Keeping the Faiths

There really is a season of holidays in religiously diverse Orange County nowadays. This year, as Christians prepare to observe Christmas this week, the county’s many faith communities have greater visibility than at any previous time, and many have been benefiting from their stepped-up contact with people from other traditions.

The expanded presence of faith communities is nowhere more evident than in the striking construction or expansion of the major houses of worship or facilities devoted to religious education. There are substantial building projects underway or in planning stages all over the county. It’s a sign of the robust faith traditions that have taken root in an area that has undergone tremendous growth and development in recent decades.

On one stretch of road that goes from UC Irvine south to MacArthur Boulevard in Newport Beach, a new kind of zone for buildings that symbolize faith communities has been taking shape, with a major Jewish school, plans at Mariners Church for a giant worship center and from Mormons for a new temple near an existing facility, and a new Episcopal church.

The Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove is in the midst of a big project that includes a new mosque, gymnasium, meeting rooms and a school expansion. A giant Pao-fa Buddhist Monastery is taking shape along Jamboree in Irvine. Two of county’s largest synagogues have new facilities either built or in the works. Temple Beth El in Aliso Viejo recently opened an $18-million synagogue, and University Synagogue in Irvine has broken ground on a big new building. Roman Catholics have a new cathedral planned for Santa Ana.

But more than infrastructure, the religious life of the county is about various groups becoming more visible and reaching out to one another. At Temple Beth El in Aliso Viejo, the first night of Hanukkah on Dec. 9 was celebrated with a three-faith service that included an observance of Ramadan and Advent. It was designed to signal peace between the religions, in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and recent turmoil in the Mideast. The occasion was observed with songs and prayers, and by noting the history and significance of special holiday traditions.

Given Orange County’s extensive interfaith tradition, it is fitting that the county has several leaders who are important to interfaith conversation on the national level. Bishop Tod D. Brown of the Diocese of Orange, heads the Catholic interreligious movement in the United States for the National Conference of Bishops. The local Catholic community recently took part in a worldwide fast Dec.14 as part of a show of unity with Muslims. For Orange County Christians, the observance came during Advent, the four weeks that prepare the faithful for Christmas.

Muzammil Siddiqi, former president of the Islamic Society of North America, was at President Bush’s side in a prayer service immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, and he has been speaking throughout the county at such places as St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Irvine on Tuesday night to promote an understanding of Islam. On the final day of Ramadan, he broadened the message of his own faith tradition when he said that “religion must never be a reason for conflict, hatred or violence.”

The Muslim community ended a monthlong period of fasting Monday by gathering at the Orange County Fairgrounds for the holy day Eid al-Fitr. The events this year have made this Ramadan a closely observed time by people of all faiths and views, and that has been especially so in Orange County.

At the Ramakrishna Monastery in Trabuco Canyon on Dec. 16, an interfaith Christmas service featured children singing of the harmony of the world’s religions before a temporary shrine that featured the baby Jesus and a picture of Abraham, a common figure for Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

The holiday season truly incorporates many faiths, and the flourishing of these communities within Orange County is a cheerful seasonal sign of its diversity and vitality.