School in remote NE India responds to Pope’s prayer initiative for peace

The 1-minute prayer initiative for peace on 8 June urged by Pope Francis, found a prompt response in a Catholic school in a remote northeastern region of India.   The students and staff of Newman School in Neotan village in Arunachal Pradesh state joined the global community in prayer for peace on Thursday, 8 June, at 4.30pm corresponding to 1 PM Rome time.  

The previous day, 7 June, at the end of his weekly general audience in the Vatican, the Holy Father encouraged the faithful ‎to pray for peace for a minute at 1 pm on June 8.  The date was the third anniversary of his ‎meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the late Israeli President Shimon Peres in the ‎Vatican gardens in 2014.  “In our time there is a great need to pray – Christians, Jews and Muslims – ‎for peace,” the Pope urged.   ‎

“Today you stand with the rest of the world in prayer for peace,” school principal Fr. Felix Anthony explained to the school children of the Catholic school of Miao Diocese in Changlang district.  “The world needs peace now more than ever,” he said. A ninth grader Khoansen Tangdong said she was very to have prayed with Pope Francis and the rest of the world at the same time for peace.  “May we all grow together as children of one big family called humanity and may peace prevail all over the world,” Fr. Felix said.