29th annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service moves to Lombard

After nearly two decades in the chapel at St. Procopius Abbey in Lisle, the 2019 DuPage Interfaith Thanksgiving Service will be hosted on Monday, Nov. 25, at Congregation Etz Chaim, 1710 S. Highland Ave., Lombard.

The inspiring service, celebrating its 29th consecutive year, has featured prayers, sacred music and scriptures from faith traditions including Bahá'í, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Zoroastrian. It is being hosted for the first time by the Jewish congregation at Etz Chaim, though they have been active participants from the very beginning.

"We are ever so grateful to Father Julian and the brothers of the Benedictine Monastery for their exceedingly generous hospitality in hosting this Interfaith Thanksgiving Service for the past 20 years," said Raha Hosseini, secretary of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Lisle who are sponsoring the 2019 service and have done so for the past six years.

"They informed us that age and a variety of health challenges are catching up with the monks and regrettably would not permit them to host the service this year," Hosseini said.

An outgrowth of the 1993 Parliament of World Religions held in Chicago, the DuPage Interfaith Thanksgiving Service was the brainchild of Deborah Levine, a Downers Grove resident at the time. She and a number of local DuPage County residents and faith leaders formed the DuPage Interfaith Resource Network which organized the service for many years on the Monday preceding Thanksgiving.

Before finding a home at St. Procopius Abbey, the Interfaith Thanksgiving Service was hosted at the Naper Settlement (Naperville), Elmhurst College, and St. Joseph Catholic Church in Downers Grove.

The service will begin at 7:30 p.m. It has customarily concluded by approximately 9 p.m.

It has become an annual Thanksgiving week tradition for many families and faith communities in DuPage and western Cook Counties. All are welcome and admission is free.