NEW YORK — Bishop David J. Malloy of Rockford, Illinois, quoted Pope Benedict XVI in praying for peace Sept. 9 as dignitaries gathered for a prayer service on the eve of the United Nations’ 79th session of the General Assembly.
The United Nations Annual Prayer Service was held at the Church of the Holy Family on East 47th Street, just across First Avenue from United Nations headquarters. The yearly service is offered by the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.
The dignitaries included U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, who is the permanent representative of the Holy See to the United Nations, and the respective U.N. sessions’ presidents.
Past chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace Bishop Malloy gave the evening’s reflection, quoting Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks on April 18, 2008, to the United Nations.
“The Holy See and its mission, centered on its faith in Jesus Christ, recognizes that the true path to peace,” Bishop Malloy said, “is based in ‘the common desire to place the human person at the heart of institutions, laws and the workings of society, and to consider the human person essential for the world of culture, religion, and science.’”
At the start of the service, Msgr. Joseph LaMorte, vicar general of the Archdiocese of New York and now pastor of the newly merged parish of Holy Family-St. John the Evangelist-Our Lady of Peace, welcomed the prelates, diplomats, U.N. staff and members of the community.
“Our annual gathering is an ongoing response to Pope St. Paul VI’s desire that all those who work for peace be united in prayer to God for His gift of peace,” Msgr. LaMorte said. The Church of the Holy Family is the official Catholic church of the United Nations.
After several diplomats spoke, the vespers service continued with the office of evening prayer, office hymn, psalmody, three antiphons and a reading from the New Testament, 1 Peter 5:1-4. Father Knestout then introduced Bishop Malloy to offer the reflection.
“Recognition and respect for human dignity is reverence for human nature, for the very humanity that we share. This is an important commitment because we live in a time when the very opposite, not humanization but dehumanization is widespread,” Bishop Malloy said.
“There is much work to be done. But that means, on this evening of prayer, there is much about which we should beseech God.”
“May He strengthen all the efforts of the coming year to protect and deepen the commitment to human dignity. May the work of the secretary-general, the president of the General Assembly, and all of the representatives and staff contribute to the lofty goals of the United Nations Organization and may they be guided by the hand of God,” he said.
