Founded to give a home for the religiously open, curious, and diverse group of people, Gathering Of Light Multifaith Spiritual Fellowship started on January 14, 1996, in the basement of a chiropractic office in Dix Hills, New York. It was founded by the then newly ordained from an interfaith seminary, Reverend JoAnn Barrett. To fulfill the mandate that she accepted at her ordination to be of service where service was called upon. Having received numerous phone calls from interested Long Islanders about having such an organization, she started the services once a week on a Sunday evening. The goal was to allow people to learn about each other and still attend other faith organizations. It has moved seven times since its founding; however, never missed a week of service. Currently, it is housed at the King of Kings Lutheran Church in Melville, New York, usually meeting on Saturday mornings at 10 AM.
Over the last 30 years, through relationships developed by its leader, people from various faiths have been invited to teach their prayers, chants, insights, and develop genuine friendships.
Gathering Of Light was the first religious group in North America to invite the Jain community to do a celebration for Mahaveer Jayanti and continues to do it every year. Even though that is our most successful collaboration, every faith group is invited at least once a year. The biggest annual event is Voices of Faith for Peace. This event invites 15 different faith traditions to come and share five or six minutes of sacred chanting each for a total of 2 1/2 hours of nothing but sacred sounds being experienced by all. Over the years, this event has been cosponsored by SUNY, Farmingdale and SUNY Old Westbury, the Turkish Cultural Center of Long Island, and other organizations. This year Voices of Faith for Peace event will be held on February 7 at Christ Lutheran Church in East Northport, New York.
On January 15, Gathering of Light held a gala to commemorate their 30th anniversary with over 120 guests in attendance. GOL was joined by several public officials to honor India-born Mr. Arvind Vora for his multiple contributions to interfaith dialogue and understanding for more than 30 years. He was an instrumental bridge between newly arriving immigrants and the Long Island community. He received the Emissary of Peace award at the gala. He has a long biography of Interfaith, including being instrumental in the founding of several organizations, such as the Long Island Multifaith Forum and Shanti Fund.
Satleen Kaur received the Youth Ambassador Award at the gala despite being a young Sikh adult. She has been selflessly sharing the joy that her faith brings her at many events and successfully on social media for over 12 years.
The event included Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhist, Baha’is, Jains, Hindus, even atheists and agnostics. The feeling of acceptance, inclusion, and caring was palpable throughout the evening. Reverend JoAnn shared that an event like this offered hope to all of us. At this evening, all were able to focus more on what we have in common while celebrating the richness of our diversity.
