude of peace is one we all need to cultivate in our families, work places and in general," Rev. Thomas added.

The Rev. Bronwen Boswell, who will represent the Presbytery of Western New York, said she believes one of the reasons a number of the religious leaders are willing to attend the event is because the Dalai Lama is such an advocate for peace that they are willing to hear what he has to say.

"There is a whole gamut of folks that will be there to stand together and understand we are a part of a global community," Rev. Boswell said. "We have to look outside of ourselves even though we may not think the same way, but we have a common ground for peace and making the world a better place."

There are two reasons people are so receptive to the Dalai Lama's message, Rev. Bratton said.

"One - he is a spiritual head of a major tradition of Buddhism. Two - he received the Nobel Peace Prize," Rev. Bratton said. "He has worked tirelessly for 40 years for peace."

Rev. Bratton noted that the Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize for urging the Tibetan people to stay out of a major war with China. The Chinese government exiled the spiritual leader and many of his people from Tibet in 1959.

So far, the Dalai Lama has enabled a number of people to work together and prepare for his coming, Bratton added.

Bishop Edward U. Kmiec of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, said, "This is a great moment for our community, and I appreciate the fact the Dalai Lama is coming here. He is a world figure, and I think as local religious leaders, it is important for us to meet him and give him an opportunity to talk to us. It's all part of the fact that we can use our faiths and be forces of good in a world that really needs it."

The leaders expected to share the dais with the Dalai Lama include: Imam Fajri Ansari, the Islamic Society of Niagara Frontier; Rev. Boswell; the Rev. J. Michael Garrison, Episcopal Diocese of Western New York; Brydon Grant, Spiritual Assembly of Baha'is; Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede, Rochester Zen Center; Bishop Kmiec; Oren Lyons, Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse); and the Rev. Frances Manly, Unitarian Universalist Congregations of Western New York.

Also: the Rev. Darius G. Pridgen, True Bethel Baptist Church; Pandit O.V. Ranganathan, Hindu Cultural Society of Western New York; Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld, Buffalo Board of Rabbis; Surjit Singh, Niagara Frontier Sikh Society; the Rev. Richard A. Stenhouse, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church; and Susan Tannehill, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

Tickets are available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Alumni Arena ticket office at a cost of $15.

For more information, visit www. buffalo. edu.