Witnessing to our faith in ‘guerrilla resistance tactics’

Buscadores de Fe
Typography

In Vienna, Fr. Franz Helm talks with enthusiasm about a new form of prayer: called the Guerrilla Prayer. This way of praying was inspired in the context of guerrilla activities.

For example, Guerilla Gardening is a form of public resistance against the use of fertile grounds as highways and constructions. As a form of guerrilla resistance people plant vegetables and flower bearing plants on public squares and crossroads. Guerilla Knitting is also a form of protest against ugly and unkept streets in the cities. People cover the metallic posts of street lights or traffic signals with knitted materials.

Guerilla Praying is a form of public resistance against the fact that in secular Europe religious expressions of prayer and other symbols are often banned in the public sphere. A group of people from the SVD-Youth-Project

“Weltdorf St. Gabriel” (Global Village in St. Gabriel), in Austria, goes to a public square in Vienna once a month to pray there publicly for half an hour, singing religious songs and doing bible sharing. The group, aside from the biting cold of the winter days, has experienced the doubtful looks and questioning of bypassers. But most importantly the group continues to joyfully witness their faith to others.