 The Interfaith Center at the Presidio links the power of interreligious cooperation by welcoming, serving, and celebrating the diverse wisdom and faith traditions of the Bay Area. IN THIS ISSUE: Support ICP | Holiday Music| Recent @ ICP | Sprucing Up the Chapel | New Book |URI Teleconference | Re-Imagining Interfaith | The Interfaith Observer| Notes & Quotes | Send Us Your News | Bay Area Interreligious Calendar | Special Opportunities | Subscribe to BAIC  HAPPY HOLIDAYS! SUPPORT ICP! This is the time of year when it seems that every organization doing worthy work is asking for your support, and ICP is no different. Many of you will soon receive a personal letter inviting you to contribute to our efforts. To be able to provide the services to the interfaith community in the Bay Area and to maintain our facility in a manner that guarantees both its safety and its beauty, we depend on friends like you to share our vision and support our ultimate cause: to bring peace and understanding to humankind, not only in San Francisco, but throughout the Bay Area and beyond. Please join us in our efforts to continue the dialogue with those who are different from us to help lead the way in bringing harmony and peace to our world. <Click for donation options> HOLIDAY MUSICAL CELEBRATION. On Sunday, December 17, at 4:00 pm, ICP will sponsor a program of drumming, storytelling, piano and vocal music to celebrate the holidays. “Celebrate with Music: Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa” will feature Aeeshah & Kokomon Clottey (djembe, song, story telling), Linda Baird (operatic soprano), Josephine Gandolfi (concert pianist), Deon Nielsen Price (composer/pianist) and Cantor Brian Reich (songs with guitar). Join us at the Presidio Chapel for some wonderful holiday celebration! The concert is part of the 3rd Sunday Concert series at the Presidio Chapel. Upcoming concerts will offer: January 21- Chamber Music; February 18- African American Composers; March 18- Women Composers.  RECENT EVENTS AT ICP. Several memorable events took place during November at the Presidio Chapel:
SPRUCING UP THE CHAPEL. In October, the Presidio Trust began a project to repaint the Presidio Chapel and upgrade the parking area. You can see some photos of the work on our site.
NEW BOOK. Eternal Quest for Happiness: A Practical Guide to Fulfilling Dreams — could also have been called Looking for Happiness in All the Wrong Places: Simple Steps to Fulfilling Dreams. The authors — Aeeshah and ICP Board Member Kokomon Clottey— propose that we’re like a cat looking for its tail, going around and around in circles hoping to find what it already has. As they discussed in their earlier book Beyond Fear: Twelve Spiritual Keys to Racial Healing, the key to happiness is rooted in this wisdom: “The essence of our being is love.” The key point is that if we look at life through the lens of love, we inevitably find happiness. Available here. URI MEMBERS TELECONFERENCE. The United Religions Initiative invites all its Cooperating Circle members and affiliates to join with like-minded interfaith activists and peacebuilders from all over the continent in a teleconference on December 5, 1:00 – 2:00 PST. This participatory call will be focused on conversations among participants for relationship-building, sharing and learning. We will also be joined by a special guest! URI’s Executive Director, The Rev. Victor Kazanjian, will join us to both listen to your sharing and offer words of encouragement and a brief update on the work of your fellow URI members around the world. North American Regional Coordinator Sari Heidenreich will also share exciting opportunities for you to stay connected to your fellow URI members in 2018. For full details and registration for the call go to the URI site. RE-IMAGINING INTERFAITH. A conference in Washington, D.C., July 29-August 1, 2018, Re-Imagining Interfaith is a global gathering for grassroots activists and interfaith peacebuilders focused on skill-building, networking, and organizing. Training will be offered in 6 Program Tracks: Cultivating Inclusive Communities in the Face of Religious Discrimination; Community Organizing: Initiating and Sustaining Social Change Movements; Staying “Woke”: Recognizing Privilege, Challenging Systemic Oppression; Interfaith Organizing in a Changing Spiritual Landscape; Making a Movement: Building Skills to Bring Interfaith to the Next Level. Co-sponsored by numerous diverse organizations, including Religions for Peace-USA, Shoulder-to-Shoulder, World Congress of Faith, the Interfaith Funders Group, the International Association for Religious Freedom and multiple faith communities. Early bird registration is available until December 14. See details and registration at www.reimagineinterfaith.org/ THE INTERFAITH OBSERVER. The Interfaith Observer (TIO) is an independent internet journal about all things interfaith. Interfaith is a global movement, but sometimes we can get so caught up in our own local and national contexts that we forget to take a global perspective. We are also limited by language barriers and what our news sources choose to publish. For these reasons, TIO has chosen to focus on Africa, a continent with vibrant interfaith initiatives, but of which we seldom hear about. Enjoy! –TIO Team
NOTES & QUOTES: “Dialogue cannot exist, however, in the absence of a profound love for the world and its people.” “Dialogue cannot exist without humility.” – Paolo Friere…”A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair.” – Abraham Joshua Heschel…”To see the other side, to defend another people, not despite your tradition but because of it, is the heart of pluralism.” – Eboo Patel SEND US YOUR NEWS! We at Bay Area Interfaith Connect make every effort to include upcoming interfaith events in our monthly calendar (which is always available on our website). Please be sure to send information about your upcoming events to @. We’d also like to share what happened at your events or celebrations with the wider interfaith community. Got a story you’d like to share? Pictures from that latest gathering? Send them along and let everyone know what’s happening! BAY AREA INTERRELIGIOUS CALENDAR Our searchable new calendar page offers listings of interfaith opportunities for learning, celebration, taking action, and celebrating the diverse religious traditions of the Bay Area. The calendar can be viewed as a list, as a monthly calendar page, or by the week. SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES MULTIFAITH CALENDAR. The 2018 Multifaith Calendar offers a quick and accurate reference to dates and descriptions of approx 240 culturally relevant observances and holidays for 14 world religions (including religious accommodation references), plus many additional public holidays, UN events, etc. The MFC also includes a carefully selected collection of stunning original art. It’s available from the Interfaith Marketplace for $14.95 plus shipping. DEALING WITH DISASTERS. The recent hurricanes in the Southeast and the fires in the Bay Area have raised awareness of the role that religious communities may be called upon to play during times of disaster. Preparing for the impact of a disaster both on the religious community and its facilities and for the call on the community for relief and support for the wider population are things to consider before disaster strikes. Two resources with suggestions and resources for considering your own preparedness are the National Disaster Interfaiths Network (http://www.n-din.org/) and Disasters and Faith Based Organizations (https://disastersandfaith.com/). NEW CONTEMPLATIVES SCHOLARSHIP. Applications are now available for the 2018 New Contemplatives, a scholarship and award from Spiritual Directors International that creates opportunities for spiritual guidance and contemplative formation for people in the first half of their lives. New Contemplatives will receive a full scholarship plus hotel and a travel stipend for the Spiritual Directors International Seeking Connection conference in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, April 26-29, 2018. SDI seeks candidates that reflect the human diversity on our planet. Deadline for receiving applications is Friday, December 1, 2017. You must be a spiritual director (that we define broadly) with at least one year of experience to apply. Please see this post for a list of defining characteristics for an authentic spiritual director. http://www.sdiworld.org/blog/what-makes-good-spiritual-director BAY AREA INTERFAITH CONNECT is sent each month to nearly 2,000 subscribers, and is available online at the Interfaith Center at the Presidio website. Subscribe to BAIC About the Editor: D. Andrew Kille is director of Interfaith Space in San Jose, working to develop and strengthen interfaith relations throughout the Bay Area. Send your calendar items, comments and suggestions to calendar@interfaith-presidio.org. We try to keep the ICP Update and Calendar as current as we can, but if you want your item included in the monthly newsletter, it needs to be in our hands a week before the end of the month.
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As part of the ICP 3rd Sunday Concert series, Chika Inoue and Mary Au presented “Music Around the World for Saxophone and Piano” to an enthusiastic crowd of 45-50 music lovers on Sunday, November 19th. With Chika Inoue on saxophone and Mary Au at the piano, the concert featured music from Japanese, German, Armenian, Belgian, and U.S. composers. One piece, “Behind Barbed Wire,” portrayed the terrors of war and what happened to Japanese Americans post-EO9066, through a combination of music, Haiku and Tanka poems written by internees, and video with home movie camera footage. It was written by Deon Nielsen Price, a widely performed and recorded composer and pianist, who is now a resident of the Presidio. Download the program: Chika Inoue and Mary Au   The Interfaith Service of Remembrance sponsored by ICP on Veterans Day, November 11, included prayers from different traditions, music by local musician Brian Vouglas, a message of greeting from the office of Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi, and a reflection from Tyler Solorio of Swords to Plowshares.  Left to right: Gerry Caprio, Alex Lazar, Congressional Aide representing the Democratic leader of the House Nancy Pelosi, Brian Vouglas, actor and musician, Sensei Elaine Donlin (Buddhist Church of San Francisco), Erich Sylvester, musician, Tyler Solorio from Swords to Plowshares, Rita Semel and Camilla Smith in front.  On November 4, noted scholar and author Joanna Brooks presented an interactive talk on White Supremacy, Mormonism, and the 40th Anniversary of the End of the Latter Day Saints Black Priesthood/ Temple Ban. Brooks is the author of The Book of Mormon Girl and editor of Mormon Feminism, among others. Her presentation was co-sponsored by the Interfaith Center at the Presidio and the Bay Area Mormon Studies Council.    From the Marin Interfaith Council:
Dear MIC Community, The recovery from the Northern California wildfires will continue for the foreseeable future as our prayers and support continue to flow toward all those affected. Below are ways you can give or receive help in the wake of last month’s wildfires. Give HelpIn addition to donating to Redwood Credit Union, Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership, Sonoma County Resilience Fund, and the Red Cross, there are many ways to offer support, including:
Resources for those Affected by the Fires
If you are aware of other organizations providing assistance, please contact our Administrative Assistant at office@marinifc.org, and we will share these additional resources on our Facebook page.  The Interfaith Center at the Presidio links the power of interreligious cooperation by welcoming, serving, and celebrating the diverse wisdom and faith traditions of the Bay Area. IN THIS ISSUE: Veterans Day | Commemorating Internment | Joanna Brooks | Chapel Tours |Around the Bay | Compassion in the City | The Interfaith Observer| Parliament 2018 | Notes & Quotes | Send Us Your News | Bay Area Interreligious Calendar | Special Opportunities | Subscribe to BAIC NOVEMBER AT THE PRESIDIO CHAPELREMEMBERING VETERANS: Fighting ceased at the end of World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” – when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars and became Veterans Day. Since 2011, the Interfaith Center at the Presidio has offered an Interfaith Service of Remembrance, with music, prayers, and silent reflection on Veterans through the years. This year the observance will take place on Saturday, November 11, 11:00 am at the Presidio Chapel, 130 Fisher Loop, Presidio, San Francisco [map].  COMMEMORATING THE INTERNMENT: Chika Inoue, saxophone, and Mary Au, piano, in Concert. Featured will be “Behind Barbed Wire,” composed by Presidio composer Deon Nielsen Price, in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the signing of EO9066, which led to the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese-Americans from 1942-1946. The story is told through music, narration of Haiku and Tanka poetry written by internees in the camps, and a documentary video with footage from the camps. Also music by Schubert, A. Waignein, Ryo Noda, & Komitas. Sunday November 19, 2017, 3:00 pm at the Presidio Chapel, 130 Fisher Loop, Presidio, San Francisco [map]. Free admission and ample parking. More information here.
 SHOULDER TO THE WHEEL with Joanna Brooks. White Supremacy, Mormonism, and the 40th Anniversary of the End of the LDS Black Priesthood/ Temple Ban. An interactive Fireside with Joanna Brooks, award-winning scholar and author or editor of nine books about American culture, religion, and politics. She serves on the boards of several organizations for progressive people of faith. Saturday, November 4, 7:00 pm at the Presidio Chapel, 130 Fisher Loop, Presidio, San Francisco [map]. Co-sponsored by the Interfaith Center and the Bay Area Mormon Studies Council. DOCENT TOURS OF PRESIDIO CHAPEL. The Open House/Docent Tours at the Presidio Chapel each Sunday from 11:00 am to 1:30 pm. Come and view the historic 33′ fresco painted by Victor Arnautoff, a protegé of Diego Rivera, and the stained glass windows created by Willemina Ogterop, the first woman stained glass artist west of the Mississippi to be inducted into the Stained Glass Artists Guild. Our docent, Daniel Johnson, serves to make your visit memorable and informative. The open house is listed on the Presidio Trust’s website with other guided tours. Learn more about the Presidio Chapel here and then plan to visit us and take a tour. AROUND THE BAY:
COMPASSION IN THE CITY. A new online course from the Charter for Compassion aims to invite participants to explore all aspects of city life and to examine how by working with our attitudes and habits we can find countless ways to transform whatever we meet into an opportunity to become more free, happy and compassionate. “How to Be Compassionate in Urban Society” is led by Maureen Cooper, founding director of Awareness in Action, an organization dedicated to showing people how to combine well-being and excellence in the work environment. An accomplished practitioner of Buddhist meditation, Maureen is the author of The Compassionate Mind Guide to Reducing Stress that brings together the best of modern science and the wisdom of the world’s ancient contemplative traditions into a practical manual for thriving in today’s insanely fast-paced world. The course begins November 5; cost is $95. THE INTERFAITH OBSERVER. The Interfaith Observer (TIO) is an independent internet journal about all things interfaith. Spirituality is beautiful. From within its diversity, it has the ability to touch the life of each person in some way. Given what we face today, we are in need of spirituality in our lives – moments to take a step back and marvel at the breathtaking aspects of nature and the unity present in the universe. Moments to remember our own interconnectedness with the universe and one another. This month’s issue of TIO offers a glimpse into the realm of spirituality. Enjoy! –TIO Team
PARLIAMENT OF THE WORLD”S RELIGIONS Toronto, Canada November 1-7, 2018 “The Promise of Inclusion & the Power of Love: Pursuing Global Understanding, Reconciliation, and Change” will be the theme for the 125th anniversary gathering of the Parliament of the World’s Religions. The Parliament invites proposals for programs, presentations, and performances at the 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions, to be held in November 1 – 7 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Why Toronto? Here’s a video tour of the religious diversity that Toronto enjoys: NOTES & QUOTES: A “deep ecumenism” “could be summed up as an exercise in acknowledging the Other, welcoming the Stranger and reconciling the Enemy. This is no wishy-washy liberalism or cheap ecumenism, soft on doctrine and willing to compromise. It is the ethical core of all genuine religion.” – Dr John D’Arcy May… “It’s not kumbaya, saying nice things about others’ religions. It’s painful and people wince a little, but an atmosphere is created where you can say what bothers you, and there is compassion and caring.” Rabbi Ron Kronish SEND US YOUR NEWS! We at Bay Area Interfaith Connect make every effort to include upcoming interfaith events in our monthly calendar (which is always available on our website). Please be sure to send information about your upcoming events to @. We’d also like to share what happened at your events or celebrations with the wider interfaith community. Got a story you’d like to share? Pictures from that latest gathering? Send them along and let everyone know what’s happening! BAY AREA INTERRELIGIOUS CALENDAR Our searchable new calendar page offers listings of interfaith opportunities for learning, celebration, taking action, and celebrating the diverse religious traditions of the Bay Area. The calendar can be viewed as a list, as a monthly calendar page, or by the week. SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES DEALING WITH DISASTERS. The recent hurricanes in the Southeast and the fires in the Bay Area have raised awareness of the role that religious communities may be called upon to play during times of disaster. Preparing for the impact of a disaster both on the religious community and its facilities and for the call on the community for relief and support for the wider population are things to consider before disaster strikes. Two resources with suggestions and resources for considering your own preparedness are the National Disaster Interfaiths Network (http://www.n-din.org/) and Disasters and Faith Based Organizations (https://disastersandfaith.com/). NEW CONTEMPLATIVES SCHOLARSHIP. Applications are now available for the 2018 New Contemplatives, a scholarship and award from Spiritual Directors International that creates opportunities for spiritual guidance and contemplative formation for people in the first half of their lives. New Contemplatives will receive a full scholarship plus hotel and a travel stipend for the Spiritual Directors International Seeking Connection conference in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, April 26-29, 2018. SDI seeks candidates that reflect the human diversity on our planet. Deadline for receiving applications is Friday, December 1, 2017. You must be a spiritual director (that we define broadly) with at least one year of experience to apply. Please see this post for a list of defining characteristics for an authentic spiritual director. http://www.sdiworld.org/blog/what-makes-good-spiritual-director COUNTERING THE “MUSLIM BAN.” The Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign, a national effort to stand against prejudice against Muslims has developed an Interfaith Toolkit with information and guidelines for groups that want to take action against the newest version of the Muslim ban. The toolkit can be found here. FRANK v. GOD FILM: “Frank vs. God” is a comedy that asks the big questions with a light-hearted tone and an open mind. The film is an uplifting story of one man’s search for answers, by taking them to a higher court. “Great for interfaith discussions of all kinds. It sets a wonderful model for interfaith relations, as it shows leaders of all religious groups working together.” –Rabbi Mark Glickman, Congregation Kol Ami. Available on DVD and through streaming video; see details at www.frankvsgod.com/ BAY AREA INTERFAITH CONNECT is sent each month to nearly 2,000 subscribers, and is available online at the Interfaith Center at the Presidio website. Subscribe to BAICAbout the Editor: D. Andrew Kille is director of Interfaith Space in San Jose, working to develop and strengthen interfaith relations throughout the Bay Area. Send your calendar items, comments and suggestions to calendar@interfaith-presidio.org. We try to keep the ICP Update and Calendar as current as we can, but if you want your item included in the monthly newsletter, it needs to be in our hands a week before the end of the month. The Presidio Trust Building Maintenance Department had a crew painting the exterior of the Presidio Chapel beginning on October 23rd, 2017. Some photos before the work:
A pressure washer on the parking side readies to clean the walls:  Restriping the parking lot  Ordained Clergy/Mental Health Professionals Asked to Self Organize as Pastoral Care Teams for Fire Victims
The City of Santa Rosa has requested help with their repopulation efforts of neighborhoods affected by the recent, and ongoing, catastrophic fires. The City has requested Pastoral Care and Mental Health teams to be made available this Wednesday through Sunday (October 18 – 22), 8 am – 5pm, to be present as areas open up one by one. During this time only residents and approved support personnel will be allowed into neighborhoods. *Please note that this is a tentative schedule as any opening of affected areas is on approval for safety by CAL Fire. Needs Teams of 3-5, ordained ministers or licensed mental health professionals moving together through neighborhoods offering emotional support to persons in area. Please note that even those with houses still standing may be deeply affected by this incident. Teams once formed will register the Emotional and Spiritual Care Officer (contact listed below). They will be given directions and a time to meet for the opening they are assigned to assist with. Teams can register for multiple days. Please register as soon as possible; people must be registered and vetted to be allowed in. Vetting will be a simple verification of the team’s association with the Congregation or Organization they claim affiliation with. Once the restrictions on neighborhoods have been lifted, and public access is granted, teams can assist as they are moved to do so; many opportunities to help those affected by this fire exist well after this initial effort is concluded. For more information, click here. Fighting ceased at the end of World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” – when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars and became Veterans Day.  Please join us for an Interfaith Service of Remembrance
Saturday, November 11, 11:00 am Presidio Chapel details here  Interfaith Peace Vigil for Las Vegas October 3 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Concord  |
NewsletterThis is the archive for the Bay Area Interfaith Connect, the former newsletter for the Interfaith Center at the Presidio . Archives
December 2019
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