Speakers call for unity during interfaith breakfast
By Rochelle Moore
Published in News on February 15, 2017 9:55 AM
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Bishop Anthony W. Slater of Tehillah Church Ministries speaks during the Annual Interfaith Breakfast on Tuesday morning at the Goldsboro Event Center.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Father Eric Imbao of Maria Rena del Las Americas Catholic Church gets served during the annual Interfaith Breakfast held Tuesday morning at the Goldsboro Event Center.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Bishop Anthony W. Slater of Tehillah Church Ministries speak during the Annual Interfaith Breakfast Tuesday morning at Goldsboro Event Center.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Reverend Bernard Kayimbw Mbay of Maria Reina del las Americas Catholic Church speaks about unity during the annual Interfaith Breakfast celebrating Human Relations Month Tuesday.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Pastor Daniel Weeks of Bethel Church of Goldsboro gets served during the annual Interfaith Breakfast held Tuesday morning at Goldsboro Event Center. Weeks was one of the three speakers at the event that celebrates Human Relations Month.
Building a better community through unity takes work and the ability to set aside differences for the greater good, speakers at the Annual Interfaith Breakfast said Tuesday.
"Religions and races are fundamental in what makes us distinct and unique," said the Rev. Bernard Mbay, with the Maria Reina de las Americas Catholic Church, in Mount Olive. "As human beings, we are made to be persons in community. Humans are meant to live in community and care about each other."
Mbay was one of three ministers speaking at this year's interfaith breakfast, which drew nearly 100 people to the Goldsboro Event Center.
During his opening remarks, Mayor Chuck Allen said there has been a more recent focus in Goldsboro on race relations, with an interest by city leaders to make the city more inclusive.
The speakers Tuesday said improvements in the local community start with everyone working together.
Mbray, who spoke with a French accent, said he has lived in four countries during the past 16 years, including the last six in the United States. The experience has helped him understand the differences of people from many different cultures and backgrounds, he said.
"The world in which we live today is so dangerous that we cannot afford to be divided," Mbray said. "No one is born with hatred in his DNA.
"When I take a look at the history of civilizations, I can say that a society where all races and religions can live together in harmony and love is a society that has reached a great deal of maturity and common sense. For we are meant to live in unity and diversity."
The three speakers at the interfaith breakfast focused on unity, during the city's celebration of Human Relations Month. The event was hosted by the Goldsboro Community Relations Department, in partnership with Wayne County and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
Bishop Anthony Slater, with Tehillah Church Ministries in Goldsboro, said the community struggles with division, whether it be between people of different races, religions or other points of view.
"The problem in this area is . . . division," Slater said. "There is something that's here designed to keep us apart.
"The city of Goldsboro can be the best city on the East Coast, if we decide to be the best because it's not going to be somebody else. No, we're going to have to help ourselves."
The area isn't only facing racial division but also socioeconomic differences. Residents living in poverty need help in finding employment, which can help alleviate other social problems, he said. Slater said people need to be willing to get involved.
"I'm watching people on the outside arguing about what's going on in the inside but are afraid to get their hands dirty," Slater said. "We have to begin to stand up and make something happen. We have to begin to be the agents of change in this society."
Daniel Weeks, ministry director at Bethel Church in Goldsboro, said it takes work to achieve unity, and it's not something that just happens.
"If we're going to get unity, it requires that every single one of us -- we -- become bridges," Weeks said. "A bridge's sole purpose in life is to work, to hold up people going from this side to the other. It's something that we're going to have to pursue each and every day.
"Unity is not just the job of our mayor or the city council or the commissioners. It's the job of every single one of us."