Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will join other church leaders April 6 for an online discussion of the friendship between the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Registration is free, with an option to donate.
Hosted by Washington National Cathedral, “Brothers in the Beloved Community” will start at 7 p.m. EST on Zoom. Based on a book of the same name by Bishop Marc Andrus of the Episcopal Diocese of California, the discussion will explore the relationship between the two men and their efforts to resist harmful forces still at work today.
In addition to Curry and Andrus, speakers include Bishop Mariann Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C., and the Rev. Paul Smith, a civil rights veteran, minister, educator, and author. Cathedral Dean Randy Hollerith will moderate.
Several years before King’s death in 1968, Hanh wrote him an open letter as part of an effort to raise awareness and bring peace in Vietnam. As a result, the men met and—despite coming from different religions and cultures, as well as warring countries—developed a deep friendship as they worked together for peace.
In 1967 King nominated Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize, writing, “Thich Nhat Hanh is a holy man, for he is humble and devout. He is a scholar of immense intellectual capacity. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.”
Registrants will be sent information with a Zoom link on April 6.