Interfaith Ministry
Interfaith Ministry bringing St. John’s Together
Campus Ministry’s Interfaith Ministry is excited to foster dialogue, build community and to create connections for St. John’s students and employees. Two years ago, Interfaith Ministry was established to encourage unity and common direction for our student’s faith journeys. This ministry includes interfaith dialogue, interfaith prayer, religious literacy events for represented faiths on campus, and training Interfaith leaders of different faiths for the Interfaith Council. The Interfaith Council seeks to bring students together to meet specific needs expressed by students whose world views are reflected through a particular religion or through no religious affiliation, but seek to build bridges for a unified campus community.
This past August 2-4, Campus Ministry brought students to an Interfaith leadership training for the second year by bringing Cristina Aguilar, Domonic Haire, Khushpreet Kaur, and Dennis Gallagher, Director of Liturgy and Faith Formation, to the Interfaith Youth Core (I.F.Y.C.) annual Interfaith Leadership Conference in Chicago. This leadership training was a transformational experience for the over 500 university students from across the U.S.A.
St. John’s University, one of the most diverse faith communities in the country, has made a commitment to foster interfaith dialogue, and gatherings to show that there is more in common than different between people’s religious beliefs and practices.
The value of these experiences was clearly explained by Domonic Haire, a senior Government and Political Science major. He states:
“I attended the Interfaith Leadership Conference to be challenged and to learn. It taught me how to find common ground to reach out. Many times reaching out to those different than us is scary. However, when you understand what we all share in common, that decision to connect is made much easier. I learned community building skills. We all have something different to offer our St. John’s community. When a need arrives it is important to realize that we all have talents to address a problem. Encouraging the use of our gifts for the sake of the betterment of the community is something I desire to emphasize at St. John’s."
This year, the students on the Interfaith Council look to create such opportunities and spaces to foster cooperative dialogue through their Interfaith Dialogue and Dinner on March 26, 2020 and through various other events that bring students together to find a home here at St. John’s.
Please support our efforts to grow the resources available to help better our community for students of all faiths by making a gift today.
