Something's afoot in the religious community here that has participants excited about making friends with people of other denominations.
A three-year-old interfaith group that has no formal name is planning its third Independence Day celebration complete with patriotic songs and a talk by Duane Cardall, religion specialist at KSL-TV.The event is scheduled at 7 p.m. Sunday, July 5, at the West Jordan High School, 8136 South 2700 West.
Featured will be the interfaith choir - comprised of people of many faiths including Catholics, United Methodists and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joining for the first time this year is the choir from the New Pilgrim Baptist Church in Salt Lake City.
The event is significant, but even more important is the growing fellowship and understanding among people of different religions, said the Rev. John Hart, priest at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church.
"We have different communities but somehow or another, we've had no way of pulling them all together," Father Hart said. "It may not seem like much, but this is the first step toward a community of trust."
Father Hart said divisions between people of different faiths generally are subtle, but are harmful nonetheless to individuals, this area and the country as a whole.
Getting together to put on a patriotic event each year builds unity among people who might not otherwise even associate with one another. "The people who are involved begin to speak to each other, learn about each other, learn to work with each other," Father Hart said.
The informality of the loosely knit grassroots group works to its advantage, and Father Hart doesn't expect it to expand much geographically or become a big bureaucracy. However, he said it has attracted participants from Riverton, Bluffdale and South Jordan.
The interfaith group began after organizers for the West Jordan Western Stampede asked churches to take part.
At first, the three main participants were Hart, the Rev. David Butler of Jordan United Methodist Church, and Dennis Hope, stake president for the West Jordan River LDS Stake.
The first ecumenical event featured U.S. Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, who spoke of his 1985 flight on the Discovery space shuttle. Last year, the speaker was T.H. Bell, the former U.S. Secretary of Education.
Each event drew about 1,500 people, and each was well-received, Father Hart said.
Audiences also liked musical presentations by the interfaith choir, organized by Veronica Brand of St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church and Linda Plouzek of the West Jordan River LDS Stake.
Plouzek said the first year drew about 20 singers from many churches, but now more than 40 people are performing.
"The choir has been a really fun experience," said Plouzek. "The diversity of the people there makes it a really interesting group. Everyone who is there wants to be there, and they bring a real special spirit with them."
Plouzek said it's been highly rewarding to build a friendship with Brand and get to know other members of the choir, which Plouzek directs.
"I told them at the beginning of our rehearsals that I'd been looking forward to this all year," Plouzek said. "We can get along and work together for common goals in spite of, or because of, our religious differences."