Interfaith Youth Core – Days of Interfaith Youth Service

Posted on August 19, 2007 by ginny

Recently WBEZ Chicago Public Radio aired a 2005 episode of “Speaking of Faith” with Krista Tippett that included an interview with Eboo Patel, who founded a religiously diverse social action movement called “Interfaith Youth Core.”

It’s a pretty inspiring interview, and Eboo sounds like a really inspiring leader. Here’s some more information:

Every April, thousands of religiously diverse young people come together in hometowns and college campuses around the world to serve their communities and engage in dialogue. DIYS is a grassroots phenomenon � it is planned and run by hundreds of local student leaders, college & university chaplains, congregational youth leaders, and interfaith organizers who are as united in a vision of social change as they are diverse in background. This year, over 50 cities and campuses around the world will participateDIYS Organizers: We hope your DIYS event was a wonderful success Please don�t forget to fill out an evaluation. You can find the form by clicking here.

It�s easy to start a Days of Interfaith Youth Service project or to get involved with a project in your community Check out our resources to start your own and contact Cassie Meyer cassie@ifyc.org for more info.

Airport Chapels

Posted on August 5, 2007 by ginny

The Lead

The work of an airport chaplain is a never-ending stream of intense personal encounters followed by silence, the void being filled with hopeful prayer that each individual will continue to find the help and support they need once they have moved on from here. Only twice in my time at Schiphol have those whom I have helped written or returned to let me know how they are doing.

At O’Hare Airport, and also at Midway, there’s a regular schedule:

Catholic Devotions at O’Hare Chapel

Thursdays: 6:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. (note: transferred to Fridays during Lent)

Catholic Mass weekdays at O’Hare Chapel: Monday through Friday at 11:30 a.m.

Catholic Mass on Sunday at O’Hare Chapel: 6:30, 9:00, 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.

Catholic Mass at Midway Chapel

Monday through Friday at 11:30 a.m.;

4:00 p.m. Saturday; and 7:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Sunday

Islamic Prayer at O’Hare Chapel

Friday, 1:15 p.m.

Protestant Worship at O’Hare Chapel

Sunday 10:00 a.m. and Noon

Protestant Worship at Midway Chapel

Sunday 10:00 a.m. and Noon.

The phone number for more information is 773-686-2636.

Airport chapels, and chaplains, are important for a variety of reasons – most people never know they’re there, until they really, really need them:

Chapels have mostly been organized by Catholics and Protestants but welcome people of all faiths. New York John F. Kennedy has the country’s only airport synagogue. O’Hare’s chapel has services for Muslims. Chaplains say they’re not there to convert.

Travel chaplains may be most visible at times of crisis, such as a plane crash. But normally they tend to everyday issues: Reassuring a nervous flier; comforting a grieving widow; praying for a family sending their son to Iraq, or helping a traveler clear security with an urn filled with a loved one’s ashes.

And there’s the occasional wedding � or marriage intervention. Chaplain Brett Jones at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport recalls last year helping a woman who changed her mind after throwing her husband out. Jones tracked down the husband, who was connecting flights at Bush, to let him know that his wife would take him back.

There are difficulties to be overcome with the church and state establishment clause, but most airport chaplaincies overcome them by incorporating as nonprofits, with a tendency toward interfaith rather than denominational uses for the chapels.

[tags]Travel, prayer, airports, chapels[/tags]

MDG Sunday is July 8

Posted on June 18, 2007 by ginny

The Lead

July 8th has been designated Millennium Development Goals Sunday in the Episcopal Church celebrating the mid-point of the UNs MDG goal to reduce extreme poverty in the world by 2015.Materials to celebrate a special Millennium Development Goals Sunday include a complete worship service with sermon and prayers of the people, bulletin inserts and background information. Curriculum for children and youth are also included with PowerPoint presentations of MDGs and another with an MDG atlas from the World Bank. Gods Mission in the World, a study guide provided by the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations was used for adult curriculum.

These materials are available for your use on July 8 or at any other time. They were prepared by the Diocese of Texas and are available here [PDF].