Religion Briefs
Star-Bulletin staff &
Associated Press
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Pet blessings offered in honor of St. Francis
There will be birds and beasts in the pews tomorrow as several local churches celebrate the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi.
The 13th-century Italian monk preached about his love of God's creation, which led the Catholic Church to designate Francis the patron saint of animals and the environment. Devoted to a life of simplicity and service to the poor, Francis was the founder of the Franciscan religious orders for men and women, including priests and nuns serving in Hawaii.
Among the celebrations:
» St. Andrew's Cathedral, at Queen Emma Square, will hold an animal blessing at the 10 a.m. service tomorrow. People are invited to bring their pets, secured by a leash or in a cage. People may also bring stuffed animals and photographs of their pets in lieu of the live creatures. Water and treats will be provided for the pets in the aloha hour after services.
» Waikiki Playground on Monsarrat Avenue at Paki Street will be the site of the 3 p.m. St. Francis Day celebration tomorrow sponsored by Unity Church of Hawaii. Individual animal blessings will follow the community service. Pets must be secured in cages or on leashes. Each pet will be given a certificate and a healthy treat. The event is free.
» Catholic Bishop Larry Silva will preside at Mass at 10 a.m. Wednesday, the actual feast day of St. Francis. The service will be in the chapel of St. Francis Medical Center-West in Ewa Beach. The recently renovated chapel will be renamed St. Francis of Assisi Chapel to perpetuate its connection with the Sisters of St. Francis, the order that founded two St. Francis medical centers on Oahu that the sisters recently sold. The chapel will continue in service under the new ownership, according to an announcement by the Sisters of St. Francis.
» Bishop Silva will also preside at a 1 p.m. Wednesday blessing of animals ceremony at Our Lady of Kea'au, a St. Francis Healthcare System subsidiary at 83-300 Farrington Highway, Waianae.
Australian scholar to speak about Islam
A visiting Islamic scholar will speak about "Islam in the Contemporary World" at a meeting of Interfaith Alliance Hawaii.
Mohamad Abdalla, director of the Islamic Research Center at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, will speak at the monthly Open Table session. The meeting at 7 a.m. Wednesday at St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church, 1052 Ilima Drive, is open to the public.
Abdalla is in Hawaii to speak at Ramadan services at the Muslim Association of Hawaii mosque. He is involved in interfaith dialogue with religious and ethnic groups in Australia. He was born in Libya to Palestinian parents.
Buddhist festival will showcase cultural mix
Cultural dances from Tibet, Korea and Hawaii will be part of the entertainment at the annual Harvest Moon Festival sponsored by the Hawaii Association of International Buddhists.
The Dharmachakra Festival, which begins at 6:30 p.m. next Saturday at Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin, 1727 Pali Highway, is free and open to the public. It will begin with a religious service led by the Tibetan Buddhist Center, Kagyu Thegchen Ling. Entertainment will follow by the Tibetan center dancers, a drummer and dancer from Mu-Ryang-Sa Korean Temple, the Palolo Hongwanji Mission hula halau and the Moiliili Hongwanji ukulele band.
Guest speaker Patricia Masters will speak about Mary Robinson Foster, a kamaaina woman who helped establish Japanese Buddhism in Hawaii in the late 1800s. Masters, a professor at Loyola Marymount University in California, is writing a book about Foster, who also created Foster Botanical Garden.
At Dharmachakra, which translates to "the turning of the wheel of the Dharma," Buddhists around the world celebrate the first time that Shakyamuni Buddha preached a sermon. The event more than 2,500 years ago in what is now Varanasi, India, set in motion the historical Buddha's teaching about the path and practices that can lead people to enlightenment.
Holocaust, genocides are topics of free talks
Israeli historian Yehuda Bauer will lecture on the Holocaust and more recent genocide campaigns in an October series of talks at the University of Hawaii.
A professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Bauer is a leading scholar on the Holocaust, the deaths of about 6 million Jews at the hands of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany during World War II. He is academic adviser and board member of Yad Vashem, an International Institute for Holocaust Research.
His lectures will be at 7 p.m. at Orvis Auditorium. They are free and open to the public, sponsored by the UH History Department.
» Oct. 9: "The Relationship between the Holocaust and Other Genocides"
» Oct. 11: "World War II and the Contexts of the Holocaust"
» Oct. 16: "Darfur: Genocide and International Politics"
» Oct. 18: "Is Genocide Preventable?"