The Brandeis Chaplaincy held the first of its planned weekly peace vigils with about 20 members of the community on Tuesday at the Peace Memorial near the Usdan Student Center. The half-hour vigil will be held every week at noon until the war in Iraq ends, the chaplians said.

Rev. Walter Cuenin, the Catholic chaplain and one of the vigil's organizers, said the chaplains hope the vigils demonstrate solidarity with those suffering because of the current war, including Iraqi citizens, U.S. and other troops and all those impacted by the conflict.

"We wanted to make it a vigil that all could take part in, whether one is a member of a religious tradition or not," Cuenin said. "It is not geared to promote any particular strategy."

At the vigil, attendees stood in silence for several minutes, and the chaplains spoke about why they wanted to hold the vigil afterwards.

Cuenin said the chaplains noticed an absence of discussion on campus regarding the war in Iraq. He said such apathy could be due to the extensive television coverage of the War, or the fact there is no military draft.

"We decided that it was time to raise consciousness of the war and of our hope for peace," he said.

"This is not a time for debate, diatribe, or even discourse," Protestant chaplain Rev. Alexander Kern said. "It is a time for mindfulness, for holding up the promise of peace."

Despite the tone of the vigil, the chaplains denied any political agenda, such as being in opposition to President Bush's plan to increase the number of troops in Iraq.

"It's not a programmatic or political gathering. We're not coming together to advocate a particular policy," Rabbi Allan Lehmann said.

However, Cuenin added, "The overall unending nature of the violence and the escalation may well have made it seem more important than ever to do something."

Imam Talal Eid, the Muslim chaplain, asked the students who attended to bring others with them in the following weeks to help the vigils grow.

The students who attended said they were pleased to see some action regarding the war, and some pledged to bring others next week.

"I think peace is really important," Jennifer Desrochers '08 said. "Not Democrat, not Republican. Just straight-up peace."

The Peace Memorial consists of concentric circles of bricks engraved with the word "peace" in 70 languages encircling a dove.