Religious Life | Program Calendar

Worship and Celebration

"Get Centred" - a weekly half-hour service of contemplative Christian worship in the candlelit sanctuary of the Presbyterian Church on campus every Sunday night from 10:00 - 10:30 pm.

Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols - a celebration of the birth of Jesus, held at the Presbyterian Church of Danville. This year, the service will be on December 3, 2011 at 7:00 pm.

Service

Habitat for Humanity holds Saturday workdays from 9:00 am - 12:00 noon. To get involved contact Emmy Robichaud.

Fellowship

The Centre community offers a wide variety of religious groups that provide great opportunities for prayer, study, discussion, inspiration, and fellowship. Click here for meeting times of Baptist Campus Ministries, Centre Christian Fellowship, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Jewish Student Organization, Muslim Student Association, and Newman Club (Catholic).

Interfaith Relations

CentreFaith is a campus organization made up of members of diverse faith traditions committed to fostering religious understanding on campus. To find out more about CentreFaith programs contact Ethan Epping, Ibrahim Jadoon, or Natalie Pope.

March 6, 7:00 pm - Weisiger Theater

. Gabriel Said Reynolds, "The Muslim Jesus and a Table from Heaven" Gabriel Said Reynolds will discuss a fascinating passage in the Qur’an where Jesus calls down a table of food from heaven. Reynolds, a premier scholar on the relationship between the Qur’an and Biblical literatures at Notre Dame, will review the ways that this portion of the Qur’an has been believed to relate to the Bible. Reynolds will explore what this passage suggests for how the core revelation of Islam may be engaged with the New Testament.

April 23, 8:00 pm - Weisiger Theater

. DocumentaryThe New Muslim Cool” The film follows the life of a young Muslim named Hamza Perez as he tries to balance his new Muslim identity with his life as a Puerto Rican American rapper in Pittsburgh.

Social Justice

CentrePeace is a campus organization dedicated to promoting dicussion of issues realted to peace and justice. To learn more about CentrePeace, contact officers Jennifer Abraham, Laura Bramblett, Ethan Epping, or Ibrahim Jadoon. For CentrePeace history click here.

February 14, 7:30 pm - Weisiger Theater

. “Climate Change, Hunger, and the Global Food Supply” Will there be enough food to feed us all? As production of food rises to meet increased demand, what strains will this put on our environment? In developing countries especially, climate change threatens the health and economic well-being of the poor – often in already precarious and conflict-prone contexts. The relationship between climate change and world hunger is at the top of the international agenda. A speaker from Oxfam International will clarify the relationship between the local and the global.

April 3, 7:00 pm - Young 113

. “Industrial Food Production and the Plight of Immigrant Workers” Gerardo Reyes-Chavez will speak on community organizing and actions in response to the treatment of those who work to support our industrial food system. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) has been active in changing the treatment, wages and working conditions of tomato pickers supplying Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Burger King, Whole Foods and Subway. Gerardo has worked in the fields since age 11, first as a peasant farmer in Zacatecas, Mexico, and then in the fields of Florida picking oranges, tomatoes, and watermelon. He joined CIW shortly after his arrival in the United States in 2000. He has become a leader in CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food. Gerardo has helped investigate several modern-day slavery operations, including going undercover to work on tomato farms and interviewing workers who have escaped from violent, brutal operations. A member of the CIW's negotiating team, his work with retail food and tomato industry leaders has been instrumental in forging many of the CIW's Fair Food agreements (source: TED http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6fly-p3hu0)

April 17, 7:30 pm - Newlin Hall

. Marion Nestle and Daphne Miller, “We Are What We Eat” Eating is the most common and direct ethical action any of us engages in. How is food marketed? What influences our food choices? How do these choices affect our well-being? Consumer activist Marion Nestle and family physician Dr. Daphne Miller explore the consumption of food as an ethical act and offer ways we can change our lifestyles.

CentrePeace Programs for 2011-2012:

September 26, 2011, 7:00 pm - Vahlkamp Theater

. Convocation: Forum on the Arab Spring. Professors Robert Bosco, Mike Hamm, Lori Hartmann-Mahmud, and Tom McCollough speak on the changes that have occurred in the Middle East in 2011 and prospects for the future.

October 3, 2011, 7:30 pm - Vahlkamp Theater

. Convocation: Middle East Peacekeeping with Jordanian Catholic Priest Fr. Nabil Hassad.

October 20, 2011, 7:30 pm - Young 113

. Convocation: Sowing Seeds of Peace in Colombia. John Henry Gonzalez Duque, founder of the Small Scale Farmers Movement of Cajibio Colombia, speaks about policies that promote a decent life for small farmers in the midst of Colombia's civil war. In the face of death threats and violence, John Henry mobilizes farmers to work for agrarian reform, water security and land ownership rights, monitoring of human rights violations, and promotion of creative alternatives of coca. John Henry studied for the priesthood with the Franciscan Friars and is working on a degree in Business Administration and Economic Ethics.

November 12-19, 2011 - Poverty and Homelessness Week

. A full week of service opportunities and educational events related to the realities of poverty and homelessness and what we can do about them. Contact Rachel Skaggs or Patrick Noltemeyer.

November 18-20, 2011 - Vigil at the School of the Americas

. Travel with members of CentrePeace to the gates of Ft. Benning, Georgia for a vigil that commemorates the assassination of 6 Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter by graduates of this U.S. Army school that has trained Latin American militaries and paramilitaries.

November 21, 2011 - Farm to Cafeteria Banquet

. Dine on delicious foods produced locally and sustainably. Guests from Berea College, Kentucky Proud, and Marksbury Farms will speak about how to create a local food economy, and how Centre's Cowan cafeteria can be a part of the movement.

Theological Education

October 27, 2011

. Convocation - "On Dying with Christ: Augustine's Understanding of Baptism and Redemption." Centre's Religion Program brings to campus J. Patout Burns, Professor emeritus of Christian thought at Vanderbilt University and a leading Augustiniam scholar, for a focus on how the thought of Augustine changed theological constructs in medieval society.

March 12, 8:00 pm - Young 113

. Paul Knitter, “Christian Atonement from a Buddhist Perspective” Even if we take the idea of atonement symbolically, just what does it really mean? After reviewing past answers to that question, Dr. Paul Knitter will explore how, with a little help from Buddhism, Christians might come to an understanding of atonement that is both faithful to Christian tradition and more relevant to our contemporary context. Dr. Knitter is Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions, and Culture at Union Theological Seminar in New York City. He has been at the forefront of discussions on religious pluralism and interreligious dialogue.

April 2, 7:30, Newlin Hall

. “Religion and Politics” Professor David Campbell, a nationally recognized scholar in the field of religion and American politics, will take an in-depth look at the role of religion in the 2012 presidential election. Is there a “God gap” in the American electorate? How is the election shaped by the religion of the candidates? And how, in spite of the political divisions that result from religion, can America also be a religiously tolerant nation? Why have we not torn ourselves apart along the religious fault lines that have increasingly come to divide us? Among many other things, David Campbell is the co-author (with Robert Putnam) of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us and the editor of A Matter of Faith: Religion in the 2004 Presidential Election.

The Labyrinth

Prayer in Motion

. At the corner of Walnut and College Streets in the park adjacent to the Church, Centre College and the Presbyterian Church share a labyrinth

. A labyrinth is a large circle with a single path that winds back and forth moving alternately toward and away from the center, covering every quadrant, leading ultimately to a central prayer circle. The labyrinth is a metaphor for our spiritual journey. To walk the labyrinth is to make a pilgrimage and to be present to and with God, ourselves, and others. It allows us to bring our whole being into the experience, worshipping with our bodies as well as our hearts and minds.

. Our labyrinth is modeled after one set into the floor of Chartres Cathedral in Frances (built between 1194 and 1220 CE). It offered a safe alternative to the practice of pilgrimage to the Holy Land to those for whom such travel was dangerous or impossible. Today, the spiritual practice of walking the labyrinth is being revived all over the world. For more information see www.labyrinthsociety.org or www.danvillelabyrinth.org.