On 12th July 2016 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was represented on the South Wales Interfaith Council at the Royal Opening of the 5th session of the Welsh Assembly (the Senedd) by Julie Jones.
While hundreds of well-wishers at the grand opening welcomed HM The Queen and Prince Philip, accompanied by the Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, only 240 guests were invited to sit down to a three-course meal which included leading members of the Interfaith Council.
In view of the Welsh Assembly’s relative infancy (the Senedd is just four years old), devolution has given Welsh Mormons an opportunity to increase their contribution to positive interfaith, government and community relationships along with heads of other faiths. Following the rapid progress of the Interfaith Council over the past two years, the Church has now forged stronger links with other Christians in Wales and across the faith spectrum.
On 17th October, a number of members from the Church in Cardiff were invited to join 450 other guests from all sections of the community and faiths at a sit down dinner at Cardiff City Hall hosted by the Muslim Council for Wales.
Entitled “Working Together for the Common Good – Faith in the Future”, Sarah Joseph OBE, a convert to Islam since aged 16, gave an impassioned speech about how we in the room were a power house who could change the way people viewed what was otherwise bleak and often scary future. We, as a whole, could provide the hope critically needed and should not confine this care to a single group.
Then Karen Armstrong OBE FRSL, former nun and now religious writer and thinker, championed her “Charter for Compassion”, launched in 2009, which recognised that in fact all faiths had a similar golden rule of, “Do unto others as you would have them