PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Peace Flag Project held its 14th Annual Peace Fest on September 23, culminating in an interfaith peace walk which featured representatives from local Catholic parishes and universities, as well as a delegation from the Religious Sisters of Mercy. The event, which always occurs on or near UN Peace Day (September 21), featured performers and speakers from across the state.
Susan Fox, a professor of Holistic Counseling at Salve Regina University and one of the event’s directors, said that the day offers members of different communities a chance to engage in “conscious sharing” and encourages people of different faiths to work together to make the world a more peaceful place. These sentiments were echoed by storyteller Len Cabral, a member of the First Unitarian Church of Providence and one of the performers at the festival.
“The power of story-telling is that it lets us understand one another,” Cabral said. “So much of the fear between people of different backgrounds would disappear if we just knew each other’s stories.”
The Peace Fest officially began at 1 p.m. with the raising of the “Peace Flag” — a patchwork American flag made of several smaller banners stitched together, each of which represented a person or community present at the festival. One of these banners, contributed by the Sisters of Mercy, made reference to the recently concluded Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis in 2016.
“It’s just a great reminder to keep an open heart,” Lana Smith (a parishioner of St. Paul’s Church in Cranston) said of the flag.
Five Sisters of Mercy were present for the concluding “Prayers for Peace” walk, which was led by clergy of various denominations.
“It’s really important that we as Catholics learn to communicate with people of other faiths,” said Sister Mary Reilly. “There are so many injustices that could be better combatted by everyone standing together.”
Sister Anne McKenna agreed, adding that young people are especially important in striving to achieve peace. “People our age have done our best to preach the Peace of Christ,” McKenna said “but we can’t really go out and start anything new at this point.”
