A Reflection of Inter Faith Week
The annual national Inter Faith Week has played a very important role in the life of Jacquetta Gomes Bodhicarini Upasika Jayasili. A lifelong interfaith activist in Cumbria, here she offers her account of the incredible life in the world of interfaith.
Inter Faith Weeks are very important to me and have played a significant role in my life. The Religion Media Centre wrote a piece about me on 23 January 2025, reporting on my role in Inter Faith Week.
World’s first female Buddhist fire chaplain – in Cumbria (Religion news 23 January 2025)
Jacquetta Gomes, a lifelong interfaith activist in Cumbria, has become the world’s first female Buddhist Fire Chaplain, offering spiritual support to firefighters and members of the fire and rescue service. She is the lead on interfaith in the Westmorland and Furness Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Partnership, and she arranges events for Interfaith Week. Kendal, known as the smallest town, hosts an eight-day programme of events, and is her home. She is also a member of the World Congress of Faiths and active in her local community service volunteer group.
Inter Faith Week 2012
In 2012, the Kendal Pilot Project was set up and developed by Kendal Fire Station, CFRS, Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service, and BGKT Buddhist Group of Kendal (Theravada), with me as the lead for BGKT. The Kendal Pilot Project participated in Interfaith Week 2012
An Islamic Sufi led the Travelling Zikr at Kendal Fire Station Community Room on Saturday, 24th November. As far as I am aware, this was the first time a Travelling Zikr had taken place in a Fire Station in England.
The Mayor of Kendal, Councillor John Willshaw, invited SLIF South Lakeland Interfaith Forum, representatives of local faith groups, the Chair of SLEDP South Lakeland Equality and Diversity Partnership, and CFRS Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service (representing local agencies), for a celebration in the Mayor’s Parlour in Kendal Town Hall on Thursday, 22nd November. Their BME and Migrant Workers Advocate represented CFRS Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service.
SLEDP (South Lakeland Equality and Diversity Partnership) and SLIF (South Lakeland Interfaith Forum) presented Celebrating Our Faiths on 17th November, the eve of National Interfaith Week (NIF). The meeting was held at South Lakes Foyer in Kendal. There were information stalls from local faith organisations, and a discussion session led by the SLIF committee. The organisers brought together practitioners of many faiths and paths to share their insights and practices and learn from one another. I was the SLEDP Lead for this event. CFRS Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service ran a stall at Kendal Fire Station, led by their Community Safety Coordinator, which included information about the Pilot Project at the station.
Inter Faith Week 2016 Thursday 17 SLEDP Event at The Quaker Tapestry, Kendal
Monsignor Francis Slattery gave a talk about interfaith. I gave a short talk about BEWES Buddhists Engaged with Emergency Services and Faith and Fire.
SLEDP South Lakeland Equality and Diversity Partnership (of which I was the Lead on Interfaith and Multifaith) presented the Cumbrian launch of the third edition (2018) of Religion, Belief and Culture in our Community: Understanding, respecting and valuing the diverse cultures of the United Kingdom. Published by East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, Surrey Fire and Rescue Service and West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. I am included in the Acknowledgements on page 66. Rev Dr Marcus Braybrooke, former President of the WCF World Congress of Faith, is also included. The WCF have been very supportive of my involvement as a WCF member with the Fire and Rescue Service.
The NFCC National Fire Chiefs Council reported the publication of this booklet in Inter Faith Week.
Inter Faith Week 2019, Kendal ICC Family Fun Day, November 2019
As the lead for Interfaith and Multifaith, I represent WFDEIP Westmorland and Furness Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Partnership on Kendal ICC Integrated Care Community. I helped run a stall at the Kendal ICC Integrated Care Community Family Fun Day in November 2019 at Kendal Leisure Centre.
I was photographed with CFRS Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service holding the booklet ‘Religion, Belief and Culture in our Community: Understanding, respecting and valuing the diverse cultures of the United Kingdom’. I am delighted that this photograph is still on the Inter Faith Week website on the Fire and Rescue Service page of the Resources section.
Inter Faith Week 2025
In Inter Faith Week 2025, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Fire Fighters Charity Multifaith Chaplaincy on 18 November 2015. We chose to launch this chaplaincy during Inter Faith Week to highlight its multifaith nature and to celebrate this important week. I became the first Chaplain. See also Facebook.
I am acknowledged as the first female Buddhist Fire Chaplain in the world. I became a fire chaplain at ESFRS (East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service) in 2014, at the same time as Theravada Buddhist Monk Venerable Pidiville Piyatissa. As a consequence, I am included by Brighton Museums in 100 Pioneering Women of Sussex; as a First Woman in City Women's First British Women (2014); as a First Woman in First Woman in FIRST WOMEN: The first women in law, government, the professions and other notable posts, achievements and matters of interest by academic Carrie de Silva; as an Infinite Woman on the Infinite Women website; and as an Inspiring Woman in Inspiring Women by Women to Work.
Other Important Events
Living in a small town, I am very keen to demonstrate that large numbers of attendees are not necessary for Inter Faith Week events. Inter Faith Week 2015 Quaker Tapestry Kendal Friday 20 November. The chaplaincy development officer for the Methodist Church (resident in Kendal) and Jacquetta Gomes, secretary of the Buddhist Group of Kendal (Theravada), viewed the Quaker Tapestry and visited the tearoom and gave readings. (I helped to stitch the Manchester Conference 1895 panel and became a member of the Quaker Tapestry.)
I am also keen that dignitaries with large networks and the ability to share knowledge of Inter Faith Week participate in Inter Faith Week. During lockdown on 11 November 2020, the High Sheriff of Cumbria’s Facebook Page included an Inter Faith Week event with her, SLEDP South Lakeland Equality and Diversity Partnership and SLIF South Lakeland Interfaith Forum. As the lead for Interfaith and Multifaith, I represented SLEDP. This was shared on the Inter Faith Week Facebook page on 12.11.20.
Please also check out additional information at:
IFN Inter Faith Network for the United Kingdom Annual Review 2012-13, page 19.
Inter Faith Week: Stories from 2017, Inspiration for 2018, page 24.
Inter Faith Week 2019 Photo Gallery
2019/2021 A REVIEW OF THE WORK OF THE INTER FAITH NETWORK FOR THE UK THROUGH A TIME OF COVID, page 49.
Strengthening cooperation and understanding: Inter Faith Week 2022, Published 2023 by the Inter Faith Network for the UK (ISBN: 9781739415815), page 14.