Interfaith Week: A week of togetherness
Everyone comes from different backgrounds and religions, but people rarely take the time to think about where others originate from. Interfaith Week is all about spreading awareness and celebrating the diverse backgrounds on campus. The fourth annual Interfaith Week ran from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2.
Interfaith Week is Hosted by the Interfaith Connections, which is run by the Interfaith Leadership Council under the Chapel Core. It began four years ago, when College Chaplain Callista Isabelle, decided that we needed an interfaith presence on campus, so she organized a group of students to create the Interfaith Leadership Council. From Wednesday Sept. 28 to Friday Sept. 30, the Interfaith Connections were tabling in Seegers Union from 11:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. At the tabling, students from the Interfaith Leadership Council shared information about the various events happening, and made students aware of how they could participate during the week. They also posed questions to students to get them to think about certain beliefs, and the way we interact with each other on campus.
They also had a raffle for a t-shirt and they held “Teddy Bags,” a food drive for the families from Roosevelt Elementary School. The food drive did not end with the conclusion of Interfaith Week, as donations are still being accepted with the help from the Boys and Girls Club and Second Harvest. The goal is to provide fifty bags every Friday. Donations can be dropped off Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Throughout the week, the Interfaith Leadership council held various events that revolved around this year’s Interfaith week theme of “Togetherness.”
Interfaith events began on Monday Sept. 26 and Tuesday Sept. 27 with the painting of the community mural on Parents Plaza outside Seegers Union. Students who wanted to participate had the opportunity to help paint the community mural that was designed by the North Carolina guest artist Stephanie Burke.
The mural was unveiled at the invitation-only Interfaith Banquet, where only faculty, staff, and students who were involved in Allyship and interfaith dialogue were invited to attend.
The Newman Center held the Catholic Campus Ministry Dinner on Monday evening. Hillel sponsored the event “Inside/ Outside: A Radical Approach to High Holiday Change” with Rabbi Yonah Berman from Yeshivat Chovavei Torah on Tuesday as well.
On Wednesday, the chapel sponsored a Bible study. That night, the Interfaith Leadership Council and the Chaplain’s Office sponsored the screening and conversation of the half-hour long film Of Many which is about the interactions of students from different backgrounds on college campuses. After the film, the audience was separated into small groups where they held discus- sions about Allyship, addressed interfaith on campus and thought of ideas of what could be done together as a community in order to spread awareness. Friday, the Interfaith Leadership Council sponsored “A Hindu, a Jew, a Christian, a Muslim, and a Atheist Walk into a Room: an interfaith student panel.” The panel consisted of students of different faiths and backgrounds speaking about their own religious and nonreligious experiences, and the audience was able to ask questions as we
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Along with the panel, there were Shabbat services and dinner at Hillel, DiscipleMakers Christian Fellowship Meeting, and a post-Shabbat dinner discussion with Jewish student leaders from the Interfaith Leadership Council/Interfaith Fellows. On Saturday, the Gospel Choir Rejoice! had rehearsal.
Sunday, Hillel hosted Erev Rosh Hashanah dinner; the Jewish new year began sundown on Oct. 2 and ended on Oct. 4. At the Egner Chapel, there was a Protestant Christian Workshop, which celebrated World Communion Sunday with music from around the world. The Chapel dinner was in the Hoffman House. The week’s events ended with Roman Catholic Mass in Egner Chapel.
The purpose of the Interfaith Week events is to get students to talk together about the different religious backgrounds that the many students on campus bring with them.
“It is a time for students to be aware for the diversity on campus and it is a time to celebrate them,” said Marta Rardin, ‘20, member of the Interfaith Leadership Council.
Also, if you wish to make a donation, please contact Chaplain Callista Isabelle.
Photos courtesy of Gregory Kantor and Muhlenberg College Public Relations