Are you someone who is curious about faith diversity at Â鶹AV? Are you excited to meet and converse with students from different backgrounds? Do you want to enhance your dialogue skills? MORSL regularly offers opportunities to be part of a small cohort to build a community of interfaith dialogue practice that is unique on campus. All students are welcome to apply, no prior experience required, and students of all backgrounds and belief systems are invited!
Winter 2025ÌýDates
| Date | Time |
|---|---|
| February 11 | 4:00 - 5:30 PM |
| February 13 | 4:00 - 5:30 PM |
| February 18 | 4:00 - 5:30 PM |
| February 20 | 4:00 - 5:30 PM |
Locations: This program is hosted jointly by Â鶹AV's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (MORSL), and Concordia's Multi-faith and Spirituality Centre (MfSC). Two workshops will be held on the Â鶹AV downtown campus, and two will be held on the Concordia downtown campus.
Format
The nature of this program requires mutual trust that builds over time, and the sessions are designed to create a safe space through activities that progressively deepen a sense of community within the cohort. For these reasons, no new participants will be admitted once the program is under way.ÌýWorkshops will be in person only (no recorded sessions, no remote participation).
Register
The deadline to apply for Winter 2025 is February 6, 2025 at 11:59pm.Ìý
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Eligibility
To join our cohort you must meet the following criteria:
- Be a Â鶹AV student registered for the current semester.
- Commit to attending all workshop sessions.
- Produce and share a reflection piece on your experience as part of the program.
What to Expect
The selected students will benefit from:
- Learning skills that will help you in all areas of your future work and studies.
- Official recognition for your participation on your student Co-Curricular Record.
- The opportunity to earn a Certificate of Recognition of Interfaith Leadership Recognition from MORSL (more details to be announced soon!)
- Free coffee, tea, and snacks enjoyed in the community.
- Become prepared to participate in a level two interfaith dialogue workshop on completion of this program.
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At the end of this workshop, participants can expect to:
- Gain fundamental knowledge of diverse faith traditions and spiritualities, including their own.
- Understand theÌýbasic ethics of interfaith dialogue and respectful engagement.
- Develop skills through the practice of interfaith dialogue.
- Reflect on how dialogue skills can enhance collaborative projects on campus.
Learn More
Expand your knowledge about the and read our collection of articles related to Interfaith Dialogue.
Questions?
See our FAQs below or send an email to morsl [at] mcgill.ca.
FAQs
What is the Practical Skills for Interfaith Dialogue series?
Given the context of religious and cultural diversity in the Â鶹AV campus, this series on practical skills for interfaith dialogue will provide an opportunity for the Â鶹AV students get to know each other’s faith traditions and orientations. The workshop series aims to accomplish following objectives:
- To provide an inclusive forum in which students engage in interfaith dialogue.
- To cultivate the community feeling among the students through interfaith friendship, trust, and respect, resulting in positive experiences.
- To further MORSL’s mission of nurturing a holistic-wellbeing and enhancing the spiritual wellness of the participants.
- To provide a forum for students to practice the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in a pluralistic setting as part of preparing future-ready students and global citizens.
What kind of dialogue skills can I learn?
The workshop will introduce diverse approaches and methods of interfaith dialogue and help the participants to apply and practice them with other participants. The workshop will focus on some of the basic etiquette of dialogue such as active listening, having honest conversations, being respectful while disagreeing, and critical self-reflection. The participants will be also trained to dialogue on a range of topics, from less complex to more complex.
Can I join the series part-way through?
Please note that once the cohort is selected, we will close applications. Interfaith dialogue requires mutual trust that builds over time, and this series is designed to create a safe space through activities that progressively deepen a sense of community within the cohort. For these reasons, it is not possible to join once the series is under way.
What do we expect from the reflection piece?
Your reflection piece is a personal project that can take different forms. The goal is to create something (essay, artwork, etc.) that reflects what you have learned and can share with the Â鶹AV community. It could be an individual work or group work with other workshop participants – we are open to your proposals and want you to make this your own. The participants will have the opportunity to work on their reflection piece during the series and will share their learning with the Â鶹AV community through various outlets such as social media or a web page.
