Elmhurst Mayor Peter DiCianni wants to start each city council meeting with a prayer, but not all council members are saying “Amen” to that.

The topic was discussed at a meeting of the Finance and Council Affairs Committee March 8. Members of the committee directed staff to study how the issue of prayer at meetings is handled by other nearby communities and to report back to them.

DiCianni proposed the idea to have an invocation said at council meetings at a council meeting in January during which the council commended Bishop Joseph Siegel, formerly paster of Visitation Catholic Church, on his ordainment. 

“I would like to bring back prayer to the beginning of our meeting because it will help guide us with the important decisions that we, as leaders, face,” said DiCianni in a statement. “We are making decisions that affect people. I feel a prayer will help give us guidance as our leaders make critical decisions in tough economic times.”
 
Ald. Diane Gutenkauf opposes the idea of having a prayer at council meetings because she believes it will distract the council from other important business. 

“The city council has the potential to get bogged down in the discussion of whether prayer is appropriate,” she said. “My job is to represent the civic needs of residents and their spiritual needs can be met by others.”

Prayer proponents have suggested that an invocation would not be part of the council’s agenda, and would be said before roll call.

“I think that’s splitting hairs,” Gutenkauf said. 

The city council had prayers said before meetings until the late 1970s when it disbanded the practice.

A date has not yet been set for when the topic will be addressed again by the committee.