Upcoming Public Events in Twin Cities

 

October 19, October 26, November 2, November 9, and November 16

Family Feuds

How We Deal With Difference Across Faith Traditions, Within Our Own Faith Tradition, and Inside Ourselves

Moderated by Grant Abbott and Anant Rambachan
 
This five-week series will include panel discussions with local religious leaders, and table dialogues among participants from different religious traditions, on the theme of differences related to race, gender, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, and religion.
 
Free and open to the public.
Co-sponsored with the St. Paul Interfaith Network (SPIN)
For further information see: Poster and Postcard


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November 2

Noches son de Enamorar (Nights of Love)

An Evening With Yasmin Levy

Monday, November 2, 7:30 p.m.
O'Shaughnessy Educational Center Auditorium
University of St. Thomas, St. Paul Campus

The music of the Sephardic Jews of medieval Spain told stories in Hebrew and Ladino, a Romance language originating in Old Castilian and Hebrew.  This musical tradition followed the Jewish diaspora and was influenced on its journeys through Spain, Morocco, and parts of the Ottoman Empire, including the Balkans, Greece, Egypt, and Jerusalem.  In this program, Israeli singer and songwriter Yasmin Levy will follow the journeys of Sephardic Jews, telling the stories of their passionate love songs and tender lullabies and performing some of them a cappella or accompanied by Ishay Amir on darbuka (goblet drum).
Yasmin Levy’s late father, Yitzhak Levy, a composer and cantor, was a pioneering researcher into the long and rich history of Ladino culture and music.  Yasmin has interpreted many of the songs her father collected by incorporating Andalusian flamenco and Turkish sounds.  She has called her work a “musical reconciliation” of history, and in this program she will demonstrate this reconciliation while also exploring a vivid tapestry of colorful Sephardic customs and rituals.

Yasmin Levy was introduced to Sephardic music at a very young age, and her deep, spiritual, and moving style of singing revives and reinterprets the most beautiful and romantic songs of the Sephardic tradition.  One of the leading musical voices of this tradition, she has recorded three albums to increasing international acclaim, including the recently released “Mano Suave” (4Q Records).  Yasmin has earned nominations for awards from the London magazine Roots, which specializes in folk and world music, and from the United Kingdom’s BBC Radio 3 classical, jazz, world music, and arts network.  Last year she became a Goodwill Ambassador for Children of Peace, a London-based nonprofit organization dedicated to conflict resolution in the Middle East.

Free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations required.

Co-sponsored with the ordway Center for performing Arts and the University of St. Thomas Sacred Arts Festival.

Parking restrictions will be waved on the south campus for this event.  Guest parking also available in the ramp on the southwest corner of Cretin and Grand Avenues, for a nominal fee.  Please see www.stthomas.edu/maps for directions and complete information.  Please observe the city of St. Paul parking ordinances.

Yasmin Levy also will be performing on Sunday, November 1 at 7:30 p.m., at the Ordway Theater. 

See Press Release

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November 10, 2009, and April 13, 2010

Overcoming Anti-Judaism

A Two-Part Seminar on Preaching for Clergy

Facilitated by Marilyn Salmon

Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., and Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Archbishop Ireland Memorial Library, Meeting Room 5
University of St. Thomas, St. Paul South Campus

In this two-part seminar, participants will explore the problem of Christian anti-Judaism and practice strategies for eliminating it in Christian preaching.  They will work with texts from the Revised Common Lectionary and focus on Luke, the Gospel for Lectionary Year C.

In preparation for the first seminar session, participants will read Dr. Salmon’s book Preaching Without Contempt: Overcoming Unintended Anti-Judaism, which will be provided as a gift from the Jay Phillips Center.  The first session will focus on fundamental issues related to Christian anti-Judaism: what it is, why it is a Christian problem, why it is often unrecognized, and why it is of particular concern for preachers. Participants will work together on challenging texts from Luke as we prepare for Lectionary Year C.

In the second seminar session, participants will reflect on their experiences of preaching with attention to anti-Judaism: what was most rewarding, what was most difficult, what worked well.  They will discuss the particular challenges of Lent and Holy Week liturgies and consider possibilities for observance without “blaming the Jews.”  Participants will also look ahead to some of the more difficult texts to preach in the rest of the liturgical year.

Between the seminar sessions, participants will develop an awareness of anti-Judaism in preaching by practicing recommended strategies and using suggested sermon resources.  Participants will be encouraged to keep in touch with each other to share ideas and insights.  The Jay Phillips Center will provide a means for connecting participants with available technology for the purpose of creating a community of biblical interpreters committed to eradicating Christian anti-Judaism.

Marilyn Salmon is professor of New Testament theology at United Theological Seminary in New Brighton, serves as associate priest at St. Clement’s Episcopal Church in St. Paul, and is a longtime member of the Jay Phillips Center’s advisory committee.  She received an M.Div. from Luther Seminary and a Ph.D. from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.  Her most recent book is Preaching without Contempt: Overcoming Unintended Anti-Judaism.

Registration is required by Oct.1 and the seminar is limited to 20 participants.  A complimentary copy of Dr. Salmon’s book will be sent following registration.  There is no registration fee; lunch will be provided.

For further information please call the Jay Phillips Center office: 651-962-5780.

Poster

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December 3

Stories of Faith and Organizational Life

Thursday, December 3, 6-9 p.m.

Reell Precision Manufacturing

1259 Willow Lake Blvd., St. Paul 

This program will explore the tensions between one's faith journey and the pressures of organizational leadership.  Questions to be addrressed include: How do these tensions change you as an individual?  How do these tensions change the organizations?  The evening will begin with a light supper, and will feature a panel discussion with organizational leaders.

Registration is required: http://faithandorganization.eventbrite.com/.  The program is free; donations will be cordially accepted. 

Organized by Seeing Things Whole: A Network for Building Faith and Organizational Life, and co-sponsored by Augsburg College Center for Faith and Learning, Clarity Facilitation, The Islamic Center of Minnesota, Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, Jewish Community Relations Council, Magis Ventures, St. Olaf Catholic Church Faith and Work Program, University of St. Thomas John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought.

For further information, contact michael@clarityfacilitation.com or call 612-234-1122.

 
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Upcoming Public Events at the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University 

October 20

Muslim-Christian Cooperation for Peace in Kenya

Presentation by Shamsia Ramadhan

Tuesday, October 20, 7:30 p.m.
Gorecki Center, Room 204B
College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, Minn.

During the 1990s the town of Isiolo, located in the vast pastoral northeast region of Kenya, was the site of regular violence born of ethnic animosities and the fight over scarce resources.  Since then, as a result of a number of peace building programs, there has been a significant reduction in violence in and around Isiolo.  As a young Muslim from Kenya, Shamsia Ramadhan was deeply involved in some of these programs, and she made interreligious cooperation for social change in Isiolo the focus of her upper division university thesis.  In her presentation here she will draw on her Isiolo experience as she addresses the broader issue of Muslim-Christian cooperation for peace in her home country.

Shamsia Ramadhan, currently pursuing a master’s degree in peace studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, earned her bachelor of arts degree in social ministry with honors and a diploma in sciences of human development from Tangaza College, a constituent college of Catholic University of Eastern Africa.  A board member and the secretary general of Amani (Peace) Communities in Africa, she has worked in Kenya as a researcher with Development Policy Management Forum, consultant and lead trainer for the United Nations Neighborhood Volunteers in Peace Building program, program coordinator for the Citizens Assembly, administrative secretary of the Young Muslim Association in Nairobi, and program coordinator for the Muslim Sisters Network in Nairobi.

Free and open to the public.

Co-sponsored with the CSB/SJU Department of Peace Studies, Global Awareness Lecture Series, and Islamic Studies Task Force.