St. Thomas Newsroom | 22 September 2017 11:47 AM
Irfan A. Omar, associate professor of theology at Marquette University in Milwaukee, will present “The Oneness of God and the Diversity of Religions: A Muslim Perspective” on Monday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m. at the Islamic Center of Minnesota, 1401 Gardena Ave. NE, in Fridley. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning at the University of St. Thomas. Read more…
Tuesday, September 19th, 2017 5-7pm | Centers for Interreligious Understanding (2057 Portland Ave)
Join us for a fall open house at the Centers for Interreligious Understanding to celebrate and learn about the religions and cultures of South Asia. Drop by for live music, good food, and the opportunity to socialize with students, staff, and faculty from UST. Meet some of our distinguished guests and ask them questions about their South Asian traditions. This event is coordinated and sponsored by the Diversity Activities Board (DAB), the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, and the Muslim Christian Dialogue Center. Open to all UST students, staff, and faculty.
September 18, 2017
On Sept 15, 2017, the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning at the University of St. Thomas hosted a private panel of local faith and interfaith leaders who spoke on “Instilling Faith and Interfaith Understanding.” The event was organized and sponsored by the East-West Center, an independent public non-profit organization, with headquarters in Honolulu and Washington, D.C., that “promotes better relations and understanding among the people and nations of the United States, Asia, and the Pacific through cooperative study, research, and dialogue.”
The panel audience was made up of 12 senior international journalists from Australia, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Tunisia, and the United States. These journalists make up a cohort for the East-West Center’s 2017 Senior Journalists Seminar taking place September 6 – 29, 2017 with travel to Washington, D.C.; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Manila and Cotabato City, Philippines, and Rabat, Morocco. The Senior Journalists Seminar is an immersive 21-day dialogue, study, and travel program intended to enhance media coverage and elevate the public debate regarding identity and religion’s role in and resulting impact on the public sphere, specifically as it concerns U.S. relations with Muslim majority regions.
While in Minneapolis, the group met with religious and interfaith leaders, artists, public officials, members of the media, and law enforcement to experientially explore America’s multicultural and multi-religious society, the experiences of religious communities, interfaith initiatives, and how cultural and religious identity, experience, and diversity is expressed in the visual, performing, and media arts. Additionally, the journalists examine the political, military, and cultural engagement of American Muslims.
This panel, titled “Instilling Faith and Interfaith Understanding,” addressed the religious landscape of Minnesota and Minneapolis and how different religious communities in the area communicate and partner to educate the public, political leaders, and law enforcement agencies about religious tolerance. The four panelists were Rev. Dr. Curtiss DeYoung, CEO of Minnesota Council of Churches, Dr. Hans Gustafson, Director of the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning at the University of St. Thomas and adjunct professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, Randi Ilyse Roth, Executive Director of Interfaith Action of St. Paul, and Imam Dr. Tamim Saidi, Imam at Northwest Islamic Community Center and board member of Islamic Resource Group.
Star Tribune | 29 August 2017 2:40 PM
The Jay Phillips Center expresses condolences to the family and friends of Morton Bernard Phillips (1918-2017) who died peacefully in his sleep on August 22. Mort Phillips was the son of Jay and Rose Phillips and the husband of Abigail Van Buren (“Dear Abby”). Everyone connected with the Jay Phillips Center is deeply grateful to all members of the Phillips family who have so generously supported the center, especially Jay and Rose, Eddie (son of Mort), and Dean (grandson of Mort). Click “READ MORE” below to read the obituary published in the Star Tribune. Read More…
| August 1, 2017
In July of this year, at the suggestion of Dr. John Merkle and upon the recommendation of UST president Dr. Julie Sullivan and Saint John’s University(SJU) president Dr. Michael Hemesath, the Jay Phillips Center, which was a joint enterprise of UST and SJU through June of this year, was formally divided into two partner centers, one at each university. Dr. Merkle, who directed the center at both campuses for the past eight years, was appointed the director of the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning at Saint John’s University. Dr. Hans Gustafson, who served as the associate director of the center at both campuses for past six years, was appointed the director of the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning at the University of St. Thomas. The two centers will maintain a strong collaborative relationship and share the common mission to foster understanding, cooperation, and friendship among people of diverse religious identities through academic study and civic engagement. Click here to read a brief history of the Jay Phillips Center.
April 27, 2017 | Jordan Osterman ’11 | UST Newsroom
The Office for Mission has hired a Presbyterian minister, Jewish rabbi and Muslim imam onto its pastoral staff, another step forward in the university’s push toward supporting all faiths on campus and throughout the St. Thomas community.
April 24, 2017 | Janet Swiecichowski | UST Newsroom
Monday, April 24, is Holocaust Remembrance Day. St. Thomas community members are encouraged to take time for learning and reflection, not only about the atrocities of the Holocaust, but also of the bravery, courage and love seen amongst those affected by it.
March 13, 2017 | Jim Winterer ’71
Dr. Timothy Snyder, the Housum Professor of History at Yale University and author of several award-winning books – including Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin and Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning – will give two lectures in the Twin Cities on Thursday, April 6, one at the University of St. Thomas and another at the University of Minnesota
March 20, 2017 St. Thomas Newsroom
The Sacred Arts Festival at the University of St. Thomas will present “Creating Sacred Space,” a cross-disciplinary dialogue at 7 p.m. March 28 in the O’Shaughnessy Educational Center auditorium. Acclaimed architect John Cuningham and three distinguished scholars – Victoria Young, Jeanne Kilde, and Marilyn Chiat – will examine the construction of sacred space through the lenses of architecture, ritual and social history.
March 2, 2017 | St. Thomas Newsroom
Jeannine Hill Fletcher, professor of theology at Fordham University in New York City, will present “The Oneness of God and the Diversity of Religions: A Christian Perspective” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 15, in Room 100 (the Great Room) of McNeely Hall on the St. Paul campus of the University of St. Thomas. The lecture, sponsored by the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, is free and open to the public. “The earliest Christians experienced the reality of God as creator beyond human comprehension, but they also gave witness to the experience of God in Jesus Christ and the Spirit among them,” Hill Fletcher said.