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THE PEACE GOLD AWARD
Vassula was personally invited by the Venerable Suddhananda Mahathero, President of the
Bangladesh Bouddha Kristi Prachar Sangha, to receive the "Atisha Dipankar & Visuddhananda
Peace Award" this year, on the occasion of the 94th birthday of the late President and founder of
the Buddhist Monastery. The Peace Gold Award 2003 ceremony was held on Sunday 23 rd
February, at 3.00PM.
The function was presided by Venerable Suddhananda Mahathero -who had joined the Interreligious
pilgrimage of TLIG last October in Egypt- and was inaugurated by Reverend Michael
Rozario, Archbishop of the Catholic Church in Bangladesh. In addition to the other special
guests invited to this important event, they were honoured with the presence of the Secretary of
the Apostolic Nuncio in Dhaka, Prof. Dr. Kazi Nazrul Islam of the Department of Philosophy
at the University of Dhaka, Prof. Ranjit Kumar Chakraborty, Rector of the Ashalata College,
Chittagong and many representatives of the 4 major religions (Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and
Hindus) but also of different Embassies and of the intellectual and business world.
Vassula was nominated for this Peace Award by the Buddhist monks as a distinguished personality
in recognition of her great contribution and her efforts for establishing inter-religious
harmony and promoting world Peace among all peoples and faiths. Her speech on the interreligious
dialogue being a valuable treasure, the power of prayer, the importance of maintaining
peace and the good works being necessary to prove our faith, kept everyone in the Hall speechless
not to miss a word of hers. Profoundly moved by her words, the Professor of the Department of
Philosophy at the University of Dhaka, Dr. Kazi Nazrul Islam, arranged for her to visit the
University and give a talk at the Department of World Religions at the University of Dhaka on
Wednesday 26 th February, at 4.00PM with the kind assistance of Prof. Joseph O'Connell.
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