Worcestershire Interfaith Forum is dedicated to representing the interests and values of faith communities throughout the county. They believe in working together and building friendships between different groups. All are welcome to participate, of whatever faith tradition, or if they have no faith.
In February this year, the Revd Catherine Lack was elected as chair of the group. Catherine is an Anglican Priest who has now retired, having previously been a university chaplain, vicar, Warden of a Retreat House and Cultural & Religious Affairs Manager at Yarls Wood Immigration Centre, among other things. Her interest in working to bring people of different faiths together began when she was Chaplain at Keele University.
She said: “The campus at Keele had an enormous chapel at its centre, but limited facilities for Muslims and nothing for people of other faiths. I chaired a working party to look at whether there should be a space within the Chapel building which could be used by people of all faiths and none and created ‘The Space’ which is still in use. I reflected that some of my most important work as University Chaplain was in the interfaith field and I have always found this work fascinating. Working with those of different faiths helps to increase the knowledge and depth of my own faith as well as understanding other faiths better.”
Catherine moved into the Diocese in 2019 and after a conversation with Bishop John, became involved in Worcestershire Interfaith Forum. She was then invited to be the group’s representative on the County’s Covid planning group. “I was able to speak up for different faiths and help to connect the team with groups within the county. Throughout the pandemic and since, both local and national Governments have realised the importance of faith communities. I recently went to a conference where they said that ‘faith communities are often the first to arrive after a disaster and the last to leave’. That really struck a chord with me.”
Worcestershire Interfaith Forum runs a number of events, most recently organising a talk in the Cathedral on the persecution of medieval Jews in Worcester, and they work with the Council on annual events such as ‘Remembering Srebrenica’ and Holocaust Memorial Day. Catherine has also led a series of ‘Scriptural Reasoning’ meetings in which members of different faiths look at pieces of scripture and discuss the similarities and differences between them. These sessions have involved Christians, Jews, Muslims and people of the Baha’i faith and have looked at topics including Abraham and fasting.
“The work of the forum is all about education, not conversion,” continues Catherine. “In today’s world, it’s so important as we all work with people of different faith, as well as those without faith. Even if we don’t all believe the same thing, we can and must work together to improve our society.”
Catherine feels that religion is often missed out of diversity training and Worcestershire Interfaith Forum is also keen to offer this kind of training to businesses and others, raising awareness of different faiths and encouraging people to talk to those with different beliefs.
“I am also very willing to visit parishes to preach around this theme or to facilitate small discussion groups. All religions preach peace and the more we respect and understand each other, the better our world will be,” said Catherine.
