Interfaith Week

Interfaith Week All this week, March 21–27, students are invited to celebrate Interfaith Week at the University of North Dakota, sponsored by Campus Ministry Association, Muslim Student Association & UPC, Funded through SOFA, United Campus Ministries, and the UND Wellness Center. Monday, March 21 7:00 pm Insight Meditation Sitting, (Lotus Meditation Center) Tuesday, March 22 11:00 am Mandala Project and Sand Painting (ND Museum of Art) (continues through the week) 11:30 am Opening Ceremony for Tibetan Monks (ND Museum of Art) 5:00 pm Tibetan Monk Presentation (ND Museum of Art) 6:15 pm Free Dinner (International Centre ) 7:00 pm Presentation on Judaism (International Centre) Wednesday, March 23 11:00 am Mandala Project continues (ND Museum of Art) 12:00 pm Lenten Prayer Service: “The Heart of Christianity” ; followed by a free soup lunch (Christus Rex) 6:30 pm Free Dinner and Islam Presentation with Interfaith Youth Core (Christus Rex)* 8:38 pm Lenten Prayer Service: “The Heart of Christianity”; (Christus Rex) Thursday, March 24 9:00 am Student Leadership & Social Action: What’s Interfaith Got To Do With It?; (Memorial Union River Valley Room, includes free breakfast)* 11:00 am Mandala Project continues (ND Museum of Art) 11:30 am Free Lunch for Student Religious & Multicultural Leaders: What’s Our Vision? (River Valley Room)* 7:00 pm Native American Presentation - includes snacks (American Indian Center) Friday, March 25 12:00 pm Mandala Project Closing Ceremony and Interfaith Blessing Ceremony (ND Museum of Art) 12:45 pm Reception and Free Lunch (Hopper-Danley Memorial Chapel) 2:00 pm Muslim Service (Hopper-Danley Memorial Chapel) Sunday, March 27 10:30 am Christus Rex Lutheran Campus Center SCHEDULE * Denotes an IFYC event. Notable Events during Interfaith Week at the University of North Dakota Mandala Project The University Program Council is excited to announce that the Tibetan Buddhist monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery will construct a Mandala Sand Painting at the North Dakota Museum of Art from Tuesday, March 22, 2011 to Friday, March 25, 2011 from 10am-5pm. The opening ceremony will be on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 11:30am and the closing ceremony will be on Friday, March 25, 2011 at 12pm. The Tibetan Monks Mandala sand painting will be held in conjunction with Interfaith Week. From all the artistic traditions of Tantric Buddhism, that of painting with colored sand ranks as one of the most unique and exquisite. Millions of grains of sand are laid into place on a flat platform over a period of days or weeks to form the image of a mandala. To date the monks have created mandala sand paintings in more than 100 museums, art centers, and colleges and universities in the United States and Europe. The creation of a sand painting is said to effect purification and healing. The mandala sand painting begins with an opening ceremony which may include chanting, music and mantra recitation. Throughout the week they then lay the colored sands to form the mandala. Traditionally most sand mandalas are destroyed shortly after their completion. This is done as a metaphor for the impermanence of life. To fulfill the function of healing, half is distributed to the audience at the closing ceremony, while the remainder is carried to a nearby body of water, where it is deposited. The waters then carry the healing blessing to the ocean, and spreads throughout the world. Interfaith Youth Core Training Session I Wednesday, March 23 at 6:30 pm •Islam Presentation and Exploring Religious Diversity at UND (Christus Rex) This event begins with a free dinner, provided by the Saudi Student Organization. The conversation that follows will be an opportunity for students and faculty to (1) learn more about Islam and the Muslim community on campus and (2) engage in a dialogue around the role of interfaith cooperation at University of North Dakota. Students will get a chance to learn about the Muslim tradition from students on campus from the Muslim Student Association. Attendees will also get to share their own values and faith/non-faith experience, as part of an in-depth discussion around what it means to engage diversity in the 21st Century. Training Session II Thursday, March 24 at 9:00 am • Student Leadership & Social Action: What’s Interfaith Got to Do With It? (The Memorial Union, 2nd Floor in the River Valley Room) This IFYC session speaks to what’s interfaith cooperation all about – and how can it strengthen student leadership and social action work on campus? What does it mean to live in an increasingly-globalized world and a country that is more diverse by the day? How can everyone – people of strong faiths or no religious affiliation at all - build on this diversity to create a better world? Students will get a chance to tackle these urgent questions and learn “interfaith cooperation 101.” Students will walk away with new knowledge around what “interfaith” means in the 21st Century – as well as gain training in key leadership skills, such as storytelling and mobilizing. (Breakfast provided!) For more information contact: christusrex@und.nodak.edu or matthew.finley@und.ed