Laurier Faith Forum is a function of RSAC whose goal is to increase the knowledge, awareness and understanding of religious and spiritual faith traditions as they manifest themselves in a university setting. The history, practice and place of these traditions in our contemporary world will be explored in ways that will enhance the academic and social experiences of student life and that of faculty and staff. This will be accomplished through maintaining ongoing multi-faith events.
Objectives
1. To deepen campus awareness of religious traditions and practices and promote dialogue and mutual understanding among different religious and spiritual traditions and between religious and secular visions of the world through sponsorship and co-sponsorship of lectures, talks, panels, multi-faith feasts and other events that reflect the spiritual and religious constituency of Laurier.
2. To sponsor a Laurier Interfaith Conference on a topic of broad interest that will encourage networking among student religious clubs, faculty and staff.
3. To establish and maintain a Laurier Faith Forum website to announce interfaith events and promote dialogue and understanding among the different faiths.
4. To provide shared spiritual experiences for students representing a variety of religious practices to deepen mutual understandings through exchange, discussion, ritual, prayer and play.
Core Values
Laurier Faith Forum is not organized from one faith perspective or single religious and spiritual tradition. Participants in the Forum represent a variety of traditions. While seeking some common understandings they seek neither to blur the boundaries between traditions nor have the intention to convert any of these traditions to a single vision. Laurier Faith Forum does intend to increase knowledge and encourage communication across faith traditions, cultures, spaces and between religious and secular realms.
We agree on three core values:
1. intellectual honesty and rigour
2. deep commitment to interfaith dialogue that leads to interfaith friendship
3. a belief that faith traditions are best represented by their practioners and that
no one individual speaks for a faith tradition as a whole.
What are chaplains? What do chaplains do?
Chaplains are like ministers, or priests, or other clergy, except that most of their work is done outside of a traditional church. The Laurier chaplains are all recognized leaders in their churches, and have been commissioned to represent their traditions on campus.
The work of a Chaplain is nearly endlessly diverse:
Chaplains offer spiritual counsel, encouragement, and education. The chaplains seek to help students, faculty, and staff integrate their faith with their learning.
Chaplains offer pastoral care.
Chaplains provide forums for multi-faith discussion, and participate in other extra-curricular educational and awareness-raising events.
Chaplains offer nourishment: food and drink are a big part of their ministry.
Chaplains like to meet people, to shoot the breeze, or have deep discussions about nearly any topic under the sun.
The Chaplains’ office is in Macdonald House, room 119. The chaplains can be reached by phone at ext. 3587#. Or, just stop by.
