The Diocese of Milwaukee has encouraged its clergy and congregations to participate in a Day of Prayer for the Sikh Community. The Wisconsin Council of Churches has organized the statewide event, scheduled for Aug. 12. On Aug.5 a lone gunman, Wade Michael Page, killed six people and wounded four at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin before police killed him.
“Our hope is that next Sunday will provide an opportunity for Christians to pray for the victims, their families, and for the Sikh community, which has experienced much tragedy and hardship in this country since the Sept. 11 attacks,” the council announcement said.
“We also hope next Sunday will be an occasion for Christians in Wisconsin to learn more about the Sikh religion. There are approximately 3,000 Sikhs in the greater Milwaukee area and over 700,000 nationwide. We know there are Sikh Temples in Oak Creek, Brookfield, Madison and Menasha, and there are no doubt smaller communities elsewhere in the state.”
The Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee and the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin have created a victim memorial fund at SikhHelp.org for the families affected by the attack on Sunday.
Photo by Jasleen Kaur (originally posted to Flickr as prashad) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
