Category: Newsletter Editorial

Life around the chapel is bursting with spiritual, religious and learning opportunities; it’s like a colorful marketplace, where people of various faiths and ethnic backgrounds come not to sell but to share what is most precious to them. And we all grow.

Take me and the Druid fellow with whom I recently connected at a study session….

In these divisive times, the world has deep need of people who uphold Carleton’s core aspirations: building a welcoming and inclusive community, while encouraging individual freedom of inquiry and expression. 

We continue to live in challenging times.  Fifty years after the Civil Rights Movement, racism, discrimination, and violence still perpetuate devastating realities in this country.

It is written in the Hebrew scriptures that a certain newly-arisen king of Egypt took note of the large Hebrew immigrant population in his land. He seems to have been afraid, at least that’s what he told his constituents, and he ordered that any newborn Hebrew boy be thrown into the Nile.

One hundred and fifty years ago, local Congregationalists launched a new college in Northfield, dedicated to the growth of its students’ intellectual, moral, and spiritual lives.  One hundred years ago this fall, the College showed its commitment to this vision by building the beautiful Skinner Memorial Chapel.  Seventy years ago, the College hired its first chaplain to help the campus explore the integral relationship between faith and learning.

…Or perhaps, “Two College Chaplains Walk Into a Coffee Shop.” Or, “A Muslim and a Jew Meet in the Shadow of a Huge Cathedral” (St. John the Divine, in New York City). Or, “Two Carls Get Together at Columbia University.”

This summer, the Chapel has been undergoing major renovations, including adding air conditioning and a Muslim foot washing station, updating some of the basement rooms for different needs, revamping the heating and ventilation, and putting in new sound, projection, and lighting systems. As the college grows, the Chapel must change to best serve current and future students as the spiritual center of our diverse community.

At the end of the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march 50 years ago, Martin Luther King gave a speech, often called “How Long, Not Long,” on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol. That question of “How Long?” comes to mind when we still see the need for Black Lives Matter protests around the country against racial profiling, police brutality, and mass incarceration. Real change can be so slow, when people are being mistreated and dying right now.

Sometimes I just hate doing the work.

Carleton is a lively religious and spiritual campus. With slight variations each year, about 60% of our student body claims a religious preference, with almost every religion in the world represented here. Most of our student religious groups are sizable and active, and Chapel events representing different faiths are well attended. Today’s religious students tend to be both knowledgeable about their faith and open to learning about other traditions.