Reporter’s Notebook: Unity comes to Pacific Beach on a wing and a prayer (breakfast)
Reporter’s Notebook:
The Beach & Bay Family YMCA hosted its third annual Interfaith Coalition Prayer Breakfast the morning of Thursday, Feb. 27, bringing a full house to the PB Presbyterian Church on Garnet Avenue.
Community members of all faiths — Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Protestants, Mormons, Christian Scientists, Catholics and many more — gathered to hear a message from the keynote speaker, Catholic Bishop Robert McElroy. This reporter was proud to be among them.
The event was organized and sponsored in partnership with PB Christian Church, St. Brigid Catholic Church, Islamic Center of San Diego, Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, Christ Lutheran Church, Seventh Church of Christ Scientist, St. Andrews by-the-Sea Episcopal Church and Pacific Beach United Methodist Church.
During his welcome speech, Deacon Christian Hulburt of St. Brigid church explained: “This interfaith coalition is founded around a desire to know each other, to meet each other, to come to know each other, to fall in love with each other — all of those things to be opposite of being afraid of each other. Can we come together and celebrate our differences? Can we come to know ourselves better? Our community better because of the relationships we build.”
The theme of the gathering was “Our Common Home,” which on a small-scale, referred to PB and San Diego, but by expansion includes all of creation, Deacon Hulburt said.
Beginning at 8 a.m., guests were treated to a hearty breakfast of potatoes, eggs, sausage, pastries, fruit and coffee before sitting down to hear messages from community leaders of all different faiths.
Following a Sufi-guided meditation, Bishop McElroy addressed the dire situation around mankind’s burning of the Amazon Rainforest, the rest of the planet’s health, and the importance of respecting the cultures of others. “We’re going to have to sacrifice in order to keep our common home, to help save it, sustain it,” the Bishop declared. “But if we do that, there is great hope.”
For photos from the event, see “Pacific Beach Scene: Interfaith Prayer Breakfast celebrates our ‘common home’”
• Editor’s Note: FYI! Spring Break runs Monday, March 30 until Friday, April 3 for the San Diego Unified School District. PB students return to the classroom on Monday, April 6. This seasonal celebration will affect traffic patterns around schools and the lines in front of Mr. Frostie’s!
• Have a PB news tip or story idea? Call PB Monthly editor Susan DeMaggio at (858) 875-5950 or e-mail the details (and include a related photo if possbile) to editor@lajollalight.com