{"id":23435,"date":"2015-02-25T16:20:56","date_gmt":"2015-02-25T21:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=23435"},"modified":"2015-02-25T16:20:56","modified_gmt":"2015-02-25T21:20:56","slug":"u-of-ts-multi-faith-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2015\/02\/25\/u-of-ts-multi-faith-centre\/","title":{"rendered":"U of T’s Multi-Faith Centre"},"content":{"rendered":"For many students, spirituality plays an important role in their identity and to meet the diverse spiritual and religious needs of students, U of T created the Multi-Faith Centre for Spiritual Study and Practice (MFC).\r\n\r\nBut how does a secular university accommodate such a variety of faith traditions? The answer, says Richard Chambers, Director of the MFC, is to welcome religious communities without privileging them. Here are some of the ways in which the MFC is working for and with students:\r\n
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  1. Multi-faith facilities and related services<\/strong><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nCurrently, there are multi-faith spaces<\/strong><\/a> located in nine buildings across campus. They can be booked online<\/a> for prayer, worship, and other spiritual practices. The Bahen Centre\u2019s space, for example, is usually booked for midday prayers (Dhuhr prayers) and provides mats.\r\n\r\nThe Campus Chaplains Association <\/strong><\/a>includes twelve denominations to date and all of the chaplains are here to support students, faculty, and staff at U of T. They can help you with finding community on campus, counselling, events (retreats, celebrations, forums), discussion groups, and worship opportunities on campus.\r\n\r\nThe MFC can also help you navigate any concerns related to campus life, such as issues like dietary restrictions or religious observances.\u00a0Richard<\/a> is available by email to give students any guidance possible.\r\n\r\n
    \"Student<\/a>
    Student spaces, courtesy of the Multi-Faith Centre.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n
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    1. Education<\/strong><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nGetting involved with the MFC is a great opportunity to learn more about the variety of faith traditions on campus and to better develop your own spirituality. \u201cIf you are looking for answers to the big questions in life,\u201d says Richard, \u201cWe can help you with that!\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Centre regularly hosts events like discussion groups, talks, retreats, and workshops<\/a> that are available to all U of T students. Richard also encourages those who identify as atheists to join in on multi-faith events. New perspectives enrich discussion and involvement can help students build the skills necessary to participate in a multi-faith society after graduation.\r\n\r\n
      \"There<\/a>
      There is a LOT going on at the MFC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n
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      1. \u00a0Community<\/strong><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n\u201cMuffin Madness<\/a>\u201d is one of the Centre\u2019s most popular events, giving students the chance to chat over free, no-strings-attached muffins. The Centre also coordinates Grief Sharing Circles<\/a> which provide drop-in support for students with different kinds of loss.\r\n\r\n\u201cWrite Now<\/a>\u201d is one of the Centre\u2019s newer programs: the group holds weekly drop-in writing sessions geared at nurturing writing and reflection. \u00a0No previous writing experience required!\r\n\r\nYou can find more information about the Multi-Faith Centre, including programming and booking information, on their website<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>\u00a0page. Students can also email Richard<\/a> with any questions regarding religious and spiritual life on campus.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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        \nFor many students, spirituality plays an important role in their identity and to meet the diverse spiritual and religious needs of students, U of T created the Multi-Faith Centre for Spiritual Study and Practice (MFC). But how does a secular…\n<\/div>
        Continue reading “U of T’s Multi-Faith Centre”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
        Continue reading “U of T’s Multi-Faith Centre”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":239,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12683],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23435"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23435"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23467,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23435\/revisions\/23467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}