FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 9, 2019

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Adriana Rodriguez
718-517-3143
arodriguez@desalesmedia.org

John Quaglione
718-517-3112
jquaglione@desalesmedia.org

 

PEACE LIGHT ARRIVES IN NEW YORK CITY FROM BETHLEHEM

The Catholic Committee on Scouting of the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens hosted the Peace Light Arrival Ceremony & First Transfer in the USA at Our Lady of the Skies Chapel, located in Terminal 4 of JFK International Airport, this weekend. The Peace Light arrived on Austrian Airlines Flight #87.

The Peace Light was first brought to Ground Zero in New York in 2001 by Canadian Scouts. In 2002, DHL delivered the Peace Light as a gift from Belgian Scouts and Guides to the Boy Scouts of America in NY. In 2003 the light didn’t make it to the U.S., however, members of the Brooklyn Diocesan Scouting Committee had kept the 2002 Peace Light burning and spread that around the diocese. Since then, Austrian Airlines has continued to bring the Peace Light to the United States each year since.

The Peace Light flies from Vienna in two explosion-proof, British mining lamps, fueled by smokeless paraffin oil. Representatives from many Boy Scout and Girl Scout councils from across the tri-state area and the country were on hand for the service. The candles lit by the Peace Candle will now be brought to houses of worship, hospital, senior citizen homes, homeless shelters, prisons, and other locations in many different cities and towns.

Each year, a Scout from Upper Austria fetches the light from the grotto in Bethlehem where Jesus was born. The light is then flown to Austria and from there it is distributed at a Service of Dedication to delegations who take it back, with a message of peace, to their own countries for use at ecumenical services.

Photos attached.

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