HOPE and LOVE in Times of Despair

This article was written by Dr. James Puglisi,

Associate Director of Campus Ministry at St. Edward’s

University, rugby player, and lover of Salsa dancing

Dr. James Puglisi

What a year! Disturbing in many ways. Violence driven by bigotry and fear of the “other”. Religious extremism in Istanbul, Baghdad, and Medina! Racially driven violence in Baton Rouge, Minnesota, and Dallas. It is understandable why people feel a sense of despair and hopelessness, doubting the possibility of a future peace, in a world where people embrace and value each person. I know I have those days, and it often taxes my faith, something significant for a so-called “person of faith” who also makes his living as a “Professional Catholic,” as I once heard my ministry referred to. That some of this violence is contributed to religious reasons is even more disturbing, but then again, religion has been co-opted to support religious and racial extremism for centuries.

Back to that sense of “hopelessness.” In my role as a Campus Minister at St. Edward’s University (Professional Catholic!), I am tasked with supporting our religiously diverse and culturally rich student population. I can tell you, these young adults offer an entirely different lens in seeing the world, smashing the narrative of divisiveness and offering a counter-narrative of HOPE and LOVE.

Let me tell you about some of these wonderful students. Three women, one Jewish, one Hindu and one Muslim, walked into a Catholic college and…! In this case, there is no punch line! The first student is Dhara, my interfaith leader, who is Hindu with parents from India. The second is Elia, President of the Hillel Toppers Jewish Student group, who is of Yemeni Swiss descent and whose family mostly now lives in Israel and Switzerland. And lastly Mahnoor, who is president of the Muslim Student Association with parents from Pakistan.

These three leaders, recognizing that the calendar offered a rare overlap of the Jewish observance of Yom Kippur and the Muslim observance of Eid al-Adha, decided to bring their communities together for an observance of what they called: “Eid Kippur.” I don’t know if that is really “religiously” acceptable, but I know when to get out of the way! So, the Muslim Student Association and the Hillel Toppers Jewish Student Association gathered together as one community at St. Edward’s to jointly celebrate their religious observances. What a joy to see close to 200 Muslim, Jewish, and students of other traditions, gathered for a meal and community dialogue, benefiting also from the presence of local leaders from the Muslim and Jewish communities.

While the players in this story could have been the lead into a typical religious joke, there was no joke in this case. We live in a world where the prevailing narrative politically and socially says that the Indian and the Pakistani cannot get along. That the Indian Hindu and the Pakistani Muslim can’t get along. That Jewish and Muslim can’t get along. And yet, we have the Hindu campus ministry student leader, supporting the Jewish and Muslim student leaders, who are bringing together their communities in the midst of a Roman Catholic institution. That is not a joke, just the ability for three individuals to break through the false narrative that says they cannot be friends and work together.

Sadly, Eid al-Adha and Yom Kippur do not fall together this year and student leaders come and go. But do we really need such excuses to come together, to break down the borders of our differences that divide us. We think of borders as a means of protection, keeping others out, and that may be so. The other reality is that borders keep ourselves in. We essentially lock ourselves up, restricted to only that which we already have. We were never intended as creatures to stop growing and expanding.