Faith Leaders gathered at Dudley Council House yesterday to mark Inter Faith Week. Representatives from all the major faiths were present along with the Mayor of Dudley, Sue Greenaway and a Deputy Lieutenant for the West Midlands, Nick Venning.
Bishop Martin was unable to be present at the meeting but recorded a video message. The Mayor then welcomed everyone before the Deputy Lieutenant spoke about the strong faith of our late Queen as well as King Charles and the title of ‘defender of the faith’ that HM The King holds. The leaders of different faith groups then chatted together in small groups and came up with a number of ideas of ways to reach out to the local community in Dudley and talk to them about faith.
The reception was organised by Calum Burke, curate at Top Church in Dudley, one of our resourcing churches. He said: “We have just come out a really tough time when we couldn’t really come together to do anything. It’s great to be able to meet together again during Interfaith Week this year and think about how we might be able to work together in the future. Faith communities make a fantastic contribution to the life of our borough and Inter Faith Week offers a fantastic opportunity for people of all faiths and none to build relationships and work towards stronger more networked communities.”
The reception was one of three events taking place across this week. Top Church is hosting an afternoon tea this afternoon to which all are welcome and Calum has also organised an interfaith tour of Worcester Cathedral on Saturday afternoon.
Inter Faith Week runs from 13 – 20 November and aims to Strengthen good inter faith relations at all levels, increase awareness of the different and distinct faith communities in the UK, in particular celebrating and building on the contribution which their members make to their neighbourhoods and to wider society and increase understanding between people of religious and non-religious beliefs.
Find out more on the Inter Faith Week website.
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