Their coffee cups clattering, the civic and religious leaders crowded around 18 banquet-hall tables bowed their heads to pray.
A pastor spoke, then a rabbi, as members of the Clergy Council of Mt. Prospect, the city’s mayor and community group members responded with “amens.”
The prayer breakfast held recently in Mt. Prospect was one of several that have taken place in the northwest suburbs. More are planned.
The meal and message at such gatherings have become a popular way to unite people with different beliefs and religious perspectives.
“The advantage of having a prayer breakfast is that it helps acquaint all of us with the diversity of people living in Mt. Prospect as well as the diversity of faith,” said Mayor Gerald L. “Skip” Farley at the event, held earlier this month. “People think we are all Christians, and that’s not so.”
Arlington Heights Mayor Arlene J. Mulder said a group of residents initiated a prayer breakfast in her village last year and modeled it after the presidential prayer breakfast.
“It’s absolutely wonderful,” Mulder said. “It’s really important to know how many people rely on faith and the human spirit. An important message is coming through about others. The message is to focus on them.”
Arlington Heights has scheduled this year’s prayer breakfast for Feb. 1 at the former Forest View High School building.
Following a tradition started by Mayor Paul W. Jung before he died, Des Plaines has one tentatively scheduled for May.
And Elgin held one recently in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Elgin Community College.
Former Hoffman Estates Village President Virginia Hayter, who is now village clerk, advocates starting one.
“I think it is a wonderful idea of having one done in each municipality,” she said.
The focus of the messages given by the many clergy members at these breakfasts is on empathy and understanding.
“The spirit of unity permeates when we go back to our churches,” said Rev. Betsy Youdris of Trinity United Methodist Church in Mt. Prospect, who is a member of the city’s Clergy Council. “This helps up find some common ground on which we can pray.”
Rev. Marian G. Hale of Chicago, a member of the Association of Interfaith Ministers, said she has witnessed discomfort from people who have asked her to perform interfaith marriages.
“I’ve found it interesting to do interfaith weddings, mainly Jewish and Christian,” she said. “The people who come, they come with a certain amount of trepidation. There’s a tension that’s quite palpable. Yet there’s elements of both faiths. At the end, both faiths feel tremendously honored.”
The prayer breakfast in Mt. Prospect also launches a week of prayer for Christian unity, said Senior Pastor Joan Gunderman, of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Mt. Prospect.
“We give a lot of lip service to it at the pulpit. This history of all churches has been breaking up. This says the church is one despite our opinions of one another.”
