Loading...The Center for Interfaith Relations presents the 19th annual Festival of Faiths, an event that celebrates the diversity of our faith traditions, promotes unity and strengthens the role of faith in society through common action. Sacred Earth Sacred Self is the theme of the May 2014 Festival of Faiths, which will take place May 14-18, 2014 at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Tickets are available through the Actors Theatre of Louisville box office, 502-584-1205 or 800-428-5849, or online at www.festivaloffaiths.org.
The Festival will begin with an Interfaith Service: A Call to Prayer at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13, at the Cathedral of the Assumption, 433 S. Fifth Street. The Interfaith Service is free and open to the public.
The program this year focuses on the choices we make and how they reflect the story of our relationship with the Earth and in turn with the Divine. The program will feature international leaders in the areas of environmental and social justice, sustainability, agriculture and interconnectedness. Programs will include daily guided meditations, keynote addresses, films, and photographic exhibits.
A highlight of the Festival will be a joint appearance by two of America's most notable literary figures - poet, farmer, essayist and activist Wendell Berry and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and environmentalist Gary Snyder. This event, "Distant Neighbors," is also the title of a new collection of Berry and Snyder's correspondence, written over the last half century. Advance copies of the book, which will not appear in bookstores until June, will be on sale at the Festival bookstore. This program, which will take place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, May 14 in the Pamela Brown Theater, will also feature Jack Shoemaker, founder of Counterpoint Press, as the moderator.
Other Festival of Faiths presenters include Patrick Holden, founder of Great Britain's Sustainable Food Trust and an advisor to the Prince of Wales; Dr. Monica Weis, SSJ, author of The Environmental Vision of Thomas Merton (2011); Dr. Julian Agyeman, Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University; Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, president, co-founder, and senior faculty member at Zaytuna College, America's first Muslim liberal arts college; and H.H. Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji, President and Spiritual Head of Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, one of India's largest spiritual institutions.
The Festival will open with a reflection by Melissa Nelson, cultural ecologist and indigenous scholar-activist entitled Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future. Other Festival highlights will include a colloquy between Ed Bastian, nationally known expert on Buddhism and world religions, and his son, local public radio newsman Jonathan Bastian. With Sheikh Kabir Helminski and Sheikha Camille Helminski, Ed Bastian will lead a program in InterSpiritual Exploration and conclude with an InterSpiritual Zikr. Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons, founders of Bioneers, will explore the topic of rebuilding nature, and the Pachamama Alliance will conduct a symposium entitled "Awakening the Dreamer." Gerardo Abboud, president of the Dongyuling Center in Argentina, which offers free teachings of Buddhist theory and practice, will lead daily guided meditations.
Ticket prices for individual programs range from free to $25. Student tickets are half-price. Week passes are available for $150. For more information about Festival of Faiths events, speakers and tickets please visit www.festivaloffaiths.org.
