As war consumes the Holy Land, the sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students from St. Leo School in Versailles made a peace-focused pilgrimage on Monday, October 30, to Lexington holy places dedicated to the three world religions with roots in Jerusalem.
Planned before the events of October 7 sparked this most recent conflict, students, teachers, and parents, along with Catholic Diocese of Lexington Bishop John Stowe and St. Leo Pastor Fr. Chris Clay, visited Temple Adath Israel, Masjid Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque, and the Cathedral of Christ the King. At each stop, there was instruction, questions and answers, and time to reflect on the similarities and differences between the three Abrahamic Faiths.
At Temple Adath Israel, after reviewing questions submitted in advance, Rabbi David Wirtschafter invited the students to join him in examining closely the scrolls of the Torah. They also visited the area of the Temple where the dead are remembered, especially during the months of their deaths.
In the course of a wide-ranging presentation, Imam Dr. Shaheed Coovadia explained how in the wide-open prayer space at Masjid Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque, people gather shoulder to shoulder in prayer – bowing, kneeling, and prostrating themselves before God while facing toward their holy city of Mecca.
After lunch at Oasis Restaurant, the pilgrims made their way to the Cathedral of Christ the King, where Bishop Stowe reviewed the significant features of the Cathedral, drawing attention to some of the similarities to what the students had seen earlier at the Temple. Then together they talked about what makes the Catholic faith unique: the Real Presence of Christ in the tabernacle, and how Jesus Christ, consubstantial with the Father, and with the Holy Spirit, form the Trinity that is the basis of the Catholic faith.
The students thanked Rabbi Wirtschafter, Imam Coovadia, and Bishop John with the gifts of an olive plant and a memorial of St. Francis of Assisi’s encounter with the Sultan, when the two met as brothers.
Special thanks to Mrs. Rosie Fedorchuk (Art and Music Teacher at St. Leo) for organizing this important pilgrim experience.
Let us all pray that more people work to learn about the different ways people worship God, and then seek to be instruments of peace in our own community and around the world.