Galway: As angry south-westerly gales and high seas lashed the village pier, over 100 Christians and Muslims prayed together in Spiddal, Co Galway, at the weekend for peace in the Middle East, reports Lorna Siggins from Spiddal.
They had brought mats and a compass to determine the direction of Mecca, and a copy of the Koran for the parish priest. Imam Khalid Sallabi of the Galway mosque and members of the Muslim community received a warm welcome from Canon Tomás Ó Cadhain when they took their seats in the Catholic church.
The imam responded in his best blas: "Suaimhneas agus síocháin oraibh go léir," he said, to applause.
"Please don't give up the struggle for peace," Imam Sallabi told the congregation, after opening prayers "as Gaeilge" by Canon Ó Cadhain. Reading from the Bible, Canon Ó Cadhain recalled the commandment to "love thy neighbour as thy self", and recited the parable of the good Samaritan. In a series of prayers, the canon called for peace in "the Holy Land", peace among the world leaders in the current crisis with Iraq, and peace among "all people in their personal lives".
Muslims and Christians embraced when he asked the congregation to exchange a token of "síocháin".
The canon then checked his watch: prayers to Mecca had to begin at 1.30 p.m. He turned to Imam Sallabi, who beseeched Allah "not to impose a burden greater than people can bear", and asked him to grant "victory over the unbelievers".
Addressing the congregation, the imam then thanked people for having the sensitivity, in spite of the inclement weather, to come out and pray for those suffering in Iraq and Palestine.
Finally, a dozen prayer mats were laid out, and the Muslims turned away from the church altar as they faced east in further prayer.
Witnessing the moving event were Colm Ó Cuaig (13) of Scoil Phobail Mhic Dara in Carna, and Mohamed Wehab (14) of "the Bish" secondary school and Knocknacarra in Galway - both keepers of a banner in the church proclaiming "Conamara in aghaidh an Cogadh". A planned march through the village had to be abandoned, due to the gales, but the young men held their banner aloft outside the church after the service.
The organiser of the event, Mr Seosaimh Ó Cuaig of Conamara in aghaidh an Cogadh, an elected member of Udarás na Gaeltachta, said that the service would contribute to greater understanding between the two communities, while also demonstrating a united opposition to war.
It was one of a series of events planned for Co Galway county on International Women's Day, some of which had to be postponed due to the weather.
However, lashing rain and wind did not deter the Galway Alliance Against War (GAAW) from holding its "5,000 candle" vigil in the city's Shop Street on Saturday evening.
"We want to send out a strong message to the Irish Government that it should do everything in its power to protect the faltering flame of peace and oppose the bushfires of war," Mr John Cunningham of the GAAW said.
In a separate development, Galway-based writer and activist Mr Rab Fulton, who participated in the protest at Shannon Airport just over a week ago, criticised "large sections of the media", along with the main political parties, including the Greens, Labour and Sinn Féin, for accepting a "frightening" reinterpretation of civil disobedience by the Government.
The Government's view held that civil disobedience was "something apparently only carried out by extremists and people desiring violence", Mr Fulton said "It is disquieting to hear such distortions being so readily accepted," he said in a statement.
"Those involved in civil disobedience talk of the African-Americans in Montgomery, Alabama, the children strikers of Soweto, Gandhi, Greenham Common, the smashing of the Berlin Wall, the actions of Greenpeace. Violence has never been a part of our discourse.
"It means that the number of arrests, the seriousness of the charges brought, and levels of punishments handed out are increasing, without any public debate on the matter.
"Meanwhile, Ireland's complicity in the planned execution of tens of thousands of Iraqis goes completely unpunished,"Mr Fulton said.