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February 1, 2022
Listening for Interfaith Harmony
LISTEN HERE to the Center Message on Soundcloud
Thank you for opening the February Newsletter of the Center for Ecumenical and Interreligious Engagement at Seattle University. My name is Genevieve and I am a Student Affiliate at the Center, beginning my first year of studies at Seattle University.
In our day and age, a younger generation of students like me are the front-runners on the track to a future where more people are included, more voices heard, and more perspectives that enrich a shared vision of the future. However, these young voices can be drowned out by the lack of inclusion or bigotry that plagues our society today.
As a young student, I try to amplify my own and others’ voices within my university’s community, but it can be difficult when society constantly reminds us that we’re too young and too naïve to lead. But when I look around the world today, where we see critical challenges, young adults like me are in fact leading. We’re already here.
As a young leader, it is painful to watch the news and the lack of inclusion and even harmony before our eyes daily. As you can see from this month’s theme in our “listening year,” the Center is lifting up the Week of Interfaith Harmony, initiated by the United Nations. The first week of February is a time when people of goodwill everywhere have an opportunity to seek deeper inclusion and harmony in their communities all around the world.
This is why we are providing you with many ways to engage in the Week for Interfaith Harmony, as you will see in the body of the newsletter.
Also, the Center Team is focusing on a Gen Z response to mental health and a changing climate, which is the topic of our Center Roundtable Video for the month of February. Please listen to Carlos, Abhay and Divya reflect together about the challenges in front of us.
We are also sharing our new Sparking the Imagination video on the theme of Interfaith Harmony, as well as a series of podcasts from the Center’s Religica Theolab. These popular podcasts include: Dr. Jim Dumont on the cultural and spiritual roots of the traditional Anishinabe Way of Life. We hear from Human Rights Activist Anjte Mattheus, we speak with Rev. Bill Kirlin-Hackett who directs the Interfaith Task Force on Homelessness in our region, and with Rev. Rachel Mash who is the Environmental Coordinator of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. These leaders help us think about the challenges facing our world today, and each of them appeals to deeper interfaith harmony required for the world to respond!
Please also look at what is coming in March. Our theme for March is Listening in a Pandemic Age as we also celebrate International Women’s Day with several podcasts and messages from leaders from numerous religious traditions and generations.
The Center desires to accentuate voices of leadership across generations, focused now on the voices of my generation. We maintain hope to keep fighting for the values we know the world needs.
From my view, young generations bring essential keys to unlocking a better future; and the Center Team believes it is essential to resources from the heart of the religious, philosophical and wisdom traditions around us to further the path to a safer, more inclusive and harmonious society. The younger generation has a job to keep pushing forward, and in turn we will empower future generations to continue our work too.
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