PHOTOS: Community Missions, NOAH mark National Day of Prayer

Leaders look to hold larger gathering in 2025

Community Missions of Niagara Frontier and the Niagara Organizing Alliance for Hope (NOAH) gathered local faith leaders together on Thursday – the National Day of Prayer – to start planning a larger public event for 2025.

“The reason that Community Missions is doing this is that, last year, in the city, there was a church outside of Niagara Falls that set up a National Day of Prayer event. … We got to thinking about it, and discussed it with our community and religious services committee, and we thought that we ought to have an interfaith event for the City of Niagara Falls, by churches in the City of Niagara Falls,” said the Rev. Mark Breese, agency minister and vice president of faith services. “And so, the plan was to do a public event, but we kind of didn't get there. So, we defaulted to having a breakfast so we could have a chance to have a conversation about how maybe we could set that up next year.

“That's why we invited you here so that we can have a chance to pray together for a moment, share a meal, break some bread together, and then have a bit of a discussion about what we could do for next year to be able to have a public interfaith event to mark the National Day of Prayer, so that we can do these different things to bring our city together.”

The Rev. Mark Breese speaks Thursday at a National Day of Prayer event at Community Missions on Buffalo Avenue in the City of Niagara Falls.

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About a dozen local leaders participated, in addition to NOAH and Community Missions representatives. Prayers were offered from Christian, Islamic, Jewish and Sikh faiths.

Breese explained, “I'm a Christian. Jesus is my guy. That doesn't mean I'm not going to say to anybody else, ‘Jesus shouldn't be your guy’; but I might say, ‘You might want to think about Jesus.’ But in an interfaith context, it's not about trying to promote your particular faith tradition. It's about just acknowledging that we have all these different beliefs that are part of our community. And we all have common concerns – and we should be able to come together and talk about those common concerns without having it to be the proselytizing moment or the evangelistic moment.

“We all care about homelessness. We all care about poverty. We all care about child welfare. We all care about government. We all care about all this stuff. There should be ways for us to sit together and talk and speak with a common voice about those things.

“For the National Day of Prayer, one of the biggest things in the center of it is that we live in the United States of America. The First Amendment guarantees us freedom of religion and worship; and there's not a state religion. We can all do this, for all of our separate traditions, and be protected in doing that. That's what I want us to focus on for the National Day of Prayer part.

“We had five different blessings here. None of them were saying you had to accept the blessing as your blessing. It was that tradition offering their blessing. I would like us to do a public display of that next year, somehow, for the National Day of Prayer.”

Thursday’s participants are expected to meet again to plan a public interfaith event to celebrate National Day of Prayer in 2025. Initial suggestions included hosting a gathering outdoors, and moving it to the nighttime so as to accommodate more people – students, in particular.

A sign inside the agency’s community room noted, “The National Day of Prayer occurs on the first Thursday in May. Celebrated annually since 1952, it offers an opportunity for people of all faiths to join in prayer for our shared concerns.”

Joshua Maloni contributed to this report.

The Rev. Mark Breese speaks Thursday at a National Day of Prayer event at Community Missions on Buffalo Avenue in the City of Niagara Falls.

The Rev. Stewart Lindsay offers a prayer.

Community Missions noted, “The National Day of Prayer was established by the United States Congress in 1952 to ‘provide for setting aside an appropriate day as a National Day of Prayer.’ In 1988, the act was amended (Public Law 100-307) to specifically set aside the first Thursday in May. Each year, the president of the United States issues a proclamation declaring the day as a National Day of Prayer. This year, President Joe Biden’s proclamation reads, in part, ‘I call upon the citizens of our nation to give thanks, in accordance with their own faith and conscience, for our many freedoms and blessings, and I invite all people of faith to join me in asking for God’s continued guidance, mercy and protection.”

The agency noted, “Prayers were offered by Rev. Harvey Kelley of New Hope Baptist Church, Rabbi Ellen Franke of Temple Beth El, Beatrice Singh-Arnone of the Niagara Sikh Association, Anas Mangla of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, and Father Stewart Lindsay of Holy Family Parish. Other faith communities represented included Potter’s House Christian Community Church, Bacon Memorial Presbyterian Church, Come As You Are Community Church, Word of Life Ministries, Damascus Baptist Church, Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church, Central Niagara Catholic Family, and Chosen Fellowship Church.”