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COMMENTARY
by Alexander Levering Kern, member of the Massachusetts Conference Racial Justice Task Force and Executive Director of the Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries
June/July 2008
Editor’s Note: Starting in July, high school students who are curious and passionate about life and relationships, who have gifts and energy, who may be exploring their religious or spiritual journeys, and who are eager to have a blast while learning and building community in a supportive setting will be immersed in an eight-day interfaith experience. This Interfaith Youth Initiative (IFYI) is a program designed for teens of all faith traditions to explore peacemaking, interfaith dialogue, spirituality, community service, urban immersion, and issues of social justice.
Perhaps now more than ever, entrenched cultures of violence and injustice claim the lives of young people across the globe, from Boston to Baghdad, Detroit to Darfur, the Middle East to Middle America. All too often, youth and young adults are both primary victims and chief perpetrators of religiously-fueled violence. At the same time, the widespread absence of faith – and the hope, community, and opportunity that faith can engender – breeds
cultures of nihilism that prove equally destructive. Like their parents, too many youth in the 21st century seem caught in the pincers of religious extremism and secular materialism.
What's needed now are intentional interfaith communities where faith is real and peace seems possible. Such communities must combine theological learning, leadership training, spiritual practices, vocational exploration, service learning, cross-cultural immersion, creative expression, and practical peacemaker training. Such communities must offer safe and supportive havens where young people and mentors can plumb the depths of their own faith traditions and come face to face with doubt and pain. Now more than ever, we need to fashion sacred spaces where we can name our despair and claim our own visions of hope and change.
When done with conviction and care, interfaith education has the potential, quite literally, to save lives, transform faith communities, and fashion a horizon of hope for our broken world.
That’s why the Interfaith Youth Initiative of Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries (CMM) and Episcopal Divinity School is offering new leadership to this burgeoning “interfaith youth movement.”
IFYI trains teens, college students, and seminarians in the arts of dialogue, activism, and spiritual formation – and embodies five core values: building bridges, engaging faith, training leaders, making peace, and serving others. The program gives practical expression to the school’s concerns for ministries of justice and reconciliation, and advances the work of dismantling racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression.
The youth who participated in last year’s IFYI program are grateful for the experience. Molly McIntosh-Case said it was an amazing program that taught her about her faith while learning about the faiths of others. “IFYI helps you take your ideas and put them into action,” she said.
Gregory Boover felt there was “great community and acceptance all around,” and he learned to develop his own faith “by opening the doors to other faiths.”
“Even though IFYI is only a week long program, I feel like I have gained so much knowledge and so many quality friends,” said Emalie Novick. “I have learned how to open up to people and to myself.”
Founded by rabbis and clergy in the crucible of the Civil Rights movement, CMM is the oldest interfaith social justice coalition in the Greater Boston area, with over 70 member congregations and scores of partner agencies and schools. For two generations, CMM has addressed the compelling issues of our times, from desegregation to immigrant justice to environmental justice to the brutal rash of violence in our streets and schools.
As our congregations, community agencies, and theological schools face the very real challenges of our own times, what's needed are new partnerships that draw deeply on the resources of each and common vision of all. To succeed, such efforts at renewal and transformation will require the best insights and prophetic imagination of rising generations. In their hands, our future is secure.
For more information about the summer program or to apply for participation or for mentor opportunities, contact Alexander Levering Kern, Megan Lynes, or LaToya Staine Carriker at IFYI@ coopmet.org or 617-244-3650.