Hartford Seminary Launches Program in Chaplaincy in Multifaith Contexts

For immediate release

HARTFORD, CT (January 26, 2012) -- Hartford Seminary, a leader in interfaith education, announces a new, innovative program in chaplaincy in multifaith contexts. Its foundational courses – “Understanding and Engaging Religious Diversity” and “Chaplaincy Models and Methods” – will be offered as one-week seminars in June.

Open to chaplains and those who plan to become chaplains, the Graduate Certificate Program is designed to deepen understanding of religious diversity and to sharpen professional skills needed for service in multifaith contexts.

A decade ago, Hartford Seminary started the first Islamic Chaplaincy Program, to train Muslims for chaplaincy in the military, universities, hospitals and prisons. Today, this program is the only accredited training program for Muslim chaplains in the country.

Now, recognizing that religious leaders serve in an increasingly plural world, the Seminary is building on its expertise to educate chaplains of all faiths for service in multifaith contexts.

“Once again, Hartford Seminary is a pioneer in theological education,” President Heidi Hadsell said. “For more than 100 years we have offered education in Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations. In the last decade we have launched Islamic Chaplaincy and Building Abrahamic Partnerships programs. Now we are meeting the educational needs of all chaplains in the United States.”

“It is vitally important to prepare religious leaders to lead their faith communities in our plural society. Hartford Seminary is a key player in this effort, through our various interfaith initiatives such as this new certificate,” Hadsell said.

The Graduate Certificate in Chaplaincy in Multifaith Contexts is a 24-credit program for concrete study of topics such as religious diversity in North America, theologies and philosophies of religious diversity, and theology and ethics for the practice of spiritual care.

Program requirements include completion of one unit of Clinical Pastoral Education, plus field work in a multifaith setting. Through elective courses, enrollees will also explore each of four themes: Theology or Sacred Texts, Life's Transitions, Institutional Settings, and Dialogue and Conflict-Resolution.

“Hartford Seminary is known for offering opportunities for collegial study in a multifaith setting,” said Faculty Associate Lucinda Mosher, who will be this program’s director. “This new Graduate Certificate takes full advantage of that. It is also designed to be practical. Anyone planning to pursue board certification as chaplains will find much in the program to help them gain the competencies required by certifying agencies.”

For more information, contact Dr. Lucinda Mosher, Director of the Program & Faculty Associate in Interfaith Studies, at (646) 335-2951 or lmosher@hartsem.edu..

Application materials are available by contacting Tina Demo, Director of Recruitment and Admissions, at (860) 509-9549 or tdemo@hartsem.edu.

(shared by Michelle Mueller, original found through Feminist Liberation Theologians' Network googlegroup)

Yesterday I attended an event with the Center for Engaged Religious Pluralism at St. Mary's College in Moraga. It was a panel presentation on Hinduism, with a speaker from Hindu American Foundation and a Professor of the college who teaches on Hinduism and yogic philosophy. Prayerful chanting and breathing exercises were worked in to the presentation. A student asked why Hinduism was taught in such a different way during her World Religions course in high school. Barbara McGraw named problems with scholarship on Indian history and Hinduism, much of it having been drawn from British colonizers. My feeling is that there is a different element also, in that this presentation at St. Mary's was interactive, teaching about Hinduism with spiritual practices students could attempt. While I don't know the particular student's classroom experience, a public high school teacher may have taught strictly with lecture and discussion and not included yogic practices. Decisions to do so are pedagogical and also influenced by teachers' feelings about the public school system and its boundaries.

-Michelle Mueller

Big weekend for Interfaith - M. Mueller

This morning I'll be doing Tarot readings as a service for Sacred Snapshots, an interfaith spiritual activities fair at the Pacific School of Religion (Berkeley), organized by student Leslie Ann Leasure. I have Covenant of the Goddess brochures!

Spark Collective is also here, leading a ritual at 2pm.

I also noticed there is a "Festival of Cultures Spring Fest" at UC Berkeley through International House. (I passed it on my drive to the GTU (Graduate Theological Union)!)

There is an Islamophobia conference, hosted by the Center for Islamic Studies and Center for Race and Gender at the GTU.

Interfaith Occupy at the GTU

A National Interfaith Occupy Meeting took place on the campus of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley a week ago. I was surprised that the GTU didn't advertise to students....I guess they had enough registrants. I was even more surprised that I didn't hear of it from the Facebook channel. Instead, I heard from my coven sister Glenn Turner. Glenn and Peter Dybing attended. Here's some footage from an interfaith rally at "Oscar Grant Plaza" featuring Pagans and others. Peter and Starhawk are unmistakeable!