Russell Berrie Alumna Vimal Jyothy ‘17 Hosts Interreligious Conference in India

Sr. Vimal Joythy works as a family physician in India, helping families with various religious backgrounds and from underprivileged areas.

Dr. Vimal Jyothy ’17 hosted an interreligious dialogue conference titled “United Action for Universal Peace and Healing in the World” in Malur, India on July 20, 2019. Almost one hundred people attended to learn how to promote global peace and societal development through interreligious dialogue, educational campaigns, and humanitarian activities.

Muslim leader Dr. Shifa Zamzami told the audience Islam considers Judaism and Christianity part of the family of Abrahamic religions and explained how Islam’s holy text of the Qur’an sees differences of peoples as a strength, rather than a problem.

Russell Berrie alumna Sister Purobi Pascalina Chiran ’15 from Bangladesh spoke about how nonviolence is central to stopping conflict.

“We can easily draw upon many role models who have been committed to nonviolent principles and who have made a tremendous impact on the world stage like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.,” according to Chiran.

Jyothy said though it was challenging to host the event due to present political and socio economic issues in India, these obstacles were overcome for the sake of cultivating positive dialogue and discussions.

Participants were posed the query, “What can we do to heal the world?” The conference, with its mission to inspire people to create a world of love and unity, is one response to this overwhelming question.