Sharing Sacred Ground (continued from page 31) show up for [Jummah] Prayers or for Mass.â In addition to the Hindu Puja, Islamic Jummah Prayers, Buddhist Meditation and Jewish services held in Phillips Church, thereâs also a Protestant Worship Service and a nondenominational Evening Prayer once a week.The Thursday morning meditation given by a member of the community is another weekly event that brings a cross section of the community to the church for inspiration and reflection. Indaba, an open sharing of concerns modeled on a means of arriving at community consensus traditionally used by the Xhosa people of South Africa, takes place in the Phelps Sanctuary on Friday evenings. The renovations to Phillips Church completed in 2003 have played a significant part in making the church more welcoming to students of all faiths and in supporting the religious clubs. The renovation made dedicated rooms possible for Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Jewish practice, and brought the groups together in one facility where they are able to mix freely. The accommodation of the different faiths under one roof has promoted greater understanding and awareness of their practices. âOther clubs meet in the dining hall or library, where there are lots of distractions,â Hodges notes. âIn Phillips Church, we have a separate space that is just for the religious groups. Itâs incredibly important to have this dedicated space.â Rev. Robert Thompson â72; â71, â89, â95 (Hon.), the Phelps Minister of Phillips Church, adds, âAll the faith traditions were strengthened on campus as a result of the church renovation. It was important to me that you could practice your religion and not feel that you have to give up this part of yourself to be a good Exonian, whether you are Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish or Christian.â Thompson readily admits that in theory it shouldnât work to have all these people using the same building, especially when that building is dominated by a stained glass image of Jesus but says,âI think the students learn that their peers are not âthe other.â âŚIt makes sense that we would have all these religious practices taking place in the same 98
The Exeter Bulletin
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building because weâre part of the same community, and we love each other.â Although the students are largely responsible for deciding which services and events a club will offer, they have support and logistical assistance from a faculty adviser. In the case of the Buddhist Meditation Society, Exeter brings in a teacher of Buddhist meditation from a local retreat center, who leads the meditation and a discussion of Buddhist teachings afterward. Rabbi Jennifer Marx Asch, religion instructor, serves as adviser for EJC and leads services. Thompsonâor âthe Rev.â as the students call himâis the adviser for a number of the other clubs. âItâs been an education for me,â Thompson says of his involvement with the different groups. He cites as examples a Hindu student who helped him choose the paintings that now hang in the Puja Room and the acquisition of a Torah and ark. In the late 1990s,Thompson was challenged by Sarah Zeidel Greenberg â02 and her twin sister, Rebecca Zeidel â02, who told him that Exeter should have a Torah on campus. âI thought we were doing pretty well by allowing Jewish students to miss class to celebrate the High Holidays and by offering a Shabbat dinner. They showed me we needed to do more and taught me what I needed to know.â As a result of the sistersâ efforts, a Torah was borrowed, and for the first time, the High Holidays were celebrated on campus in 1999, so that Jewish students did not have to travel to a synagogue in Boston.The Academy received its first Torah, donated by an alumnus, in 2004. In 2011, PEAâs carpentry shop designed and built an ark in the Stuckey Room in Phillips Church to house not only the original Torah but also a newly commissioned one. The arkâs construction was funded by Bruce Saber â76 in memory of Scott Saber â82, who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Freedman says. âI cried when I first saw the ark. When my great-grandmother came to this country from Poland at the age of 8, she couldnât imagine that I would be attending an elite boarding school like this and that it would accept Jews. âŚShe would not be able to believe that there is a reverend who would have us in his church and that they would build an ark into the wall of that church.â The acceptance of Jews and students of other faiths is indeed a more recent devel-
opment in the history of Exeter.The Academy was not founded as a school with a religious affiliation, but the original Deed of Gift penned by John Phillips reflects the values of Protestant Christianity and stipulates that âProtestants only shall ever be concerned in the trust or instruction of this Seminary. . . .â A few Jewish and Catholic students attended Exeter prior to the 1950s, but it was not until Principal William Saltonstall made a deliberate commitment to fostering diversity that they began to enroll in larger numbers. In 1951, Saltonstall appointed the first Jewish instructor to the faculty and three years later introduced a Friday evening Shabbat service. In 1969, Principal Richard Day â68 (Hon.); Pâ68 oversaw the revision of the Deed of Gift, officially ending the requirement that faculty members be Protestant, and appointed a Catholic priest as school minister. Weekly church attendance was required of students until 1968, when the Trustees voted to abolish the requirement. By this time, Jewish students represented 10 percent of the student body. It was not until the late 1970s that a Catholic student group was formed.The diversity of religious groups on campus today, and their interaction with one another, would be unimaginable not just to Freedmanâs great-grandmother but to many alumni. Today Exeter can claim to welcome âyouth from every quarterâ in regard to religious diversity, too. For the students who come and go from Phillips Church on a regular basis, their involvement in a religious group is both grounding and a significant part of their education. Brown says, âIâve been to the Muslim prayer meetings. I felt comfortable because they were held in a place I knew. The people in the group were very open. I couldnât add a lot to their conversation, but it was neat that I could feel so welcome, and that they shared their food.â This generation, one can hope, will take their experience of openness and sharing across religious lines beyond the Exeter campus. Katherine Towler is a former Bennett Fellow and co-editor, with former Bennett Fellow Ilya Kaminsky, of A God in the House: Poets Talk About Faith.