‘Celebrating Community’ is an informal inter-faith group, formed recently at the instigation of Gerald Lee, the Darlington Borough Councillor for Heighington. The basic aim of Celebrating Community is to encourage those within the different faith communities within the town to get to understand and know each other better. They aim to begin organising various inter-faith events.
With the recent killings in Tunisia particularly in mind, one thing that came out of a meeting earlier this week was the decision to hold a short Gathering (there is no official name for it) in the circle by the Pease Statue in High Row, on Saturday 25th July at 2.00 pm.
It will provide an opportunity for the faith communities and those of no faith to unite publicly in condemning atrocities such as the murders in Tunisia, to assert that such violence is not the way of any faith, to mourn for those who have lost relatives and friends, to show appreciation for all that the people of Sousse have done in the light of the killings and to assure our local Muslim community that we value and support them.
The Gathering will consist of an introduction, a time of silent prayer and meditation and a show of shared concern, by handshake or whatever, as the Gathering ends. It will be a simple time, which will last no more than 15 minutes.
Celebrating Community would welcome everyone from the wider community of Darlington to come together as a mark of respect to those who died and to those Muslims in Tunisia who supported the wounded etc after the event