Campus & Community

Hendricks Chapel to host roundtable discussion on ‘Sacred Envy’

Monday, October 18, 2010, By Kelly Homan Rodoski

Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel will host a roundtable discussion, “Sacred Envy,” on Tuesday, Oct. 26, as part of two days of events celebrating the installation of Hendricks Chapel’s sixth dean, the Rev. Tiffany Steinwert.

“Sacred Envy: Exploring What We Love About Our Own Faith, What We Admire in Others and What Challenges Us in Both” will be held from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Winnick Hillel Center for Jewish Life, 102 Walnut Place. The event is free and open to the public, but R.S.V.P.s are required to Hendricks Chapel at 443-2902 by Friday, Oct. 22.

To be possessed of sacred envy means to be envious of the beauty found in the sacred practice and teachings of faiths not our own. This roundtable conversation among Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Pagan teachers will encourage participants to explore what they enjoy most (and least) about their own communities and also what they see as deeply beautiful (and deeply challenging) in others.

The discussion will be moderated by the Rev. Karen Oliveto, pastor of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco. The panel will begin with a brief introduction of the five participants by the moderator; a framing of the concept of sacred envy by Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, an interfaith activist and diversity expert, president of Clal—The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, and author of “You Don’t Have to Be Wrong for Me to Be Right;” and a two-part go around by the participants.

In the first round, each participant will describe what they are most proud of in their own community and what they admire most in the others. In the second round, each will be invited to explore what troubles them most in their own community and examine what troubles them in the others. The floor will then be opened for discussion.

In addition to Hirschfeld, the other participants include:

  • Steinwert, dean of Hendricks Chapel and an elder in the United Methodist Church;
  • Tanweer Haq, assistant Islamic advisor and counselor at Hendricks Chapel;
  • Mary Hudson, Pagan chaplain at Hendricks Chapel; and
  • Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi, abbott at the Zen Center of Syracuse, Hoen-ji

Following the discussion and a break, participants will form small groups and be invited to engage in the same process of answering the shared questions. Time will be spent in small- and large-group conversation.

Lunch will follow and 12:30 p.m., after which participants will be invited to remain for fellowship.