Bay Area residents will have a special opportunity to experience the traditions of three of the region’s most vital and thriving spiritual communities when the Marin Interfaith Council (www.marinifc.org/) sponsors its Twelfth Annual Prayer Breakfast at Congregation Kol Shofar in Tiburon.

On Thursday, May 5, 2011, representatives from Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, Judaism, and Wicca will lead participants at the morning forum in prayers. The organizers hope that attendees, in addition to learning more about these three faith traditions, will also learn from each other about their unique spiritual experiences. Leading the prayers and interfaith dialogue this year will be Rev. Carol Himaka, Elder Don Frew, and Rabbi Stacy Friedman.

Rev. Himaka is the supervising minister at Marin’s Buddhist Temple and resident minister at the historic Enmanji Buddhist Temple in Sebastopol, California (http://sonic.net/~enmanji/). Himaka, who holds degrees from San Diego State University, the Institute of Buddhist Studies, and California State University (Hayward), was ordained in 1979 as a Jodo Shinshu* minister in Kyoto, Japan. She was granted Kyoshi ordination in 1980 and Kaikyoshi in 1982, and previously served at the Fresno Betsuin and as director of the BCA Department of Buddhist Education.

Elder Frew, a Wiccan Priest*, serves on the Board of Directors at the Interfaith Center at the Presidio. A National Representative for Covenant of the Goddess (www.cog.org/), Frew founded and now directs the Lost and Endangered Religions Project (www.interfaith-presidio.org/LERP/index.html#staff). He has been active in Interfaith work for more than 25 years, including with the Assembly of the Parliament of the World’s Religions.

Rabbi Friedman has been the senior rabbi at Congregation Rodef Sholom (www.rodefsholom.org/) since 2003. Ordained in 1993 at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, she served Jewish communities in New York City, Montana, and Victorville before coming to San Rafael. She has served on numerous community and other boards, including those of Marin Interfaith Youth Outreach and the Marin Interfaith Council and, according to her bio on the Congregation’s web site, “is passionate about prayer” and “repairing the world.”

The Marin Interfaith Council’s Annual Prayer Breakfast, held each year on the National Day of Prayer (the first Thursday of May each year), was established more than a decade ago to make this national day of reflection truly a widespread day of positive spirituality and action rather than the politicized, polarized day others have envisioned: http://nationaldayofprayer.org/coordinators/2011-national-prayer/.

This year, as in years past, Christians will break bread with members of Jewish and Hindu temples from around the region, Buddhists, Wiccans, Muslims, and others active in the many religious, spiritual, and personal growth traditions across the San Francisco Bay Area in a sincere effort to dispel rather than stoke the flames of fear. With help from the Marin Interfaith Council, Bay Area residents have yet another chance to demonstrate once again for the country and the world that humanity’s greatest promise lies not in divisiveness but in celebrating its diversity.

Prayer Breakfast Details:
Date and Time: May 5, 2011 – 8:00 to 10:00 a.m.
Location: Congregation Kol Shofar, 215 Blackfield, Drive, Tiburon, California
Cost: $20-$40 (sliding scale; includes catered buffet breakfast)
Deadline for Registration and Payment: April 29, 2011. Registration form and information available online here: www.marinifc.org/content/prayer-breakfast.

* Established by Shinran (1173-1263), Jodo Shinshu or Shin Buddhism is a widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan (www.shindharmanet.com/shinbasics/basics.htm).

Wicca, an Earth-based religion also known as “The Craft,” is the largest of the Neopagan religions (www.religioustolerance.org/wic_faq.htm).