Christ Church Cathedral will toll bells for Hiroshima/Nagasaki observance

Louisville peace and interfaith organizations will commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki with three days of events in August. The programs will culminate with a bell tolling event at Christ Church Cathedral on Aug. 9.

The first event, a candle floating ceremony, will begin at 8 p.m. (EDT) Sunday, Aug. 5, at the lake at Lexington Road and Grinstead Drive. (If it rains, the event will be moved to Highland Baptist Church at Grinstead and Cherokee Road.)
 


  This family-friendly activity will features prayers, readings about Hiroshima, and testimonies from a Hiroshima survivor and from one of the first Americans to visit Hiroshima after the atomic bombing in 1945. Heidi Howe will provide the event's music. At the conclusion of the event, those present will be invited to float lighted candles, a ceremony that has become a tradition in Japan to remember departed loved ones, particularly those who died in the atomic bombings.

Also planned: 
Monday, Aug. 6: Members of the peace-making community, accompanied by one of the Squallis Puppeteers, will distribute leaflets between 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at Fourth Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard. The leaflets will provide information about the consequences of nuclear weapon use and promote nuclear disarmament as well as promote local activities commemorating the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945,

Tuesday, Aug. 7: Two short films -- "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" and "The Last Epidemic" - will be shown at 7 p.m. at The Clifton Center, 2117 Payne Street. The films will be followed by discussion, led by Dr. Walt Olson, about the effects of nuclear weapons. "Sadako" is about Sadako Sasaki, a young Japanese girl who developed leukemia in 1955 from the effects of radiation caused by the bombing of Hiroshima. While she was hospitalized, her closest friend reminded her of the Japanese legend that if she folded a thousand paper cranes, the gods might grant her wish to be well again. With hope and determination, Sadako began folding. "The Last Epidemic: Medical Consequences of Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear War" is a 30-minute video that defines and demonstrates the horror of a nuclear attack.
 
 Thursday, Aug. 9: Leafleting for nuclear disarmament, again featuring a puppet from Squallis Puppeteers, will be done from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at Sixth and Jefferson streets.

The bell-tolling event will be from noon to 12:15 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 9, at Christ Church Cathedral, 425 S. Second St. It will begin with a reading of Thomas Merton's "Original Child Bomb" by Mitzi Friedlander and Denton Randall. The Cathedral Bell then will be tolled 62 times--once for each year since the dropping of the bombs in memory of all those who died in these bombings and all of the bombings directed at civilians in World War II. The bells will also be tolled in hope that no city will ever again be subjected to the horrors of a nuclear war.

The events are sponsored by the Louisville Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemoration Committee with the support of Interfaith Paths to Peace and in cooperation with The Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Center for Faith and Action, and Pax Christi, the Roman Catholic peace and justice organization.
 
For further information about these events, call (502) 214-7322 or visit www.InterfaithPathsToPeace.org /www.interfaithpathstopeace.org/>