Development of new leadership is one of the crucial concerns of North American Cooperation Circles, one the staff and Trustees are already planning on devoting a good deal of time to in the coming years. Well, unsurprisingly, URI’s folks aren’t the only who’ve noticed. Our friends over at Religions for Peace are putting on an training session this summer designed to get young seminarians of different faiths together.
The Salam Institute for Peace and Justice, which was co-founded and is directed by URI-friend Dr. Mohammed Abu-Nimer, will be hosting its second annual conference on Muslim Peacebuilding, Justice, and Interfaith Dialogue on May 5th and 6th in Washington, D.C. The event is co-sponsored by the Islamic Society of North America and the Muslim Network for Peacebuilding, Justice, and Interfaith Dialogue.
The annual North American Interfaith Network gathering — NAIN Connect 2007 — is coming up in July in Richmond, Virginia. The theme of the event will be “Embracing Religious Freedom: Past, Present and Future.” The organizers have issued the following call for papers and presentations from interfaith groups on this topic.
I hope to see some of you there!
The Peace Alliance, with whom many CCs work to promote the idea of a federal Department of Peace, will be holding its annual conference in Arlington, VA in February. This is a terrific opportunity for CCs to connect with and support the peacebuilding work of a like-minded group. If any CC members attend, we'd all love to hear about it!
From Sally Mahé, Director of Organizational Development for the URI:
Dear friends,
Eliyahu McLean, with the Abrahamic Reunion CC, is helping to lead a Peacebuilding Workshop in Accord, New York this July.
Please review the information below about this offering and please pass along to others who might be interested.
Eliyahu is a remarkable young adult leader and teacher.
Best wishes,
Sally
The Temple of Understanding, co-sponsored with
Sisters of Mercy, presents the third in its Religion and Global Citizenship lecture series: The Muslim Experience in the U.S. - a panel discussion on the relationship between
Islam and American society. Monday, May 1, 2006, 5:30 – 7:00 PM, 12th floor, Dag Hammarskjold Room, Church Center at the United Nations, at the corner of 1st Avenue and 44th Street (New York, New York).
The Temple of Understanding’s Religion and Global Citizenship lecture series seeks to examine our global interconnectedness in light of our religious beliefs, and how those beliefs and traditions compel us to behave. What role does our understandings of the sacred play in understanding our fellow human beings? In what ways do our religious practices call us to act for justice and peace?
From April Kunze of the Interfaith Youth Core: “The Interfaith Youth Core (www.ifyc.org) is pleased to invite you to our 4th Annual National Conference on Interfaith Youth Work, May 14- 16, 2006 at Northwestern University’s Evanston Campus. Register now at http://www.ifyc.org/nciyw.php.” (Read on for further details)
This year’s NAIN Connect will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from June 23rd through 27th. The theme is “Passion for Peace, Commitment to Change” and the event is being held in conjunction with both the World Peace Forum and the World Urban Forum. Further details can be found in NAIN’s recent newsletter.
God’s October Surprise, Rabbi Arthur Waskow of the Shalom Center called it. October 2005 is blessed with many holy days and festivals from a broad range of traditions. The Interfaith Council of Washington is celebrating with their Sacred Festivals of Autumn, which will commemorate the opening of Ramadan, Rosh Hoshana, the Feast of St. Francis of Assissi (all in one day!), as well as Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Eid el-Fitr. If your interfaith group is celebrating any of these occasions, then please share with the world by writing in with a comment below.
The Orange County Interfaith Coalition for the Environment is hosting its 8th Annual Caring for Creation Conference on Oct. 29 in Tustin, CA. The conference will bring the spiritual and environmental communities together to discuss and explore meaningful and powerful ways to protect and enhance the environment where we live.