Catholic churches in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will join churches of other denominations in the Twin Cities to ring their bells simultaneously for 10 minutes at noon July 4. The event was organized by a local nonprofit called City of Bells.

Johan van Parys, director of liturgy and sacred arts at the Basilica, serves on the board of City of Bells and is helping to recruit local churches to participate. Along with the Basilica, the Cathedral of St. Paul, St. Bernard and St. Louis, King of France, all in St. Paul, and St. Olaf in downtown Minneapolis all will be ringing their bells July 4. According to Rebecca Sundquist, founder of City of Bells, the Twin Cities has the largest number of bells and the largest bells of any metro area in the country.

The Fourth of July event is the second of four scheduled by City of Bells. The first took place on Memorial Day. The last two are 11 a.m. Nov. 11 (Armistice Day) and noon New Year’s Day. Though these are secular holidays, van Parys said it is meaningful for churches to ring their bells to mark these occasions.

“Any effort that contributes to unity among people, and people of different beliefs and of different backgrounds and races, I think is important, though it may not be an explicitly religious act,” he said. “It’s surely a deeply human act, and I think, therefore, it’s important that we participate in that.”