Today, guest blogger for U.S. Catholic Magazine Lisa Calderone-Stewart shared a beautiful and inspirational story about how learning from other faiths changed her life, at the most unlikely of times. Having previously worked with Catholic teenagers, Calderone-Stewart became involved in interfaith dialogue after the events of 9/11. She began attending adult dialogues with the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee (ICGM). At the meetings she met a physician who worked with Muslim teenagers. Inspired by the work that the ICGM was doing, the two decide to take what they had experienced and start a youth interfaith dialogue forum.
After almost a year of planning, they successfully held their first daylong youth forum for Muslims, Catholics, and Jews called “Sons and Daughters of Abraham”. Their organizing team consisted of 18 youth, six from each faith, which included three emcees, three power-point presenters from each faith, and twelve table leaders for the participants. Neither Calderone-Stewart, nor any of the other adults involved ever approached the microphone. The youth organizers ran the whole day and it was a massive success.
After the event, each youth faith group reconvened at their house of worship to plan interfaith projects. The “Sons and Daughters of Abraham” sparked a series of interfaith events, such as an interfaith Shabbat service at a synagogue, an interfaith picnic in the park, an interfaith potluck at a church, the painting of an interfaith mural, and “Midnight Muslim Bowling”.
One interfaith event that especially stood out in Calerone-Stewart’s mind was the interfaith potluck. Each participant brought food from his or her own tradition and as they ate, they talked about the holiday or holy day when the food was usually eaten. Calderone-Stewart recalls one Muslim teenager at the potluck who stood up and said, "We must be doing something right. Here we have Jews, Christians and Muslims, all eating together, telling family stories, and laughing. I know my parents would never have been able to experience this."
Soon enough, their youth interfaith dialogue events became so popular that it drew participants outside if the Abrahamic faiths. The program is now known as the Interfaith Youth Cafés and it attended by Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Presbyterians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Quakers, Methodists, Episcopalians, Hindus, Christian Scientists, Unitarian Universalists, Lutherans, Baptists, Serbian Orthodox, Baha’i, and United Church of Christ. The program is held three or four times a year, with a different faith group hosting the café each time. The youth gather to discuss pre-determined conversation questions around a theme, reconvene with their own faith group, and report what they learned. The café ends with each faith group saying a prayer for everyone from heir own tradition.
Calderone-Stewart believes that initiatives such as the Interfaith Youth Cafés are the best way to counteract and prevent religious-prejudice and violence. At each meeting, she witnesses at least one youth who admits past religious discrimination, admits that they were misled in that belief, and is grateful to have learned the truth first hand through the café.
Calderone-Stewart’s article was sparked by a recent lunch she had with three Muslim friends. At the lunch, they talked about past events, and how they were able to open young people’s eyes and change their opinions about different faiths. However, this was not an everyday lunch with friends. It was a very special lunch. Calderone-Stewart is dying. She was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer and has been too weak to attend any Interfaith Youth Cafés this year, although she still writes the conversation questions and prepares hand-outs.
At the lunch, the three Muslim women told her about one of their sayings: “A life is well lived if one of three things comes about: Children that keep blessing, knowledge that keeps teaching, and charity that keeps giving. They told me they could see all three in my life.”
Although she has shared this story many times, it still brings chills and tears to her eyes. Even though she is starring death in the face, she recognizes the beauty in the concept her friends shared with her, in the young lives she had changed, and in her own journey. Although she only learned this lesson in the last year of her life, it has brought new meaning and purpose to her life.
She concludes the article in saying: “It is something we can all pray for - for our families and our friends and for everyone we know and everyone we don't know.
I shall pray it for you:
In your precious life,
May you be surrounded by children that keep blessing,
May you be enlightened with knowledge that keeps teaching,
and May you be inspired by charity that keeps giving.
Amen from all of us who pray to the One God of many names with our many different words.”
Website: www.uscatholic.org
Recent Articles
Recent Blog Posts