Wreath of Olive Branches and Roses Cast Into Sea : Southland Religious Leaders Mark Peace Day

After sharing reflections on world peace with Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archbishop Roger M. Mahony, 55 Southern California leaders representing 15 world faiths on Monday launched a symbolic peace wreath of olive branches and roses into the Pacific Ocean.

The event, which included a private four-hour meeting at a retreat center in the hills of Malibu, mirrored Pope John Paul II’s day of fasting and prayer with leaders of the world’s major religions in Assisi, Italy, the birthplace of St. Francis.

Climaxing the gesture to take the message of peace to distant lands, six students from Marymount College in Palos Verdes waded waist-deep into the 63-degree surf near the Malibu pier carrying the large wreath. It was decorated with blue ribbons inscribed with the word “Peace” in a variety of languages.

Under overcast skies, several surfers in wet suits then steered the floating wreath through three-foot swells into the open sea.

Mahony said he convened the ecumenical gathering as “a reflection on the intent of Assisi.”

“We have the power, as faith-filled people, to bring about peace,” the archbishop said at a brief press conference. “Peace is possible; it is the Creator’s design.”

Mahony said he was not discouraged that fighting broke out Monday in several countries, including Sri Lanka and Northern Ireland, despite the Pope’s plea for a one-day cease-fire.

“That even one or two countries observed a truce is alone encouraging,” Mahony said.

The local celebration began at 7:30 a.m. Monday when, as the religious leaders rode to Malibu in a chartered bus, a Baptist minister and a Hindu monk spoke about the peace efforts of the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Indian leader Mohandas K. Gandhi.

Reflections were also offered at the retreat center by representatives of the Buddhist, Jewish, Islamic, Bahai, Sikh, Christian and Native American faiths. Mormon and Quaker leaders were also involved in the day’s events.

Using a 125-year-old incense burner from India, each participant placed a piece of incense on the fire and made a silent commitment to peace.

Later, the religious leaders ended a one-day fast with a simple lunch of tea and rice cakes--a “symbolic . . . bonding with the hungry of the world,” according to Msgr. Royale Vadakin, chairman of the archdiocese’s Ecumenical and Interreligious Commission.

“Our religious beliefs and practices would quickly evaporate into arid philosophies if we did not grapple with situations of hunger, inadequate housing, disease, illiteracy, tension and strife . . . apartheid, discriminations against people because of their race, religion, social class, sex, place of origin, and situations of violence and war,” Mahony said in his opening remarks at Serra Retreat House.

Rabbi Alfred Wolf, retired spiritual leader of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, cautioned his colleagues that “as representatives of religion, we have little credibility as peacemakers. . . . To this very day, from Ireland to India, in Lebanon, Israel and throughout the Middle East, religion is the reason or the pretext for strife and struggle.”

As the three-foot wreath bobbed on the gray water in the distance, he added, “In order for us to work together . . . all of us need to pay the price of peace by giving up some of our cherished prejudices.”

Wolf noted that, while Monday’s peace day was the first Southland event of its kind to draw together such a wide representation of religious leaders, the Interreligious Council of Southern California, an umbrella organization for most of the religions represented, was incorporating world peace concerns into its program.

“This is a real launching point,” added the Rev. Carl A. Bryant, a minister of traditional Native American religions.