CLINTON — A Lenten discussion series will start March 11.
Peace Soup is set to open at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 11, at St. Boniface Hall, 2520 Pershing Blvd.
For the eighth year, Prince of Peace Parish Pax Christi and the Clinton Franciscan Center for Active Nonviolence and Peacemaking are co-sponsoring the free series which includes a supper of homemade soup and bread followed by a program and discussion.
This year, the programs center on five religions and what each teaches its followers about peace.
Eight speakers have been invited during the duration of the program. The speakers will discuss the various world religions and how each particular religion teaches, believes and lives in peace.
The series will begin on March 11 with Hinduism, followed by Buddhism on March 18, Judaism on March 25. The soup suppers followed by discussions are free and open to the public.
Participants are welcome to attend any one of the sessions or to attend all of the sessions.
The series will begin with the world’s oldest religion, Hinduism, the major religion of India. A member of the Quad City Hindu Temple, Jitendra Vaidya, will speak to the group with assistance from Hindu Priest Acharya Balaji, on what Hindus believe about peace and what they teach about peace.
On March 18, Peace Soup will showcase April Wise, a Buddhist practicing in the New Kadampa tradition at the Lamrim Buddhist Center in Davenport, to speak on Buddhism and beliefs about the importance of peaceful thoughts and deeds.
The Camanche native has written and presented mini seminars for audiences while remaining active in the center’s prayer sessions and in a study of Buddha’s Sutra teaching.
Rabbi Tamar Grimm, of the Tri-City Jewish Center in Rock Island, Ill., will impart the relevance of peace in the Jewish faith as well as what she has learned as a student and as a teacher on March 25.
Drawing on experiences while living in New York, Minneapolis, Boston, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Rabbi Grimm will share and discuss with the audience the many ways she sees peace at work in the world and how Judaism urges it followers to seek peace.
Guest speaker and local physician Dr. Mona Alquali will bring Islam and its views on peace to light on April 1. Alquali will present the teachings about peace of the world’s second largest religion as well as answer questions about the Islam religion.
On April 8, a panel of three local religious leaders will begin the conversation on Christianity and the numerous times peace is mentioned in the Bible. Elizabeth Liggett, pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church, along with the Rev. Peter Sickels of Christ Epicopal Church and Sister Anne Martin Phelan, president of the Sisters of St. Francis, will convey Jesus’ messages on peace and how Christians are called to teach and to live peace.
Details on the 2014 Peace Soup series are available at www.jcpop.org and at www.clintonfranciscans.com or by calling Prince of Peace Parish at 242-3311 or Sisters of St. Francis 242-7611. No registration is required.