ARTICLES

Beyond Toleration

Quest for an "Interfaith Space"

BY R. T. M. KIERNAN

What kind of "sacred space" would be welcoming to anyone, regardless of his religion? An event, billed as the "First International Sacred Space Design Competition," offered various possibilities. The printed program for the competition, held at the Herbst International Exhibition Hall at the San Francisco Presidio between February 17 and March 14, stated its goal: to solicit designs for a space where people could gather and be "comfortable, safe, and respected" regardless of their personal belief or lack of belief. Questions the organizers attempted to answer were: "is genuine interfaith space possible?" and "what might a space designed to accommodate the needs of all faiths look like?" The San Francisco archdiocese was represented at the event by Father P. Gerard O'Rourke, one of the competition's advisors. Father O'Rourke is the recently retired director of the archdiocesan ecumenical and interreligious affairs office.

Father O'Rourke, along with the rest of the event's "religious scholars advisory group," prepared briefings for the judges about design elements that would work and not work for their groups. The use of symbols was generally vetoed for the reason that members of some groups are offended by the symbols of other religions. Christians, for example, might be offended or made uncomfortable by images of pagan gods. In an interview with this reporter, Father O'Rourke spoke about how the cross as a symbol has been associated with terror by Jews, and he talked about how there are ongoing discussions about this topic in interfaith circles. Sensitivity, said O'Rourke, might be required in the case of someone who had been brutalized -- as in the case of a Jewish woman whose family had been beaten by crosses. Advisors flagged entries that had objectionable features with post-it notes, which eliminated the entries from the judging.

The advisors represented fifteen other religious and secular belief systems besides the Catholic Church: Sufism, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Lutheranism, Zoroastrianism, the Cultural Conservancy, the Society for Art and Cultural Heritage of India, the Greek Orthodox Church, and the Konko Church. Also acting as advisors were representatives from the Covenant of the Goddess (who practice Wikkan), Bahai, and the Joseph Campbell Foundation. Partners for the event were the Council for the Parliament of the World's Religions (www.cpwr.org) and another group, the United Religions Initiative (www.uri.org). Funding was provided by the Rose Marie Frew family.

The competition and exhibition were sponsored by the group, Expressing the United Religions Initiative in Music and the Arts. According to the event's program, this group is responsible for "the first ever Inter-faith songbook ... 'One World, Many Voices.'" Other sponsoring organizations were the Interfaith Center at the Presidio (now in charge of the Main Post Chapel and, as the exhibition program states, "dedicated to building friendly, mutually supportive relationships among people from different faith traditions for the good of us all") and the American Institute of Architects, San Francisco Chapter (www.aisf.org).

The exhibit was sparsely attended on Sunday afternoon, February 22, when this reporter was present. People would stroll in by ones and twos and gaze for a while at the entries (mounted on 2 x 3 foot boards), which looked a little like laundry clipped to black clothesline wires strung across the room beneath tiny halogen lamps. Some attendees ate one of the free apples or oranges from a wooden bowl full of fruit provided by the event organizers.

Donald Frew, a man with shoulder-length, curling, graying hair pulled back in a ponytail at the base of his neck, was standing at the table at the entrance to the exhibit. Frew's family funded the competition, and he is active in many worldwide interfaith organizations. His business card identified him as Elder and Interfaith Representative for a Wikkan organization called the Covenant of the Goddess. He responded cordially to questions from this reporter and others.

Frew said the fact that many of the exhibition's designs were not flagged as offensive by any religious advisor was proof that a non-religious specific sacred space is possible. According to Frew, the winning designs are examples that can answer the second question, "what might such a space look like?"

Frew said advisors rejected designs that would have people coming together in a common area and then worshipping individually in separate rooms; such separations, said Frew, promote pigeonholing and fragmentation.

Some of the other goals stated in the exhibition brochure seem timely and needed; for example, "help religions achieve a base in world affairs by demonstrating their commitment to common values and their willingness to collaboratively use spiritual methods to promote world peace." But other goals could be seen as being in conflict with the uniqueness of the Catholic faith. One such is the goal to "provide opportunities for people to meet and share with others in ways that will expand their own understanding of what is sacred or divine."

Frew said that in a well-designed sacred space people can practice their own religions alone or with others. "One doesn't have to believe [in any religion] to participate." Or one can be a committed believer. Frew and the other organizers believe that providing a space where people from many backgrounds can come together would lead to engagement and respect. The goal is to go beyond either ignoring or tolerating others who don't share one's own beliefs. "Tolerating," Frew said, "is not enough."

When asked about the dangers of religious indifferentism -- the belief that all religions are equal -- Frew said that the goal of this and other interfaith activities is not to say all religions are the same. Interfaith activities, he said, do not mean that believers need to compromise. People are free to be true to their own faith traditions.

Marcia Rose, a visitor to the exhibit who identified herself as Catholic, commented that most people already spend their time worshipping with those who hold their beliefs. Rose said, "I always wonder how we reach out to people whose spirituality does not fall under the guidelines of organized religion." Rose said that a well-designed space could draw all kinds of people in. Because of its emotional impact the experience of visiting such a space might subliminally change those who might not otherwise be open to any type of spiritual belief. "Like going to a beautiful art gallery if you don't like art. When you get there, you [could be changed because you] have this enormous feeling...."

The competition offered no cash prizes; and while first, second, third, and fourth place winners and honorable mentions were awarded, no plans are in place to build any of the winning designs. The winning entries will be presented at the 2004 Parliament of World Religions in July in Barcelona. Winners may benefit by the exposure. When asked what motivated entrants, Frew agreed that some might hope that an organization with the funds and desire to build an interreligious gathering place might see the exhibit in Barcelona and choose one of the winners to execute the project.

The exhibit's first place winner was "Interfaith Worship: A Shared Path Through the Process of Life," by Katice Lee Helsinki. It proposes a redevelopment of a disused pier in the historic Charlestown, Massachusetts navy yard, near where Old Ironsides, the U.S.S. Constitution, is on display. Most of the pier would be planted with rows of trees, with some buildings to provide meeting spaces. Its most unique feature would be some islands to be created at the site, called "islands of the dead," where ceremonies might be held. It was not clear whether actual burials would be done on the islands.

The second place winner, by Vivek Anand and Philip Sebastian, has a hand-lettered title, "Space Confluence(n) [sic] a meeting place of mindful spirit(s)." This space would be a kind of park with paths among archetypal elements from many religions: a passage, a lotus pond, a tent, a tabernacle, "votives," stations, a cave, a grove, a Teaching Tree, a theatre, and a sanctuary -- all religiously non-specific, of course.

Third place went to an ambitious entry from Centerbrook Architects and Planners, LLC. This entry had the most appealing architectural elements, including a well-ordered street-level facade and a spiral ramp leading up to a gorgeous dome. This design would be built in a city, where passersby would encounter a welcoming facade with glimpses of a garden visible through openings onto the street. Once inside the facade, people would be drawn progressively inward and up the spiral to the dome. The architects wrote, "the Church of the Future will have layers of allure that lead the uninitiated from the familiar to the transcendent." They called it "a sacred SPACE rather than scared PLACE" to be "experienced on three levels."

Fourth place went to the "Inner City Interfaith Chapel." The chapel was designed by the University of Houston's college of architecture, to be built below street level, to "bring a clearing to the overgrown concrete jungle" and to allow people to "celebrate each other's differences and celebrate their commonalities."

After attending the exhibit, I spoke by phone to Father O'Rourke, who talked freely and at length. I asked O'Rourke if he agreed with the goal for a sacred space that is welcoming to everyone regardless of belief or unbelief. "The one thing I want is for the space to be safe for the people who are present so they will not feel attacked," he said.

Father O'Rourke said that a shared space should be devoid of symbols. An article in the February 15 San Francisco Chronicle quoted O'Rourke objecting to an entry that portrayed an altar with symbols of seven world religions. "That's almost sacrilegious," he was quoted as saying. "Keep it simple. People just need a safe place where they can get together." O'Rourke told me he preferred the creation of a neutral space where practitioners could bring their own religious symbols. He recalled open air Masses that he has performed in Brazil when there were no other places available and where he brought the chalice and the bread and wine and other items with him that he needed to say Mass.

To my question, why Catholics should be involved in endeavors like the Sacred Space competition, Father O'Rourke said, "in a place like this [San Francisco] there is such diversity of religions. My commitment is to have a good working relationship. My model for this is Jesus Christ." Father O'Rourke cited many cases where Jesus reached out to people outside of the Jewish faith -- as when He healed the servant of the Roman centurion, who was a pagan, and when he spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well, at a time when the Jews viewed the Samaritans as heretics. Father O'Rourke referenced part of Galatians 6:10: "...while we have the opportunity, let us do good to all...."

O'Rourke said that, by their participation in such ecumenical events, "Catholics' own faith is deepened." He added that people from other faiths who meet Catholics at such events gain "respect for our Church and our stands." Father O'Rourke said that he does not modify his beliefs in interactions with people from other persuasions and that others "appreciate my commitment." An example of this, said O'Rourke, is Don Frew. Frew, said Father O'Rourke, has told him that some people from other religious backgrounds who know Frew is a Wikkan treat him as being barely human. But because of Father O'Rourke and other Catholics like the Jesuits who were cordial and welcoming to him when he attended a World Day of Peace at Assisi, Frew has a sense of gratitude and respect for Catholics as a result.

Father O'Rourke added that one positive result of ecumenism since Vatican II is that major Protestant denominations are becoming more liturgical and gaining more respect for the Eucharist and the priesthood. And, he said, "they had no concept of social justice" until they "bumped into Catholicism."

Though is he is retired as director of the archdiocese's ecumenical and interreligious affairs office, Father O'Rourke said he still has a busy schedule. He reeled off a list of events he was slated to attend in the upcoming week, including a meeting with Jews on Monday, officiating at a penance service with the kids at St. Gabriel's (where he is in residence and says Masses on Sundays) on Tuesday, and a Buddhist/Catholic dialogue on Thursday.

Born in 1925, Father O'Rourke said he was ordained in 1950 at St. Patrick's Seminary in Maynooth, outside of Dublin in Ireland, at a time when "there was not much ecumenism." During his lifetime everyone became more informed about the other people in the world. When Father O'Rourke ministered briefly as a priest in Brazil, he saw that the first thing a poor person bought was a radio. "Even the kid in the jungle wants to be informed [about other people]."

"We can't ignore the people around us," Father O'Rourke continued. "Jesus told us we should read the signs of the times. We need in our world to show up as people of peace, people of inclusion, [be] truly a world Church."

To answer Catholics who might object to the archdiocese being involved in interreligious endeavors, Father O'Rourke suggested reading several Church documents. He cited the Second Vatican Council's Nostra Ætate and the encyclical letters of Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio and Ut Unum Sint. (All of these documents are available at www.vatican.va.) In particular, Father O'Rourke called out paragraph 20 of Ut Unum Sint, which states that ecumenism is not an appendix but an organic part of the Church's life and work.

Further, Father O'Rourke mentioned the two interfaith offices in the Vatican as more proof that the Church is behind what he has been doing. In the Vatican, Jewish-Christian relations are handled by the Commission for Religious Relations with Jews, under the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Inter-religious relations are under the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. The San Francisco archdiocesan office for ecumenical and interreligious affairs exists because, as the Pontifical Council states, dialogue is mostly done at the local level.

Asked whether he believed that dialogue held the danger of indifferentism, Father O'Rourke, said, "you've got to keep an eye on that all the time." He speculated that people who would be likely to think that dialogue and respect mean that all religions are the same would have a weak faith to begin with.

But how is interreligious dialogue related to bringing all men into the unity of which Pope John Paul II speaks in Ut Unum Sint -- "unity constituted by the bonds of the profession of faith, the sacraments and hierarchical communion"? In other words, how does dialogue serve the end of drawing men into the Catholic Church? O'Rourke said dialogue is a kind of "pre-evangelization." Showing respect and love in dialogue "creates a space -- for want of a better word -- where the person can listen to what I' m up to and to what Jesus may be up to, instead of carrying around whatever prejudicial thing that he or she has in his or her heart."

Father O'Rourke said interfaith dialogue is "a work of patience." It is also filled with trial and error. "If we're committed to a least honoring our love for one another as Christians and then as humans beyond that," he said, "then we can make some progress in this world. As I tell people in the interfaith, interreligious world, we're just babies in this. We humans have never engaged in these conversations until our time. We're infants. So don't get disturbed if we don't get it right."

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