November 21, 2025

Dear Friends,

We began a one-year observance of our twenty-fifth anniversary on September 8, 2025. It will conclude on September 8, 2026. 

As part of our observance, we began, on September 21, 2025, a year of reflections on the heart of the Interfaith Peace Project – the Interpath Principles. The reflections are being sent to you on the eighth and twenty-first of each month. If you would like to view the previous reflections, you can find them on our blog at: interfaithpeaceproject.org.

If you have anything that you would like to share, please contact:

Thomas P. Bonacci, C.P.
[email protected]
925-787-9279

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THE INTERFAITH PEACE PROJECT
A Legacy of Peace-Making for Twenty-Five Years
September 8, 2001 – September 8, 2026

The Second Interpath Principle:
Inclusivity
All Are Welcome!

There is a song, not exactly a classic or the most beautiful music ever composed, but its message reaches the depth of the heart and the core of the soul. “All are welcome” sings of the radical hospitality that would make wars end and strangers become friends.

The practice of inclusivity is a practice of mind, heart, soul, and spirit. Inclusivity does not simply invite another person into a shared space. Inclusivity strives to welcome all people with gratitude and joy.

Welcoming others into a shared space of presence, dialogue, and love is contagious and expansive. The heart of what it means to be a human person opens profoundly and dramatically. The wisdom of the Holy Quran invites us to ponder how precious it is to meet and encounter another person: “O humankind, indeed we have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another”. (Quran 49: 13)

The expansive diversity implied in the practice of inclusivity moves in two directions. Outward to the community of humankind and inward to the depth of the human heart, where openness, love, and compassion are born.

The diversity of the world empowers the human person to explore the richness of the human heart which loves to love when freedom, respect, and justice are fostered and encouraged. Even in times of conflict, the human heart seeks a friend, a beloved companion to walk together in the cause of justice and peace.

Finally, the awareness of those oppressed by economic injustice, prejudice, and fear stirs our hearts to be broken in solidarity with their struggles. The powerful and those obsessed by greed are often threatened by those they oppress. The oppressed, suffering the injustice inflicted upon them, invite us to the depths of our humanity. If the heart loves to love, the soul loves to repair and lift up those whose lives are broken. When the broken heart meets the brokenhearted, a new world emerges where everyone is indeed more than welcome.

In fact, the shared sacred space created by inclusivity extends to those who oppress. In such a place and situation, they are invited to encounter those they hurt and, perhaps, find redemption, peace, and love.

Blessings to you, Beloved Community, for striving to open the sacred home of your hearts to everyone. The future world we long for is born in the present moment when we open our hearts in welcome, gratitude, and inclusivity.