Wet, light and prayerful

Dave Brooks

Consider it a sign from above. A very wet sign.

In between a performance of “Distant Land” by the Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter-day Saints vocal ensemble and a speech by Rep. Dana

Rohrabacher, a small drizzle that had been haunting attendees of this

year’s Procession of Light turned into a full scale downpour,

scattering dozens who had come to watch at the Huntington Beach Pier

Plaza on Sunday.

In the end, the short shower proved to a be a testament to the

group’s resolve: About three dozen stayed seated through the shower

and many more returned after the rain eased up to participate in a

somber march along the pier honoring the many creeds and faiths of

Huntington Beach.

“This was created as a message of faith and hope,” said Randy

Clifford who helped organize the inclusive event. “Regardless of your

ethnicity or religion, we are all from the human family and we should

face each other as brothers and sisters.”

First created as a way to usher in 2000 over fears of an impeding

Y2K meltdown, the annual event that falls on the first Sunday of the

year includes clerics from most major religions including Judaism,

Islam and Christianity.

“Our unity today is beautiful, but our diversity is also

beautiful,” said Imam Muzammil Siddiqi of the Islamic Society of

Orange County. “Beauty will come when we begin to care for one

another as brothers and sisters. We belong to one and the same

family.”

The two-hour ceremony included speeches from political and

religious dignitaries, and a series of musical performances including

an Islamic religious homage by a group of young Corona men called

Al-Noor.

To close the ceremony, audience members submitted small prayer

notes into a portable fireplace burning in the middle of the Pier

Plaza, then held hands and sang while two volunteers released several

dozen doves into the air.

The Procession of Light was ended with a march down the Huntington

Beach Pier led by Rev. Peggy Price, who carried a small lantern

ignited from the World Peace Flame, a religious eternal flame that

burns in several different continents as a symbol of mutual

cooperation.

“Working together, we can be a cause of peace,” Price said. “May

the power of this light touch all those hearts.”

Sunday’s event was sponsored by the Greater Huntington Beach

Interfaith Council, the city’s unofficial citizen committee on

religious affairs.

Founded in 1996 with the help of former mayors Shirley Detloff and

Ralph Bauer following several instances of hate crime, the council

was created as a means of fostering communication between the city’s

various churches and places of worship. Besides the procession, the

council also hosts an annual prayer breakfast and Sept. 11

observance.

The group has even taken on a political role as an advocate of the

sometimes controversial prayer said before City Council meetings.

Known as the invocation, the practice was temporarily halted in 2002

by then Mayor Debbie Cook. To protest her decision, members of the

Interfaith Council sent delegates to City Council meetings to read

prayers during the public comment period. When the prayer was

returned in 2004 by former Mayor Cathy Green, the Interfaith Council

coordinated clergy to give the invocation.

“Our whole theme is working together to reach out to others,” said

Jack Allen, a member of the Interfaith Council.

Many of the participants in Sunday’s march brought their family

members and children.

“It’s a wonderful way to start the year,” said Fred Gallucio of

Huntington Beach who attended the event with his two daughters. “We

must keep calling for peace and understanding.”

* DAVE BROOKS covers City Hall. He can be reached at (714)

966-4609 or by e-mail at dave.brooks@latimes.com.