On Wednesday 24th September, the “Join the Dots Together” 4th and final Season of Creation
The Season of Creation is an annual Christian observance that takes place from September 1st to October 4th. It is a time when Christians around the world come together to pray, reflect, and take action on caring for the environment and addressing ecological concerns. The observance begins on the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (September 1st) and concludes on the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi (October 4), the patron saint of ecology in the Catholic tradition. The Season encourages prayer, education, and advocacy for environmental stewardship. Read more about the Season of Creation » More seminar took place in the Windsor Hub in Belfast. “Many Voices, One Peace: Faith in Action in a Divided World” was a gathering that highlighted the vital role of interreligious dialogue in today’s climate of uncertainty, polarisation and rising radicalisation. The event, which also welcomed participants online, brought together three distinguished speakers: Dr Naomi Green, Assistant Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain; Bishop Brendan Leahy, recently appointed to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue; and Peter Osborne, Chair of Remembering Srebrenica in Northern Ireland.
Bishop Brendan Leahy – Faith as a Bridge
Speaking via Zoom, Bishop Brendan Leahy drew on his long experience in ecumenism and interfaith engagement. He underlined the significance of the Catholic Church’s ongoing commitment to dialogue, rooted in the Second Vatican Council and the landmark document Nostra Aetate. For Bishop Leahy, dialogue takes place on several levels: everyday encounters of neighbourliness, practical cooperation for the common good, shared religious experience, and academic engagement. He encouraged participants not to underestimate the “dialogue of life,” where relationships are built in schools, workplaces and communities. Faith, he stressed, must be an instrument of unity rather than division, offering a prophetic voice of peace in the face of polarisation.
Dr Naomi Green – A Muslim Voice for Belonging and Justice
Dr Naomi Green spoke from her research and lived experience of the Muslim community in Northern Ireland, where questions of identity, belonging, and social cohesion remain pressing. She warned against the rise of Islamophobia and the risk of minority voices being mis-represented, tokenised or overlooked. Dialogue, she said, cannot remain at the level of words alone but must be lived out in acts of justice and reconciliation. Citing the Qur’anic image of the servants of God as those who “walk the earth gently,” she reminded the audience that faith calls believers to be agents of peace. For Dr Green, interfaith cooperation is not a luxury but a necessity and Muslims in Northern Ireland are committed to contributing to the wider community—through initiatives like shared iftars and interfaith forums—as full partners, not outsiders.
Peter Osborne – Remembering, Challenging, Building Together
Peter Osborne, a veteran of peacebuilding and reconciliation initiatives, drew sobering lessons from the memory of genocide, particularly the massacre in Srebrenica. He spoke about the early warning signs identified in the Stanton model of genocide and how echoes of these patterns—classification, segregation, and scapegoating—can still be discerned in today’s world. In Northern Ireland, he noted, intolerance and racism remain pressing issues, with race-related hate crimes outnumbering all other categories combined. For Osborne, the challenge is how communities respond: whether through silence, which risks complicity, or through action rooted in justice. He urged faith leaders to find stronger collective voices, insisting that dialogue across traditions remains essential if society is to resist the “them and us” attitudes that fuel division.
A Timely Conversation
In the discussion that followed, participants reflected on the contrast between voices of compassion and those of populist rhetoric. This difference illustrates the importance of consistent, faith-based voices that embody generosity, justice and reconciliation.
The evening closed with a recognition that while locally and globally, challenges remain, gatherings such as “Many Voices, One Peace” provide much-needed spaces where diverse communities can speak honestly, listen deeply, and act together. As one participant put it, “These kinds of meetings remind us that silence is not an option. Faith must find its voice—for peace, for justice, and for one another.”