St. Catherine’s community to plant peace pole

KAPA‘A — St. Catherine School, the church’s parish and the community will be planting a peace pole on Monday, Sept. 21, the International Day of Peace.

“We invite you to write your simple prayer for peace and bring it to the St. Catherine parish office or the school office before Sept. 21,” said Terri Donovan Mansfield of the St. Catherine parish.

These will be placed inside the new peace pole, which is four-sided and has the phrase “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in eight different languages.

“The peace pole is hollow,” Donovan said. “We will put all your prayers inside of it so we will all be connected — in peace.”

Following World War II, Japanese peacemaker Masahisa Goi created the phrase, “May peace prevail on Earth,” to help prevent future war and violence on Earth.

This phase decorates hundreds of Peace Poles around the globe, including one at Kaua‘i Community College in Puhi. It is in more than 1,000 languages, including English, Hawaiian, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese and Filipino.

At St. Catherine School, the peace prayers will be placed in the pole before it is planted into the ground in front of Coyle Hall.