St. James Episcopal Cathedral

by Susan Schwendener

Approximately 65 Chicagoans of different religious and spiritual communities gathered on Nov. 6 in St. James Episcopal Cathedral, 65 E. Huron, to learn from members of its congregation about their faith tradition and the sacred space in which they practice their beliefs.

The visit was part of an eight-month voyage to eight Chicago places of worship that is designed to unite people of different faiths through a sharing of each other’s beliefs and the places in which they gather to worship.

“Sharing Sacred Spaces,” was organized by the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions. The voyage will continue through May, 2012.

Retired architect Suzanne Morgan conceived the idea of the journeying through the downtown Chicago places of worship.

Morgan, the Council’s Sacred Space Ambassador, is a liturgical design consultant who brings to the Sharing Sacred Spaces project professional experience, interreligious knowledge and theological understanding.

“Spaces become sacred through the meaning they have for their communities,” Morgan believes. “Sharing that meaning can build bridges of trust and reduce social tension and cultural misunderstanding.”

“I want to encourage interreligious dialogue by using sacred spaces for education,” Morgan said of the project. “Sacred spaces can be healing places.”

Visitors to St. James Episcopal Cathedral agreed.

“I was impressed that the cathedral had a small chapel that is open during the day for people to come to pray,” said Rev. Ron Miyamura of Midwest Buddhist Temple.

“People who are walking along Michigan Avenue or who are at Northwestern Hospital can easily come into the chapel,” he added.

Other aspects of the visit were also compelling, Miyamura said.

“I was impressed with the emphasis on making music a part of the liturgy,” he said. “That is something we don’t have. Buddhists do not have a musical tradition.”

Miyamura also noted the use of limestone from Joliet, the Illinois town in which he was raised, in the lower level.

“The cathedral carries so much history,” he said. “Here is an Episcopal cathedral that was built with Joliet limestone after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The use of Joliet limestone is part of what makes it a Chicago building.”

Dr. Edward Traisman, of Chicago Sinai Congregation, said he also enjoyed learning about the cathedral building and about the history of the Episcopalian faith.

“The afternoon’s guides gave a very simple and straightforward explanation of the English origins of the faith and how the Episcopalian church in America grew after the American Revolution,” he said.

Patricia Kendall of Fourth Presbyterian Church said that she had attended the first three Sharing Sacred Spaces events, including the Oct. 2nd visit to the Midwest Buddhist Temple and the Oct.23rd visit to her church.

“We are blessed in Chicago to have such beautiful architecture in our places of worship, and that is part of the draw of the Sharing Sacred Spaces events,” she said. “The opportunity to combine the history of a faith, its Chicago worshippers and their unique architectural spaces is an enriching experience.”

“It’s unique to meet people of other faith traditions who have a similar interest in the interfaith traditions,” she said.  “We are building momentum in beginning to recognize each other at these events.”

“There are so many different cultures and ethnicities in Chicago,” said Traisman. “It’s good to get to know other religions and to see how we all share common thoughts and practices.”

Miyamura agreed.

“There is a sense of community building in these events,” he said. “We are building a sense of brotherhood and peace that is invaluable. It’s hard to dislike people who you like.”

“I feel closer to Fourth Presbyterian Church and St. James Episcopal Cathedral because I know some of the worshippers,” Miyamura said. “I hope people feel the same about the Midwest Buddhist Temple.”

A schedule of the Sharing Sacred Spaces events is listed below. For engaging information about each of the sacred spaces participating, go to the Sharing Sacred Spaces web page on the Council for a Parliament of World Religions website.

Sharing Sacred Spaces

Schedule: Chicago 2011-2012

October 2, 2011 Midwest Buddhist Temple 2-4 pm, 435 West Menomonee Street, Chicago, IL, 60614, midwestbuddhisttemple.org
October 23, 2011 Fourth Presbyterian Church 2-4 pm, 126 E. Chestnut Street, Chicago, 60611-2094, fourthchurch.org
November 6, 2011 Saint James Episcopal Cathedral 2-4 pm, 65 E. Huron Street, Chicago, 60611, saintjamescathedral.org
January 29, 2012 Chicago Sinai Congregation 1-3 pm,15 West Delaware Place, Chicago, 60610, chicagosinai.org
February 19, 2012 First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple 2-4 pm, 77 West Washington Street, Chicago, 60602, chicagotemple.org
March 18, 2012 Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago 2-4 pm, 55 East Wacker Drive Chicago, 60601, christiansciencechicago.org
April 22, 2012 Old St. Patrick’s Church 2-4p m, 700 West Adams St., Chicago, IL 60661, oldstpats.org
May 12, 2012 Downtown Islamic Center 1-3 pm, 231 S. State Street, Chicago, 60604, dic-chicago.org

Sounds of Faith is a unique media and educational outreach project focusing on the power of sound—especially in sacred contexts—to unite people. Beginning with an exploration of the peaceful, complex, beautiful, and resonant soundscapes of the three Abrahamic faiths, Sounds of Faith will celebrate the differences and commonalities of sound, focus on how humans are connected to God through sound, and to each other and foster a deeper understanding of the strong ties between the three religions and the communities of faith.

A free concert will be offered this Sunday, Nov 13 at KAM Isaiah Israel in Chicago, IL.

Click here for more information

Fourth Presbyterian Church

by Susan Schwendener

Approximately 100 people of different faith traditions came together on Oct. 23 at Chicago’s Fourth Presbyterian Church on a journey toward better understanding each other’s beliefs and building stronger bonds among a variety of faith communities.

The journey, called “Sharing Sacred Spaces,” was created by Suzanne Morgan, ambassador of the Sacred Space dimension of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions (CPWR), a Chicago-based organization.

CPWR works to build bridges among religious and spiritual communities worldwide in order to create a more just, peaceful and sustainable world. CPWR was born 100 years after the first World Congress of Religions at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago which took place in 1893. Now the CPWR sponsors a parliament every five years, to continue the work of interreligious engagement started at the first parliament.

“Sharing Sacred Spaces” has engaged eight different places of worship in the Chicago Loop. The first event was held on Oct. 2 at the Midwest Buddhist Temple. The last event will be held on May 12, 2012 at the Downtown Islamic Center.

The meanings that congregants give their worship spaces make these sites sacred, Morgan believes. Sharing that meaning is a way to build bridges of understanding among faith traditions and reduce cultural misunderstandings.

Attendees at the Oct. 23 event at Fourth Presbyterian Church agreed with Morgan.

“The more we know about each other and each other’s ways and places of worship, the more we can be open to each other, ” said Sharon Rader, a bishop of the United Methodist Church.

“As faith communities talk about our commitments to understanding one another, the more we can make real our commitment to helping create world peace,” she said.

Dave Hohle, of 17th Church of Christ Scientist, said Sunday was the first time he had visited Fourth Presbyterian Church.

The afternoon meeting at Fourth Presbyterian Church consisted of a brief tour of the building and presentations about the history of the Presbyterian denomination, the history of the sanctuary and the history of the denomination in Chicago back to its inception, Hohle noted.

“The playing of a hymn written by Martin Luther, the initiator of the Protestant Reformation, was particularly moving,” Hohle said.

“I was also encouraged by church members’ statement that their tradition was “reformed and always reforming,” Hohle said. “I believe that this is the exact way that everyone needs to live.

“After this event, I now feel very welcome,” he said.
Tom Corbett, of the Midwest Buddhist Temple, said that he was inspired by the building and the grounds.

“There is a feeling of nature with the exposed oak (inside), and the intricately designed stained glass windows are so colorful,” he said.

“I particularly like the way that the fountain provided a sense of community,” he said. “I’ve been in Europe and other places where everyone hangs out near a fountain. I found that feeling here.”

Corbett noted that Fourth Presbyterian Church members emphasized what their faith tradition had in common with other traditions.

“Our faith group is about wisdom and compassion,” Corbett said. “I could sense a lot of compassion and wisdom in this group.”

In June, those who have visited and hosted the “Sharing Sacred Spaces” events will have the opportunity to sign a solidarity pledge to build and strengthen bonds of understanding among the faith communities.

These bonds will be key when one of the traditions is faced with acts of religiously-motivated hatred or defamation.

A schedule of the Sharing Sacred Spaces events is listed below. For engaging information about each of the sacred spaces participating, go to the Sharing Sacred Spaces web page on the Council for a Parliament of World Religions website.

Sharing Sacred Spaces

Schedule: Chicago 2011-2012

October 2, 2011 Midwest Buddhist Temple 2-4 pm, 435 West Menomonee Street, Chicago, IL, 60614, midwestbuddhisttemple.org
October 23, 2011 Fourth Presbyterian Church 2-4 pm, 126 E. Chestnut Street, Chicago, 60611-2094, fourthchurch.org
November 6, 2011 Saint James Episcopal Cathedral 2-4 pm, 65 E. Huron Street, Chicago, 60611, saintjamescathedral.org
January 29, 2012 Chicago Sinai Congregation 1-3 pm,15 West Delaware Place, Chicago, 60610, chicagosinai.org
February 19, 2012 First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple 2-4 pm, 77 West Washington Street, Chicago, 60602, chicagotemple.org
March 18, 2012 Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago 2-4 pm, 55 East Wacker Drive Chicago, 60601, christiansciencechicago.org
April 22, 2012 Old St. Patrick’s Church 2-4p m, 700 West Adams St., Chicago, IL 60661, oldstpats.org
May 12, 2012 Downtown Islamic Center 1-3 pm, 231 S. State Street, Chicago, 60604, dic-chicago.org

Sermon for Erev Yom Kippur 5772

by Rabbi Brant Rosen

Cedric Cal was born to a single mother, in a family that lived below the poverty line on Chicago’s West Side. His father had left the family, married another woman and had very little to do with him. His mother Olivia worked constantly, doing her best to keep her family together. As the oldest of four, Cedric became the de facto father of the family and was entrusted with protecting his younger brother, who was legally blind.

Cedric’s family moved around a lot and he learned very early on how to make friends quickly. He liked sports, particularly baseball – and when his family lived on the West Side, he played sports in the local Park District. When they moved to the South Side, however, there were no Park District services available, so sports were not an option for him. Still, no matter where they moved, Olivia became very adept at finding ways of getting Cedric and and brothers into decent public schools. From 5th to 8th grade, he attended Alcott Elementary. Minding his younger brother, he took the public bus every day on a long trek from the West Side to Lincoln Park.

Cedric’s mother taught him how to fill out applications and interview for jobs, but there really weren’t any to be found. And those that were hiring certainly weren’t hiring African-American teenage boys. He was never really successful at finding a real job, but when he was 14 he learned that he could make money dealing drugs. He knew that his mother would be beyond furious if she ever found out, so he made sure to keep his drug dealing and his growing gang activity secret from her. Cedric never, ever, brought his earnings into their home – his mother had made it clear that drug money was not welcome anywhere near her house. Even when he bought a car, he parked it far away from their home.

I met and spoke with Cedric two weeks ago at the Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet. He explained to me that as he continued to sell drugs, as he continued the gang life, little by little, he became “desensitized to the things my mother had taught me.” It was quite poignant and sweet to listen to Cedric speak about his mother. “My mother,” he said, “has a lovely spirit,” adding: “I was scared to death of my mother.” He told me of one instance in which Olivia confronted drug dealers on a street corner with a two by four in her hand. Cedric laughed and said that even the toughest gang members in the neighborhood were scared of his mother.

The incident that changed Cedric’s life forever occurred in 1992, when he was 17 years old. According to court testimony, two individuals confronted what would become the three in front of a house on the West Side. In the ensuing gunfight, they shot and killed two of the men and wounded a third. Following the incident, the surviving victim, who was gravely wounded, identified Cedric and another man to the police as the shooters. They were both arrested – and although Cedric was legally still a minor at the time of the shooting, he was sentenced to prison for life without possibility of parole. There has never been any physical evidence – or any other evidence for that matter – that linked Cedric to the shooting and Cedric has always maintained his innocence.

There’s something of a twist to this story. Nearly twenty years later, the wounded witness, Willie Johnson, recanted his testimony. He came forward and testified at a post-conviction hearing that he had wrongly identified Cedric and his co-defendent. He explained that he did this only because the actual murderer had threatened to kill him and his family at the time. The judge however, rejected Johnson’s revised testimony and refused to reverse the convictions. (In an even more perverse twist to this story, although his recanted testimony was rejected, the witness was subsequently charged with perjury.)

When he first entered prison, Cedric joined a gang for protection, as many inmates do. He told me his first few years inside were enormously difficult until he met a man who would have an powerful impact on his life – an ex-gang leader who had become a devout Muslim. Cedric’s new mentor gave him book after book to read, and he read them voraciously. Cedric was particularly affected by “The Autobiography of Malcom X.” He identified deeply with Malcolm’s journey and struggle and was especially moved when he read about his religious awakening in prison. Like Malcolm, Cedric was inspired to convert to Islam and turn his life in a different direction.

As it turned out, his new found Muslim faith took him down a fairly dangerous road in prison. After making the decision to live as an observant Muslim, his fellow gang members approached him and told him he would have to choose between his gang and his newly acquired faith. Cedric chose his faith, knowing full well that this would obviously mean the loss of his protected status. In a very real sense, he was now putting his life in God’s hands.

The next major spiritual transformation for Cedric occurred when the Million Man March took place in 1995 in Washington DC. He was deeply moved by the sight of hundreds of thousands black men, gathered together nonviolently in one place, publicly atoning and taking responsibility for their own lives and for their families. After he witnessed this moment, Cedric decided to embark upon his own journey of repentance.

Specifically speaking, this meant following an eight stage atonement process as developed by Minister Louis Farrakhan. As part of his atonement, Cedric wrote letters. First he wrote a long letter to his mother, in which he apologized for betraying the values she taught him and for the shame he had brought to her through his actions. He vowed that he would devote the rest his life to bringing honor back to her and the family. He wrote similar letters to each of his brothers, apologizing for being absent to them as a big brother and as a role model. He also wrote a letter to his entire community – published in the community paper – and apologized, among other things, for bringing drugs, crime and gang activity into their neighborhood.

I asked Cedric to define forgiveness for me. He said that for him it was all about relationship. Seeking forgiveness meant repairing his relationships with others – and first and foremost, his relationship to God. He added that prayer plays a very central role in this process and that over time, his prayers have helped him achieve a spiritual cleansing – an unburdening his soul. He said that atonement is a never-ending process. He told me, with simple determination in his voice, that he will never stop working at making things right with others and with God.

Cedric is a warm, genuine and open-spirited man. He was happy to tell me his story and clearly took great pleasure in relating his spiritual journey. When we first met, I explained to him that I was interested in hearing his story because I wanted to give a sermon about his experiences during a Yom Kippur service. His lawyer began to explain what Yom Kippur is and he smiled and said, “Oh, I know all about Yom Kippur. It’s coming up in two weeks, right?” My conversation with Cedric was a true pleasure and I was genuinely sorry when our time was up. He gave me an affectionate hug before leaving the visitor’s room.

I’d like to tell you about another prisoner I met that day in Stateville – a 36 year old man named Addolfo Davis.

Addolfo grew up in an even more at-risk environment than Cedric. He was born to a single, drug-addicted mother who severely neglected him. Before he turned 10, Addolfo was running away from home and turning to local gangs for protection. He was just 9 the first time he robbed someone for money to buy food, which resulted in the first of many run-ins with the juvenile justice system.

Addolfo was eventually taken from his mother and placed under his grandmother’s care, where he lived in a one-room, dirt-floor cellar apartment, which already housed three other family members. Around this time, a DCFS social worker reported that he was becoming a danger to himself and strongly urged that he be placed in a contained foster home. Despite these recommendations, Addolfo was eventually removed from his grandmother and placed in a group home.

Addolfo’s incident occurred when he was barely 14. He and two older boys went to the apartment of a rival, reportedly to discuss a turf dispute. When they entered the apartment, the two older boys took out guns and shot four people, killing two. According to witness testimony, Addolfo was present but did not shoot a gun.

Later that day, the police apprehended Addolfo and interrogated him without an attorney present. The only person there to represent him was his mother, who was no longer his legal guardian and who later testified that she was intoxicated at the time. The interrogation ended with his signing a confession, though both his and his mother’s poor literacy skills likely prevented either of them from fully understanding what he had signed.

Although he was only a minor, a juvenile judge ruled that Addolfo’s case be transferred to adult court. This ruling was apparently influenced by the testimony of a therapist who cited his past criminal history and cast doubt on his ability to be rehabilitated by the time he reached the age of 21. In the end, 14 year old Addolfo was tried as an adult for felony murder and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

I was told that Addolfo Davis was small, traumatized eighty pound teenager at the time of his conviction. The Addolfo I met two weeks ago was a grounded and articulate man. I had the opportunity to be present when he spoke with his pro bono lawyer as they prepared his application for clemency from Governor Quinn, which is his only legal recourse now that his appeals have been exhausted. As they spoke, it became obvious that Addolfo had been spending a great of time in the prison’s law library. He clearly had a far reaching knowledge of the legal aspects of his case and of the complicated clemency process. At times, it actually seemed that he was advising his lawyer rather than the other way around.

My first question was to ask Addolfo how he found this obvious inner peace. His answer was utterly unexpected. He said that his first few years in prison were horrid. He was frightened and aggressive and spent much of his time fighting with other inmates and just trying to survive day by day. As a result he was sent to the Tamms Correctional Center – a so-called “super max” prison in Southern Illinois – where he would spend four and a half years.

As at most super max prisons, prisoners at Tamms are forced to live alone, 24 hours a day, close to seven days a week in 8 x 10 concrete cement cells that contain concrete beds, stainless steel sinks and toilets. Although each cell has a window, the windows cannot be opened, and the only way to look out of them is to stand on the bed. The doors to each cell are designed to completely isolate the prisoner inside his cell. When I did a little research, I discovered that when Tamms was first opened in 1998, the warden, George Welborn was quoted as saying “Tamms is not about rehabilitation, it’s about punishment.”

So you can imagine my amazement when Addolfo told me “For some people it’s the worst – but Tamms was the best thing that ever happened to me.” He explained that as a result of his stay there, he actually experienced real solitude and inner peace for the first time in his life. Whenever he felt himself growing claustrophobic, he taught himself how clear his mind and calm himself down. He also started writing and reading. The book “Conversations with God” by Neale Donald Walsch had a particularly strong spiritual impact upon him.

I asked Addolfo if he identified with any particular religious faith and he told me no. He said, “I believe in God with all my heart, but I don’t belong to any religion.” He said it all comes down to “love your neighbor,” adding that “God is a caring, forgiving God. God will straighten everything out in the end.”

Addolfo told me he read the Bible and the Koran every day, and that in prison he was learning the true meaning of spiritual struggle. Every day, he said, is a challenge for him to hold on to his humanity in an inhumane world. He quoted his grandmother: “When you turn yourself over to God, the devil works overtime to pull you back.”

Although he is very, very happy to be out of Tamms, Addolfo did say that it is much harder to find the same kind of solitude in Stateville. He said sometimes he’ll just put on his ear buds and listen to music, sometimes even just static, and he can get back to a focused, clear minded place.

As I did with Cedric, I asked Addolfo for his definition of forgiveness. He said that the first step in forgiveness was forgiving yourself so that you can take personal responsibility for your own actions. When he was in the solitude of Tamms, he said, he learned that once he forgave himself, he was able to forgive others more easily and not simply point the finger of blame. Once he quieted down his mind, he found forgiveness for his mother, realizing that her drug use was not her. He was then able to see past her actions to her inner humanity.

Addolfo also said to me that since he never had a childhood, he was learning how to be a kid. And more than anything, that meant learning how to love unconditionally. As he put it, his challenge is learning how to truly love someone who isn’t ready to take accountability yet. It is not a simple process, to be sure. His approach, he said, is: “I love you, I forgive you, but I’m gonna keep my distance. When you’re ready, I’m always here for you.” He makes a point of talking to everyone, even members of rival gangs, which is not considered a particularly advisable thing to do in prison.

Needless to say, most of the prisoners aren’t used to this sort of attitude from an fellow inmate – but Addolfo said he has found that when they get used to it, they eventually respond. That is essentially his struggle: learning how to live the faith of “love your neighbor” each and every day.

I’m telling you the stories of Cedric and Addolfo tonight for two reasons. The first is because I believe they are truly my spiritual teachers. Indeed, I believe they are spiritual teachers for us all. I say this with some hesitation – only because I do not in any way want to patronize them or over-romanticize their situation. Still, as we find ourselves in the midst of this season of forgiveness and reconciliation, I can’t help but wonder if there are countless spiritual teachers out there just like Cedric and Addolfo, locked far away from us, forgotten by everyone but their families.

This Yom Kippur, I’m thinking of Cedric’s letters to his mother, his brothers and his community – and his burning desire to bring honor back to his life and to those he loves. I’m thinking about Addolfo sitting alone in a cell in a super max prison, finding inner peace for the first time, and struggling to live up to the teaching “love your neighbor as yourself” in a place almost wholly devoid of anything resembling love.

Of course these spiritual lessons come at a huge price – to them and to us all. And that brings me to the second reason I’m telling you their stories. It’s because I sincerely wish to God they weren’t my spiritual teachers. They shouldn’t be. And if they are, then shame on us.

I don’t know any other way to say it: we live in a country that loves to lock people away. The US has less than 5 percent of the world’s population but nearly a quarter of the world’s prisoners. We’ve locked up 2,000,000 people in our country. And to our further shame, 70% of these inmates, like Cedric and Addolfo, are people of color.

But our shame grows even deeper than this. Our country – the United States – is the only country in the world – in the world – that sentences children to life in prison without possibility of parole. Right now there are approximately 2,570 child offenders serving life without parole throughout the US. 99 of them are right here in Illinois. The total number in the rest of the world is zero.

The shame yet deepens: outside of the United States the practice of handing down juvenile life sentences has become so unthinkable, it is now illegal as a basic principle of international law. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – which the US has still not ratified – prohibits life imprisonment of children. The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice requires that imprisonment of children can only be imposed as a last resort and that it be limited to the shortest length of time necessary to protect society. And the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the United States is a party, requires that in sentencing children, states must “take account of their age and the desirability of promoting their rehabilitation.”

Now when it comes to innocence cases, I think we can all agree on the clear injustice that is being committed. No one condones imprisoning the innocent – least of all children. However, when it comes to locking children up, the injustice should be no less obvious to us. There is compelling evidence, for instance, to indicate that Cedric Cal is totally innocent of the crime of which he was convicted. But in a deeper sense, this is not and should not be the issue. The issue is that when we sentence children to life sentences for their crimes – even of murder – we as a society are essentially giving up on them..

It should come as no surprise that there is clear racial component to this shame.Here in Illinois, for instance, 82% of our imprisoned child offenders are people of color. And as my stories to you obviously indicate, there is an obvious socioeconomic component to consider as well. But again, on a deeper level, if we look deep into the heart of it, even this should not the basic issue. We simply should not be locking away our children and throwing away the key. When we lock children away without even the possibility of parole, we affirm that they are no longer our problem, that they simply do not matter to us any more. When we lock them away, we deem them irredeemable.

We say this even though we know there is considerable evidence to the contrary. Science has shown that teenagers are not yet completely formed, either physically or emotionally. Although children are able to grasp the concepts of “right” and “wrong” at a very young age, the nuances of weighing long term risks and benefits are lost on even late adolescents, making them more prone to take risks, more vulnerable to peer pressure, and less likely to understand the perspective of others or the consequences of their decisions.

We also know, through neurological research, that the brain does not fully develop until late adolescence, around or after the age of 18. Doctors have now provided a medical reason for the various behaviors identified as typical in adolescents: they are not capable of behaving like adults because they lack the developed brain structure to do so.

Psychological research also tells us that, it is precisely because their characters are not yet fully formed that children are uniquely susceptible to rehabilitation. It is reasonable to assume that given the chance, many child psychology experts say, even those young adults who commit the most serious crimes will be able to grow into mature and responsible adults.

When we deem our children irredeemable, we ultimately treat them as somehow disposable. Now anyone who has ever parented an adolescent knows that there are those moments when we are tempted to go to these dark places. But of course we resist these impulses because we know it would simply be unthinkable – unthinkable – to give up on our children.

And yet that is just what we are doing to our children in this country. In 26 states – including the state of Illinois – we are locking our children away and telling them they will have to live the rest of their natural lives in prison. We are the only country in the world that locks away its children forever.

I know these aren’t easy issues to talk about. Violent crime and criminal justice are perhaps the most gut-wrenchingly painful issues there are. The violation that results from violence goes deep and lasts life long. But having compassion for victims does not an should not exclude our compassion for perpetrators. We can and we must hold them together, especially when it involves children. This is, after all, the very essence of reconciliation – a spiritual ideal we have been wrestling for the past eight days. How can we, how will we, dig deep and discover reservoirs of compassion for all?

I’m sharing Cedric and Addolfo’s stories with you tonight because I believe we have much to learn from them this Yom Kippur. They have a great deal to teach us about how we might live our lives – and the ways we should live as a society. On this night of our vows, we must vow to do better by them, and by all the “child offenders” that are locked away in prisons throughout our state and our country.

I’d like to end by reading a letter. I received it from Cedric just this week:

Salaam Alaikum (Peace be unto you)

Dear Rabbi Brant,

May this missive find you in good spirits and health. Thank you for coming to spend a moment in time with me, to hear some of my life story to share with your community. Thank you for acknowledging our humanity. For we who are incarcerated are human beings that lost our way who are trying to find our way back. As you celebrate Yom Kippur as an individual, community and a nation, I hope that the spirit that comes forth from such activity gives you a determination to serve the voiceless and disenfranchised who desire to reconcile with the community and become productive citizens.

For once one atones, he/she has entered into God’s mercy and is absolved from past sins and transgressions and is free from it never to be judged again. I was a rebellious youth who lacked knowledge and suffered great chastisement from Allah/God. I believe I have atoned to God but yet I’m still despised and rejected by society because of being convicted of a crime. What will be the atonement process of prisoners and society at large? What will wipe the slate clean like God does for the Jews after Yom Kippur?

How long shall a child be held responsible for these transgressions? I was a 17 year old boy but I am 36 years old now. As a child, I thought as a child – now that I am a man I put away childish things, so says the Scriptures. I never experienced manhood outside the confines of prison. I truly desire the opportunity to be a father, the opportunity of marriage and to have a wife and children. To vote in an election. To own property, have a bank account. All these little thiings we take for granted, some of us have never even experienced.

I humbly ask that you lift your voice to deliver youth from inhumane sentences. We are your children. A mistake or error should not, must not, define our lives. We are redeemable. We are the product of society’s neglect and degenerative culture. I have been ashamed, abased for being such a child. I’ve repeated and made the determination to never return to such past transgressions again. I need society to give me a chance to prove myself worthy to be accepted back into the community.

I hope your speech to the larger community takes on the spirit of forgiveness and mercy. Then the action of bringing your collective voices to change a law that is against the principles of atonement. It would be a great demonstration of your forgiveness of us who transgressed the community. And a great proof that God is Most Merciful of those who show mercy.

May Allah (God) bless us all with the light of understanding.

Sholom Aleykum,
Cedric Cal

This article was originally published in it’s complete form on rabbibrant.com

Members of Midwest Buddhist Temple host neighboring communities on a tour of their facility.

Midwest Buddhist Temple

by Susan Schwendener

Chicago-area religious and spiritual communities are gathering this fall through May 2012 in eight downtown places of worship. The program is intended to foster a better understanding of each others’ traditions and to begin to build a larger sense of community.

“Sharing Sacred Spaces” is a project of the Sacred Space dimension of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions, a group focused on building harmony among the world’s religious and spiritual communities in order to create a more just, peaceful and sustainable world.

Suzanne Morgan, a retired architect with expertise in religious architecture, is the force behind this project. She believes that a space becomes sacred through the meaning it has for its community. Sharing that meaning can reduce social tension and cultural misunderstanding and build bridges of trust and hope.

The Sacred Spaces design team hopes participants will begin to build a greater sense of community together by listening, learning and cultivating friendships.

The first event was held October 2nd at the Midwest Buddhist Temple, 435 W. Menomonee, with over 100 participants attending.

“There was such a beautiful, peaceful energy at the Midwest Buddhist Temple, and I particularly remember gasps of astonishment from people sitting near me,” said Gale Kryzak of Fourth Presbyterian Church. “Our Buddhist brothers and sisters blended their Buddhist principles, respect for nature and their building’s design into an organically insightful experience. Visiting the Temple with diverse faith communities was bridge-building at its best.”

Other participants also noted that the afternoon was both an introduction to Buddhism and the beginnings of a sense of community.

“I had never been inside the Midwest Buddhist Temple before, so I was very excited about going,” said Peter Rubnitz of Chicago Sinai Congregation. “We first had a tour of the facility. We all then met up in the main sanctuary where Rev. Ron Miyamura welcomed us and gave us a history of the Temple and answered questions about Shin Buddhism. I knew very little about it going in and came away with a much clearer understanding about the basic precepts of the religion.

“After going outdoors and listening to a member speak about the Temple’s architecture, we reconvened in the lower level for refreshments and socializing,” Rubnitz said. “I’m looking forward to the next experience. The more we get together, the more comfortable we will get and the easier it will be to discuss issues of mutual importance.”

Lois Carlson, of 17th Church of Christ, Scientist, said that she was moved by the beautiful spirit of compassion and joy that Buddhists live. “There is a great respect for individuality, with individual values maintained in the afterlife. Buddhists are not concerned with the afterlife, but are more concerned about the spiritual life here.”

Dr. Mohammed Kaiseruddin,of the Downtown Islamic Center agreed. “The desire to do good and be caring is common among all faiths,” he said. “The openness to discuss and answer questions at the Midwest Buddhist Temple was one of the highlights of my visit. I have a lot more questions for me to understand their faith and practices.”

Seven similar events at Chicago places of worship will be held through May 12, 2012. For engaging information about each of the sacred spaces participating, go to the Sharing Sacred Spaces web page on the Council for a Parliament of World Religions website.

Sharing Sacred Spaces

Schedule: Chicago 2011-2012

October 2, 2011 Midwest Buddhist Temple 2-4 pm, 435 West Menomonee Street, Chicago, IL, 60614, midwestbuddhisttemple.org
October 23, 2011 Fourth Presbyterian Church 2-4 pm, 126 E. Chestnut Street, Chicago, 60611-2094, fourthchurch.org
November 6, 2011 Saint James Episcopal Cathedral 2-4 pm, 65 E. Huron Street, Chicago, 60611, saintjamescathedral.org
January 29, 2012 Chicago Sinai Congregation 1-3 pm,15 West Delaware Place, Chicago, 60610, chicagosinai.org
February 19, 2012 First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple 2-4 pm, 77 West Washington Street, Chicago, 60602, chicagotemple.org
March 18, 2012 Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago 2-4 pm, 55 East Wacker Drive Chicago, 60601, christiansciencechicago.org
April 22, 2012 Old St. Patrick’s Church 2-4p m, 700 West Adams St., Chicago, IL 60661, oldstpats.org
May 12, 2012 Downtown Islamic Center 1-3 pm, 231 S. State Street, Chicago, 60604, dic-chicago.org

Roman Catholics decorate star and crescent of Islam for Dalai Lama's visit

The Dalai Lama’s message of compassion long has transcended Tibetan Buddhism and enchanted people of all faiths — and no faith.

It’s an ethos that blends spirituality with humanism and logic, common ground on which most religious traditions tend to agree.

This weekend, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th dalai lama and spiritual leader of troubled Tibet, will bring tidings to Chicago that address religious tensions head on and prescribe what it takes to ease them.

The anticipation of his arrival inspired a dozen religious communities to undertake an unusual artistic endeavor that will provide the backdrop to the Dalai Lama’s appearance Sunday on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Framing the Dalai Lama on stage will be a dozen towering religious icons created by artists of other traditions. Roman Catholics decorated a star and crescent of Islam. Native Americans created the nine-pointed star of the Baha’i faith. An African-American Protestant congregation on the South Side incorporated the design of the 4,000-year-old symbol of Zoroastrianism, a tradition some didn’t know existed before the project.

“It’s an amazing show of support and unity that different people of different faiths actually came together,” said Nina Norris, a member of St. Matthias Catholic Church in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood. “The fact that it’s guided under the Dalai Lama is maybe the only way it could happen.”

Invited by the Theosophical Society in America, the group that hosted the monk’s first visit to the Chicago area in 1981, the Dalai Lama will present a public talk Sunday at the UIC Pavilion.

On Monday morning at downtown’s Harris Theater for Music and Dance, he will join a rabbi, a pastor and a Muslim scholar for a panel discussion titled “Building Bridges: Religious Leaders in Conversation with the Dalai Lama.” The panel will be moderated by Eboo Patel, founder and executive director of the Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core.

Tim Boyd, president of the Theosophical Society in America, which is based in Wheaton, said the Dalai Lama thought for three seconds before he accepted his invitation during a private audience last year. After all, it was his introduction to the Theosophical Society in India 55 years ago that opened his eyes to the plethora of world religions beyond his own, Boyd said.

“It was the first time he had met people who believed there was value in the religions of the world and there was a certain essence they all shared,” Boyd said. “At that time, he was a 21-year-old monk. To him, Buddhism was all that he knew and all that he thought was appropriate. After that meeting, he left there a changed man.”

from the New York Times

Laurie Goodstein reports on Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion on the verge of extinction.  In this video article, Goodstein reports on her interviews with practicing Zoroastrians and the future of the faith.

Click here to watch the video

From The Archdiocese of Chicago

At the 9/10/2010 Toyota Bridgeview Press Conference, the Archbishop of Chicago and the Chair of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago issued a joint statement lamenting the intention, approval or burning of the Muslim sacred scripture, the Qu’ran.

Francis Cardinal George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago, and Dr. Zaker Sahloul, Chair of the Council of Islamic Organizations stand in solidarity with people from many faiths in lamenting the intention and approval, as well as the act of burning the sacred scripture of Muslims, the Holy Qu’ran.

For over a decade, the Archdiocese and the Council have established relationships and dialogues in the Chicago area. We are neighbors and friends in this metropolitan region. This friendship has involved the religious leaders of our communities, scholars from our colleges and seminaries and members of our local congregations.

More recently, on the universal level, Muslims and Catholics responded to the document authored by Islamic Scholars on love of God and neighbor. It includes the following quotation from the Qu’ran, “Ye will not attain unto righteousness until ye expend of that which ye love. And whatsoever ye expend, God is Aware thereof.” (Aal ‘Imran, 3:92). The text also quotes from the Christian Bible the Second Great Commandment, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31).

Consequently, the plans by some to desecrate the Qu’ran affect Muslims, Catholics and all people of good will, since as neighbors we bear each other’s burdens. We are saddened that any religious group can advance or condone actions of burning the sacred texts of another religion. Such actions are directly opposed to the Great Commandments, love of God and love of neighbor.

Recognizing each other as neighbors, we proclaim together our intention to pray that the love, which both the Bible and the Qu’ran proclaim as God’s will for the human community, may transform our hearts and minds from fear, ignorance or hatred. This will enable us to grow into a nation of people who are trusting, well informed and loving of each other.

Click here to learn more about upcoming programs.

September 11, 2010-January 2, 2011

CHICAGO—The Art Institute of Chicago will present a site-specific installation on the anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s historic speech of September 11, 1893 to the first World Parliament of Religions. In a new work entitled Public Notice 3, artist Jitish Kallat connects the date of Swami Vivekananda’s address to the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in a meditation on religious tolerance.

The 1893 Parliament, held in conjunction with the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, marked the birth of interreligious dialogue and the first formal gathering of representatives of eastern and western spiritual traditions. Iconic Hindu spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda urged an audience of 7,000 to practice tolerance and universal acceptance of all faith traditions.

Exactly 108 years prior to the 9/11 attacks, Vivekananda closed his address by saying, “I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.” His words were met with a standing ovation.

Public Notice 3 will display the text of Swami Vivekananda’s address in LED colors corresponding to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security alert system on the risers of the Woman’s Board Grand Staircase in Fullerton Hall, the exact site of the address 117 years ago. The exhibit will be the first major presentation of Indian artist Jitish Kallat’s work in an American museum.

From The Chicago Council

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

PUBLIC PROGRAM

CROSSROADS OF FAITH: BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM

Eliza Griswold, Writer and Schwartz Fellow, New America Foundation

The tenth parallel is the line of latitude seven hundred miles north of the equator at which Christianity and Islam intersect—a profound encounter that shapes the lives of more than a billion people. Of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims, more than half live along the tenth parallel, as do roughly sixty percent of the world’s two billion Christians. Join us for a conversation to examine the complex relationships at play along the tenth parallel, an ideological front line stretching across two continents and nineteen countries, that evinces the interaction of religion, both Christian and Islamic, with local conflicts, global ideology, politics, martyrdom, and the struggle for natural resources in the contemporary world.

Eliza Griswold, award-winning investigative journalist, poet, writer, and now Schwartz Fellow at the New America Foundation, has spent the past five years living and researching along the tenth parallel. A recipient of the 2010 Rome Prize from The American Academy in Rome, Griswold has won awards for both her  non-fiction works and her poetry. A former Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, she reports on religion, conflict, and human rights. Her first book of poems, Wideawake Field, was published in 2007. Her writings have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Harpers, and The New Republic, among other publications.

Her latest book, The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam, will be available for purchase and signing following the program.

Click here to learn more about the program.