Columban Fr Patrick McInerney with Rev Dr Helen Richmond and Rev Dr Manas Ghosh, both Uniting Church ministers. Photo: Patrick McInerney
Columban Fr Patrick McInerney’s Keynote at the 23rd Interfaith Prayer Service for Peace
On 21 September 2026, the 45th United Nations International Day of Peace, Fr Patrick McInerney, Director of the Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations, delivered the keynote address at the 23rd International Day of Peace Interfaith Prayer Service at the Uniting Church Fellowship Centre at Parramatta Mission.
As he has done faithfully for the past 22 years, Rev Dr Manas Ghosh, a Uniting Church minister and dedicated friend of the Centre, organised and facilitated the gathering of diverse faith leaders to pray for global and local peace. In a display of interfaith unity, prayers were read by representatives of the First Peoples of Australia, Baha'i, Brahmakumari, Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Jewish, Quaker, Sikh, Sufi, Uniting Church, and Zoroastrian communities. To each prayer, the attendees responded, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.”
Haunting didgeridoo music, songs from the Amity College Children’s Choir and Buddhist Choir, and a performance by Jazz on Hammers provided artistic enhancement to the gathering and touched hearts.
In his keynote address, titled Peace: Gift and Task, Fr Patrick offered a sobering yet hopeful reflection on why true peace remains a “distant dream”. He argued that because our world is still evolving and currently plagued by domestic and global violence, “no one can speak adequately of peace […] in the fullest sense of the word”, including religious leaders, be they the Pope, the Mahatmas, the Dalai Lama, the Chief Rabbi, or the Grand Imam.
Fr Patrick cited the staggering statistics of domestic violence in Australia and the global economic impact of conflict, which reached US$21.8 trillion in 2025. He also stated that religions “are not immune or entirely innocent of this conflict and violence”. They can be used, abused, or misused. When the absolute commitment proper to religion is channelled into sectarian causes, which is a form of idolatry, the inevitable outcome is an eruption of violence.
Despite these challenges, he reminded those gathered that “religions, all religions, when followed authentically, are agents of peace, justice, reconciliation, and harmony in our world”.
He described peace as:
- A Gift: A grace from the Holy One that we glimpse in the stillness of nature, the wonder of a newborn, and the act of forgiveness.
- A Task: The pacifist, Abraham Muste, stated, “There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.” Therefore, peace must be actively cultivated.
Fr Patrick concluded by urging the community to begin the work of peace within their own hearts, marriages, and families, then extend to friends, colleagues, and the wider community, through patience, kindness and compassion, to “soften hearts” and “bring healing to our hurting world”. Adding that even if these small gestures are beyond us, to open offer our helplessness to the Holy One, Who will take pity on us and shower us with divine peace.
In a fitting conclusion to the Interfaith Prayer Service, all the attendees lit candles and placed them on a cloth decorated with flags from around the world. The lights flickering on these national symbols were a sign of hope and of commitment to world peace.
After the service, people gathered for refreshments and fellowship, meeting, greeting, and building relations of friendship, as they had moments before committed in prayer.
Kim Chong is the Media & Community Liaison at the Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations in Sydney.
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