Sermon on Brotherhood Accepted by Jewish, Protestant, Catholic Clergy

Synagogue and church-goers throughout New York City will hear sermons on brotherhood this weekend and will join in a common prayer for spiritual help in relieving racial and religious tensions here. The text of the prayer was agreed to by leaders of the Jewish, Protestant and Roman Catholic faiths, a move that observers of the religious scene said was “unprecedented.” Announcement of the prayer was made yesterday by Rabbi Gilbert Klaperman, president of the New York Board of Rabbis; the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale, president of the Council of Churches of the City of New York; and the Most Rev. Terence J. Cooke, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. The three religious leaders urged that all sermons have a similar theme–“follow the way of love.”

The original version of the prayer was composed by Msgr. Harry J. Byrne, chancellor of the Archdiocese. One of the verses reads, “Help us to talk to each other, to understand, to trust, to Love, to work together. Open us to the workings of change so essential to life and growth. Make us know that there is no place for hatred, bigotry and racism, overt or subtle. Guard us against making any verbal or mental slight or insult, gross or sophisticated, against any person or group.”