From the Houston Chronicle, Written By JENNIFER SUMMER, March 31, 2012
The footsteps will pound the sidewalks as voices sing praise along Woodland Hills Drive as a stand and a proclamation in remembrance of the Holocaust and its victims and rescuers.
Residents from around the community are encouraged to join in the March of Remembrance April 21 as participants march from one church to another along Woodland Hills to their final destination at the old location of St. Martha Catholic Church.
Churches all along the pathway have joined in the event to recognize the relationship between the Christian and Jewish communities and will have songs and praise at each stop.
The churches and other participants celebrated the kick-off for the March of Remembrance with a special luncheon March 27.
“The March of Remembrance is a tremendous opportunity for our community to come together. This has never happened in our community and we hope this will continue to expand throughout the city. We want the March of Remembrance to make a statement. It is important we make a stand against racism and antisemitism before we have to,” Pastor Rod Bryant of Calvary Church in Kingwood said.
The initiative for March of Remembrance was started by Mitch and Rozalie Jerome, who produce the show “The Crossover Project” focused on Jewish and Christian relations.
The March of Remembrance holds a special place for the couple since Mitch and Rozalie, who is the child of a Holocaust survivor, had an opportunity to participate in the March of Life in Germany in 2008. The March of Remembrance in the United States is an offshoot of the March of Life in Europe.
“The Holocaust is usually seen as a Jewish issue. This is what was done to us and quite frankly, most of the Jewish Holocaust survivors see it as a Jewish issue. The Nazis had other people in mind such as the mentally handicapped, gypsies and all kinds of people targeted who were different,” Rabbi Don Gordon of Temple Beth Torah, said at the luncheon.
“As we are here, sharing different faiths, the message becomes none of us are free until all of us are free. The March of Remembrance is our opportunity to remember the worst time in human history and say the slogan ‘Never again.’”
The March of Remembrance will start at Kingwood United Methodist Church at 1 p.m. with various stops to churches along the way such as Holy Comforter Lutheran Church, Kingwood Church of Christ, Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Kingwood First Baptist Church, Bethany Fellowship Church and the final stop at St. Martha where Holocaust survivor Ruth Steinfeld and second generation survivor Dr. Hy Penn will speak along with other leaders.
The decision for the route came to Rozalie as she was working out at the gym on the treadmill.
According to a press release sent via email for the event, God gave her the route on Woodland Hills Drive, where it would start, where it would end and who would speak.
As the participants stop at each church, they will say a progressive Lord’s prayer with the completion of the prayer at St. Martha. There will be guests at each church to greet the participants and offer refreshments if needed.
Each of the guests will have a laminated tag on which will be depicted a Holocaust victim on one side and a person who helped victims during the Holocaust on the other side. Students from Creekwood Middle School have adopted the tags as one of their projects for students who are participating.
During the memorial services, each individual will have a list of names of victims and they will all say them at the same time which will have a crescendo effect at the church.
“The March isn’t an initiation of unity between the Jewish and Christian faith in the area. It is a consolidation and a celebration of the relationships and interactions that have already been going on,” Carla Alvarez, publicity coordinator for the event, said through an email.
This event is being hosted by Msgr. Chester Borski of St. Martha Catholic Church, and the Rev. Jim Welch of Kingwood United Methodist Church, and the main coordinator for this event will be Bryant.
The March of Remembrance will be April 21 starting at 1 p.m. at Kingwood United Methodist Church, 1799 Woodland Hills Drive.
For more local information, log on to www.marchofremembrancehouston.org.
https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/kingwood/news/article/Churches-gather-to-share-vision-for-March-of-9363500.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Premium)&utm_source=share-by-email&utm_medium=email
