FRH is aware that some of its members have started ringing bells as a sign of hope and solidarity. We want to support these Europe-wide initiatives by showcasing them and encouraging others to join.
The covid-19 pandemic constitutes an unparalleled challenge to us all. The covid-19 makes no distinction based on colour, age or gender, nor does it look at religious affiliation. Today, we are all equal in our vulnerability.
People have been urged to stay at home. Churches, synagogues and mosques across Europe are shut to visitors, the faithful and tourists alike. This reverses the very purpose of religious buildings as places that bring people together.
In our shared grief and uncertainty, sounds of comfort are coming once again from those places where for centuries people have come to find consolation.
The bells of churches across Europe bring a familiar sound to the streets of towns and cities carrying a message of solidarity and contemplation. At the Basilica Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome, one of the oldest basilicas in Europe, the bells are rung every evening at 20:00h. In Spain, the Conference of Bishops have asked to sound the bells of churches every day at noon in solidarity and encouragement of medics, nurses and emergency workers. In the Westhoek, Belgium, the carillons of churches play familiar tunes at 20:00h to comfort the elderly, who live in isolation due to the pandemic. In the Netherlands, Bells of Hope are rung from more than 175 churches at fixed times as a message of hope and comfort.
Various such initiatives have emerged throughout Europe’s religious heritage – join FRH in our mission to let the sound of solidarity be heard from all religious buildings; churches and chapels, synagogues and mosques.
If you have your own initiatives or know of an interesting one – please let us know at info@frh-europe.org so that we can showcase them and encourage more to join. The sound of hope will never be silenced!
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