Spring Break
The Daily OrangeIndividuals of faith join together for Spring Break trip
By Sarah DiGiulio
Posted: 3/2/07, 12:57 AM EST Section: News
Friday: arrive in Istanbul, Turkey; Saturday: visit the Hagia Sofia and the Suleymaniye Mosque; Sunday: visit the Ahrida Synagogue in Balat and Monday: visit the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.
This is the Spring Break itinerary of a group of Syracuse University and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry students traveling to Turkey as part of an interfaith experience.
Five Jewish students, six Christians and seven Muslims will be traveling with the Rev. Thomas Wolfe, dean of Hendricks Chapel, to explore a country where three religious traditions come together.
The group will spend one week touring Istanbul and Izmir in Turkey, Wolfe said.
"This is about bringing the students from three faith traditions together," he said.
This is the second time Wolfe has organized an interfaith trip. The goal is to encourage respectful relationships across faith traditions and to encourage interfaith dialogue, Wolfe said.
"It allows people to be more fully deepened in their own faith traditions and stand more respectfully next to a person of another tradition," he said.
At the end of each day - after eating a meal together - the group will have time to discuss with one another the experiences they have had together that day, Wolfe said. There will be three distinct perspectives.
"We're going to be deeply enriched by each other's perspectives," he said.
Throughout the trip, the group will speak with leaders from the different faiths, Wolfe said, visiting synagogues, mosques and churches. In Istanbul, they will meet with students at a Muslim seminary for a discussion, look at the ancient sites and gain a deeper understanding of the cultural traditions.
The students going on the trip applied last August to be considered for this program. They wrote a series of essays about their interest in the trip and about themselves.
"We were looking for students with well established religious identities," Wolfe said. A goal is for the students to act as teachers as well, he said.
This is the Spring Break itinerary of a group of Syracuse University and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry students traveling to Turkey as part of an interfaith experience.
Five Jewish students, six Christians and seven Muslims will be traveling with the Rev. Thomas Wolfe, dean of Hendricks Chapel, to explore a country where three religious traditions come together.
The group will spend one week touring Istanbul and Izmir in Turkey, Wolfe said.
"This is about bringing the students from three faith traditions together," he said.
This is the second time Wolfe has organized an interfaith trip. The goal is to encourage respectful relationships across faith traditions and to encourage interfaith dialogue, Wolfe said.
"It allows people to be more fully deepened in their own faith traditions and stand more respectfully next to a person of another tradition," he said.
At the end of each day - after eating a meal together - the group will have time to discuss with one another the experiences they have had together that day, Wolfe said. There will be three distinct perspectives.
"We're going to be deeply enriched by each other's perspectives," he said.
Throughout the trip, the group will speak with leaders from the different faiths, Wolfe said, visiting synagogues, mosques and churches. In Istanbul, they will meet with students at a Muslim seminary for a discussion, look at the ancient sites and gain a deeper understanding of the cultural traditions.
The students going on the trip applied last August to be considered for this program. They wrote a series of essays about their interest in the trip and about themselves.
"We were looking for students with well established religious identities," Wolfe said. A goal is for the students to act as teachers as well, he said.
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