North Hills celebration helps cultivate culture of peace

Sorry, they were told. The property no longer is for sale.

Practitioners of Islam in the North Hills were seeking a location for a mosque and thought they’d found an ideal place, the home of a congregation that was embarking on building a bigger house of worship.

Then came the news from their real estate agent.

“These people are smart enough to realize why it was withdrawn from the market,” La Roche University professor emeritus Ed Brett said. “The people who were selling that church didn’t want Muslim people in their area. And that hurt that community.”

When another site was found and the Islamic Center of Western Pennsylvania opened in Marshall, Brett was among the guests at a welcoming event.

“They invited everybody to come to the mosque one Sunday afternoon for a wonderful dinner — one of the best dinners I ever had, I might add — and to meet all the Islamic people who were there and learn about them,” he said. “And for them to learn about us.”

Brett told the story as a featured speaker during the 20th annual North Hills International Day of Peace Celebration, drawing on the global observance’s 2024 theme, “Cultivating a Culture of Peace.”

The Sept. 22 event in North Park drew guests with a variety of backgrounds to express appreciation for diversity, culminating with a ceremony in which they held national flags from throughout the world and declared wishes for peace in each of the countries.

One declaration was on behalf of embattled Ukraine, the home country of Inna Hohosha, another featured Day of Peace speaker.

“Today I am wearing clothes I chose especially in the memory of people who were killed by this war,” she said about Ukraine’s defense against Russian invasion, “and they will be no longer able to wear these clothes anymore.”

A recent La Roche graduate with a degree in special education and elementary education, Hohosha plans to work with students who have dyslexia and other learning disabilities.

“Many people are asking me, ‘This is true, what happened in Ukraine?’ Usually I say no, because it’s worse. You only see a little part of what’s happening there,” she said. “Today, the rich soil of Ukraine is covered not by wheat, but by bullets and shells.”

She conveyed a sense of optimism, though:

“I believe Ukraine will win this battle, and we all will celebrate the freedom and the value of democracy around the world.”

On another positive note, the vocal group Coro Latinoamericano – Pittsburgh provided a set of splendidly sung selections for the enjoyment of Day of Peace guests.

Launched in 1997, Coro Latinoamericano specializes in music from the countries of Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the Iberian Peninsula, mainly Spain and Portugal. Kenya Dworkin y Méndez, who was born in Cuba, joined the nonprofit organization in 2012 and eventually was elected president.

“It was founded by a group of Latin American immigrants who came here to finish degrees and so on, and were very nostalgic for home,” she explained. “I wanted to build bridges not just back to their homes, but also to the community here, because I think that music and food are the best ways for us to find out how much we have in common.”

Along those lines, Brett recalled attending “peace meals,” open to people of all faiths, at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church on the Hampton-McCandless line. Guests were told:

“Try to sit at a table where there are people you don’t know and where there are people of different religions than yours, from different churches than yours.”

“I met people who were Muslim, people who were Hindu, Buddhist, et cetera,” Brett said. “And I learned so much.”

He commended the North Hills International Day of Peace Celebration hosting organizations, including AAUW North Hills Pittsburgh, Sisters of Divine Providence, La Roche University, North Hills Ebony Women Inc. and the Muslim Association of Greater Pittsburgh.

“I love coming here, seeing people of so many different backgrounds, so many different races and cultures, who are all working together for peace. And I’m really inspired,” he said. “So I’d like to say, let’s end this talk with a clap for everybody here.”