Interreligious Peace Meeting

Bad Eisenkappel, Austria

On the 25^th of July 2004 the IIFWP in Carinthia invited for an Interreligious Peace Meeting in a very special “Interreligious Peace Church” in the very south of Austria, 1.270 m high in the mountains of Southern Austria. – In the early seventies of the last century Mr. Florian Sadounig, a farmer and innkeeper built a church for all religions in the mountains near his home, just a mile from the Slovenian border. In the past we already held several times our Sunday service up there. This time we invited also our members from Slovenia, and other friends. We were especially happy to be able to welcome Prof. Josef Frickel, a retired Professor from the university in Graz, who gave a speech about “Peace among religions”.

Then Mr. Radoslav Irgl from the Ljubljana reported about the work with the peace ambassadors in Slovenia and finally Mr. Peter Haider, IIFWP Austria, reported about a “Pilgrimage to Jerusalem” from the Middle East Peace Initiative.

We sang songs together in this very special atmosphere, because in the Catholic-dominated environment of Austria, this is probably the only church, which was built to serve all religions.

After the service, which gathered about 40 participants, we organised some barbecue and drinks, which we had in front of the church in this beautiful nature.

One sister organized games for the entertainment of the younger generation, and it was a very nice experience, we had together on this very special occasion.

There remains a strong wish of the organizers, to have such an event happen at least once a year, and to bring even more people to this special place, who then would be able to experience God in this wonderful environment.

Gottfried Ibounig, Klagenfurt

Further Information: Gottfried Ibounig, Tel.: 0664-511 70 28 or 0463-41118

E-Mail: ibounig@aon.at