Letter of the Day | Reimagining the National Prayer Breakfast
Published:Wednesday | December 17, 2025 | 12:06 AM
THE EDITOR: Madam:
The National Prayer Vigil remains one of Jamaica’s most meaningful spiritual traditions, and Christian churches deserve commendation for sustaining it faithfully over the years. They have carried the country through seasons of grief, turbulence, and renewal. Yet, as Jamaica evolves, so too must our shared expressions of national prayer and unity.
The recent Gleaner report, ‘National Prayer Vigil Committee sees Jamaicans returning to God’, offers hope. But it also invites a deeper question: who gets to gather before God when the nation prays? According to the 2011 Population Census, while 69 per cent of Jamaicans identify as Christian, nearly 30 per cent belong either to other faith traditions or to no religious affiliation. Rastafarians, Muslims, Bahá’ís, Hindus, Jews, and those within Revivalist tradition all form part of the nation’s spiritual fabric.
To its credit, the vigil has previously welcomed the Jewish community on certain occasions. Yet these moments were exceptions rather than a sustained commitment to inter-religious participation. If we acknowledge Jamaica’s plural heritage –and the reality that moral and spiritual leadership extend beyond Christianity – then the time has come to widen the vigil from ecumenical to inter-religious.
Hurricane Melissa underscores this truth. The storm was not selective in whom it affected. Christians, Rastafarians, Muslims, persons of no religious affiliation – human beings across every category suffered. Should not our prayer, then, reflect the universality of our vulnerability and our common longing for healing?
Expanding the vigil is not an erosion of Christian identity; rather, it is an extension of Christian hospitality. The purpose of national prayer is unity in diversity, not exclusivity. Moreover, widening participation could be deepened by rotating the location of the vigil: a year in a cathedral, another in a synagogue, then a mosque, around a Revivalist table, or a Bahá’í centre. Such shared sacred hospitality would broaden mutual respect, dismantle stereotypes, and enrich Jamaica’s moral imagination.
Pope Francis offers a compelling model. In Assisi, he prayed alongside Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and others – reminding the world that prayer is “a movement of the heart toward peace”. His example demonstrates that inter-religious prayer does not dilute faith; it strengthens the bonds of humanity.
Jamaica now has an opportunity to follow that wisdom. Let the National Prayer Vigil become a spacious house of prayer – one in which every believer in the God of salvation can stand together, seeking healing, unity, and hope for our beloved nation.
FR DONALD CHAMBERS