Editor's Note: This story is the first in a multi-part series examining interfaith issues at Boston College. Part one deals with the administration's new Interfaith Initiative and other student efforts on campus. Next week will look at residence hall life and the struggle to practice one's faith in such settings.
With the most sacred day of the Christian calendar just around the corner, Boston College is preparing for a week of elaborate holy services. The administration's new Interfaith Initiative, however, is remaining a priority. The new effort, which began last summer, is getting off the ground this semester as the school continues to work on improving its relations with and services for those of non-Catholic faiths on campus.
The initiative developed from a conversation between Provost and Dean of Faculties Bert Garza, Bede Bidlack, GA&S '13, members of campus ministry and other BC faculty about the changing religious identities of BC students. The University is becoming more religiously diverse than ever, and for a historically Jesuit institution, this means spending more time engaging in interfaith discourse and increasing awareness on campus.
"For a long time, the assumption has been that all students at BC are Roman Catholic, but now it's much more diverse, and we're just trying to bring that awareness to the entire BC community," Bidlack said,
After these discussions, a group of BC faculty wrote the official proposal that eventually took form fall semester as the BC Interfaith Initiative, a committee comprised of an array of people from the BC community, including faculty from the theology department, a representative from ResLife, members of BC administration, graduate students, and Father Joseph Appleyard, S.J., the vice president for University Mission and Ministry. Last semester they laid the groundwork for the new group, and this semester, the initiative is in the process of unveiling their collective efforts to improve interfaith awareness on campus.
2008 Woodie Awards
