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Bethlehem Peace Light to be shared in Logansport

Last Updated on December 15, 2019 by Sagamore Council Pack 3200

Cross-Wind Methodist Church and the Sagamore Council of Boy Scouts of America will be hosting a Peace Light from Bethlehem Distribution on Friday, December 13, at 7 p.m. at Cross-Wind Methodist Church at 616 North IN-25, Logansport. A short ceremony will be held to receive the Peace Light to Logansport. Participants are asked to bring a candle or lantern to take the light into their home, business or church and keep and share it during the holiday season. This is the first year the Peace Light will be shared in Logansport. We are delighted to be able to make this available this year.

The Peace Light from Bethlehem campaign was originally organized in 1986 by the Austrian Broadcasting Company – ORF (Linz) – and was part of a large charitable relief mission -Light into Darkness, for children in need in Austria and abroad. Since 1989, there has been a great deal of co-operation between Scouts and Guides in many countries, allowing the light to travel throughout Europe.

Each year, a child from Upper Austria fetches the light from the grotto in Bethlehem. The light is then flown to Austria from where it is distributed at a Service of Dedication to delegations from across Europe who take it back, with a message of Peace, to their own countries for use at ecumenical services throughout the Continent. Scouts and Guides can then take the light on to houses of worship, hospitals, homeless shelters, nursing homes, prisons, and places of public, cultural and political importance – to anybody who appreciates the significance of the “gift”.
The Peace Light first came to New York in 2001, by Canadian Scouts who brought it to Ground Zero in New York City. In 2002, DHL delivered the Peace Light as a gift from Belgian Scouts and Guides to the Boy Scouts of America in NY. (DHL: Corporate – News) In 2003, the light didn’t make it to the U.S. Fortunately, members of the diocesan Scouting committee had kept the 2002 Peace Light burning and spread that around the diocese.

In 2004 the Austrian Scout Movement, Austrian Airlines and Boy Scouts of America International Division arranged to bring the 2004 Peace Light to New York on Dec. 4. Two security guards and Dr. Thomas Ertlthaler, international commissioner of Austrian Scouting, flew from Vienna with the Peace Light in two explosion-proof, British mining lamps, fueled by smokeless paraffin oil. Just 11 days earlier, Austrian Scouts had extracted the light from the eternal flame in Bethlehem.

Peace light arrives in United States, JFK International Airport, NY on Friday, December 6, 2019. The ceremony to distribute peace flame will commence soon after arrival and greeting of Peace light couriers, via Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna, Austria. From there, the Peace light will travel across North America.
Scouts and Scouters associated with the Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts of the United States of America will be transferring the light across the United States and sharing it in their communities after its arrival in the U.S.

Additional background information can be found at:
Website: http://www.peacelight.org
Social media: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PeaceLightNorthAmerica/

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