Connections 2021 by Hartford International University for Religion and Peace

TABLE OF CONTENTS

If you’re an alum from 60 years ago or you graduated in May, I want welcome you to an issue of Connections magazine that celebrates the 20th anniversary of our revered Islamic Chaplaincy Program.

What Does It Mean to Be an Alum?

Islamic Chaplaincy Program: Past, Present, and Future

Q&A with Dr. Ingrid Mattson

Chaplains in Action

A Tribute to Sohaib Sultan

Alum Excerpts from New Book

Alumni in Action

In Loving Memory

President’s Message

Why Change? A Faculty Perspective

While that requires some looking back, we’re also looking ahead, preparing for a whole raft of changes we initiated during a year-plus of working remotely during the pandemic. This fall, we launch three new MA degrees, and we will formally announce a new name and logo that will carry us into the future (more about that on page 35 in an essay by Dr. Timur Yuskaev). All of this comes on the heels of a major $5+ million grant from the Lilly Foundation to fund research on the impact of the pandemic on Christian churches, which will be supplemented with other funds to make the research multifaith. You, our alumni, are the most valuable resource we have, and we want to hear your ideas and thoughts about where the Seminary has been and where it’s headed. Reach out any time to alumni@hartsem. edu, and if you’re in the vicinity of Hartford, please stop by or join us for an event. In yours and God’s service, exploring differences, deepening faith.

Joel N. Lohr President

editor | Susan Schoenberger designer | Steven Havira

What does it mean to be a Hartford Seminary alum?

We all contribute in different ways.

For each of the thousands of graduates of our degree and certificate programs, the answer varies widely in the details.

Your contribution can help students of all faiths enter our MA in Chaplaincy Program.

Our alumni/ae lead and shepherd faith congregations, volunteer to perform hospice rituals, attend to the spiritual needs of college students and military service members, organize communities working for social and economic justice, publish books, teach classes, and foster peace through interreligious understanding. Though our stories differ, they all center on the universal theme of taking what we absorbed during our time at Hartford Seminary and sharing it with the wider world in impactful ways. When we arrived as students, each of us brought the unique threads of our backgrounds, languages, cultures, and religious practices into our seminary experience, weaving them together into a beautiful and richly diverse tapestry of compassion, love, and faith. As graduates, we show others what true inclusivity looks like. As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of our Islamic Chaplaincy Program, we can look back and see just how pioneering a program it was. Pursuing a program to develop Muslim faith leaders in the United States, in the wake of the trauma of September 11, 2001, was a bold decision. Our graduates continue to be respected and recognized as important faith leaders in our country, helping to positively change the perceptions of what it means to be a Muslim American. More bold initiatives are just beginning to unfold at Hartford Seminary, as a result of our extensive strategic planning process. With the four focus areas of Interreligious Peace Studies, Religion Research, Global & Community Partnerships, and Executive and Professional Education, we hope to continue to attract high-quality students with diverse perspectives who will become the next generation of alumni/ae. We need to consider once again, what does it mean to be a graduate of Hartford Seminary? How will our graduates support the work of this important institution and how best can the institution support its graduates? How can the graduates of the past bridge the space for graduates of the future? What would help our graduates know that each one has a place at the alumni/ae banquet table?

Jean Amos Lys ’ 12 Alumni Council Chair

Julie Grace ’ 17 Alumni Council Vice Chair

President Lohr and the leadership of the Seminary are committed to helping the alumni/ae branch of our family tree grow. We look forward to working over the coming months to shape a vision for the future of the alumni/ae as an essential part of the organization. If you have ideas you would like to contribute or would like to be involved in the process, please reach out at alumni@hartsem.edu. •

Help provide chaplaincy students with an opportunity to grow through coursework, field work, Clinical Pastor Education, and individual advisement. Allow them to deepen their skills to work in multifaith environments, from hospitals and prisons to universities, the military, and beyond.

Let’s travel back to those days in 2001 when the entire country’s attention turned to Islam, and many questioned the loyalty of Muslim Americans.

In 2002, Dr. Mattson reported that she had received interest from women who wanted to pursue college and prison chaplaincy. It was an early sign that the profession would become an important outlet for Muslim women interested in religious leadership positions.

By that time, Hartford Seminary had already enrolled its first Muslim students interested in chaplaincy. Faculty member Ingrid Mattson, Professor of Islamic Studies, had attended an American Military Chaplains conference in Washington, D.C., with then-Academic Dean Worth Loomis and saw the potential for Hartford Seminary to launch a program that filled the military’s growing need for Muslim chaplains.

In 2003, Hartford Seminary began using the term Islamic Chaplaincy Program and saw significant growth in enrollment as it built ties with Muslim organizations such as the Islamic Council of New England and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), of which Dr. Mattson was vice president.

In spring 2001, months before the Twin Towers fell, Dr. Mattson wrote in her annual report: “For me, the most exciting aspect of this year has been the development of our Muslim Chaplains program. Before we even had the final program in place, two endorsed chaplain candidates for the American Armed Services began their studies at Hartford Seminary. … Meeting with community leaders alerted me to the need for Muslim chaplains also in hospitals and prisons.” She added: “I spent a great deal of time networking with Muslim and non-Muslim leaders I hope will be able to assist us. We will see by next year’s annual report if we had any success!” Looking back from our perch in 2021, Hartford Seminary can say with some confidence that the program Dr. Mattson set in motion has found an extraordinary level of success in training chaplains and in establishing chaplaincy as a growth profession for Muslims.

The Early Days In the year following the 9/11 attacks, Hartford Seminary responded to a sudden spike of demand for education about Islam. Faculty members Ibrahim Abu-Rabi’, Jane Smith, Ingrid Mattson, and Steven Blackburn, among others, gave countless presentations, spoke to the media, developed online programming, and prepared a bibliographical resource guide on Islam. More than 2,000 people tried to register for a three-week distance learning course on Beliefnet.com. The faculty was so busy responding to the community that the fledgling chaplaincy program flew a bit under the radar with the exception of a written case statement that began making the rounds of various foundations.

Over the course of the next year, the Islamic Chaplaincy Program gained media attention, an advisory board, a website, and a small grant from ISNA to hire an administrative assistant. Dr. Mattson began brainstorming about how to increase scholarship funds so that students could move to Hartford to study full-time. She was also invited to speak at the National Association of College and University Chaplains, an association that would become an important partner to the Seminary for years to come as more and more colleges and universities began to hire Muslim chaplains.

A Mature Program Over the next 10 years, the program found its footing under Dr. Mattson’s leadership. For all those years, it was the only accredited program in the United States for Islamic chaplaincy, a designation that helped the Seminary recruit many students. The program became an important feather in Hartford Seminary’s cap, and its graduates found employment at many of the top institutions in the U.S., including many of the most selective colleges and universities, including Yale, Princeton, Duke, Williams, Cornell, Trinity, and Wesleyan. In 2006, Dr. Mattson became president of ISNA, the first woman in that position, which gave her an even higher profile. As her star rose, so did the program’s as it attracted high-quality candidates with an interest in pursuing what had become a new professional opportunity for Muslims. Then-President Heidi Hadsell called it a “genuine success story.” It was also the subject of numerous national media stories and featured in the documentary “The Calling.” Funding also began to come in, with a gift in 2006 from the Fadel Educational Foundation that provided scholarships

for students interested in prison chaplaincy. The first student to receive the Fadel scholarship was Dr. Bilal Ansari, now director of the present-day Islamic Chaplaincy Program. Over the years, the foundation has contributed $140,000 to help support 17 students, most of whom work as federal and state prison chaplains. In 2010, Dr. Timur Yuskaev joined the faculty to teach contemporary Islam and to direct the Islamic Chaplaincy Program as Dr. Mattson took on the directorship of the Seminary’s Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations. Dr. Yuskaev counseled students and took over such administrative responsibilities as arranging for field education and organizing the annual Islamic Chaplaincy Retreat. The program was on solid ground in 2012 when Dr. Mattson decided to take a new opportunity as the London and Windsor Community Chair in Islamic Studies at Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada, a position she continues to hold today. In 2013, Dr. Feryal Salem joined the faculty and shared the directorship of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program with Dr. Yuskaev. In 2016, Dr. Salem helped facilitate a donation of $25,000 from the Pillars Fund, a donor-advised fund that fosters civic engagement and promotes a better understanding of the American Muslim community. Dr. Salem left in 2018, and Hartford Seminary conducted a search for a new co-director, which eventually brought Dr. Ansari back into the fold in 2019. The program continued to draw exceptional students, and in recent years other Islamic Chaplaincy programs have started in the country. At the same time, the Seminary’s leadership saw ideal opportunity to redesign the program for a new era.

What the Future Holds With a new president, Dr. Joel N. Lohr, arriving in 2018, the Seminary began a strategic planning process in 2019 that would reshape the entire institution. That plan received Board of Trustees approval in March 2020, which set off a complete restructuring of academic programs. Faculty members set to work devising three new 36-credit Master’s degrees which were quickly accredited. All three will welcome new students this fall.

The new MA in Chaplaincy is open to students of all faiths. Muslim students who wish to follow a pathway to an M.Div. equivalent of 72 graduate credit hours may complete the professional MA in Chaplaincy with a specialization in Islamic Chaplaincy and will also complete the academic MA in Interreligious Studies with a specialization in Islamic Studies. The new chaplaincy program is aligned with the national standards of the Board of Chaplaincy Certification Inc., a non-profit affiliate of the Association of Professional Chaplains. What’s clear is that chaplaincy in general – and Islamic chaplaincy in particular – is a growing field. A study recently conducted in conjunction with the Faith Communities Today project, a research partnership working with Hartford Seminary’s Hartford Institute of Religion Research, found that the U.S. saw a 31 percent increase in mosques between 2010 and 2020. The Muslim population in America is steadily expanding due to immigration and birth rate. At the same time, more and more institutions are seeing the value in having a chaplain on staff, adding community centers and other “third spaces” to the traditional venues of hospitals, hospices, prisons, colleges and universities, private schools, and the military. The Association of Muslim Chaplains, which has its roots in discussions that emerged among alums and students at Hartford Seminary 10 years ago, now provides support and resources to chaplains across the country. Most of its leadership and much of its membership boasts connections to Hartford Seminary and its Islamic Chaplaincy Program. In the next 20 years, the Seminary hopes to see the continued growth of chaplaincy and to capitalize on the need for chaplains to be well-versed in the traditions of many different religions. The best way to do that is through a multifaith faculty and student body. “Not only are we building on the previous experience and success of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program, but we will also be able to train Muslim chaplains who will meet the standards and competencies of professional chaplains,” Academic Dean David D. Grafton said of the new program. “In addition, they will gain mastery in this field with students from different religious backgrounds. This new degree will build on our important multifaith ethos and pedagogy.” •

Chaplaincy, Islamic chaplaincy in particular, has expanded into community services over the past 20 years. Given this trajectory, how should core classes be designed with this phenomenon in mind? Community chaplaincy has been a dream of mine for many years, and I am delighted to see an increasing integration of Islamic chaplaincy into community and social services. There is much harm that vulnerable community members experience through harsh judgments, spiritual bypassing, or simply because of ignorance about how to support those who are struggling, spiritually, socially, emotionally, or in other ways. At the same time, there is wisdom and compassion among people, and chaplains need to learn how to support ordinary people and volunteers who offer care, rather than professionalize all care work. Chaplaincy students need to understand the dynamics of organizations and informal networks, how struggles for power and visibility play out across our relationships, and how to continue to assess and adapt programming in changing communities. What advice can you give specifically to students entering into Islamic studies but planning to serve in the field as a chaplain for today’s Muslim population?

with

Dr. Ingrid Mattson 10

Islamic Studies is a general term and can encompass many different educational programs, some offered in Muslim colleges or seminaries, and others offered in non-denominational colleges or universities. There are also programs of study with scholars or institutes that identify as “traditional,” although there is no uniform definition of tradition, nor do all these scholars accept each other as such. Each program has strengths and limitations, intellectual prejudices, blind spots, questionable historical claims, a need for a distinguishing identity, sometimes leading to a kind of unpleasant asabiyya. A student who graduates from an Islamic Studies program intellectually arrogant and closed to learning from others will not succeed as a chaplain. As a student of Islam, your intention should always be first and foremost to benefit from the knowledge and skills you gain; to benefit means to become more and more humble in front of Allah, and to serve with humility those whom Allah puts in your path. As a chaplain, the most valuable courses you can take

are those that bring you deeper into the Qur’an, so that you carry it into your heart wherever you go; you will always find what you need in any situation in the Qur’an. After that, know the Sirah well, so you can follow the path of the blessed Prophet. And read as much as you can about the lives of Muslim men and women who have lived in different times and places across the world, in different circumstances of expansion and contraction, war and peace, poverty and prosperity, oppressed and empowered, isolation and community. As a chaplain, these stories of faith and resilience will bring comfort to those whom you serve. When you look back on your time at Hartford Seminary, how important is good field education to the pastoral formation of great chaplains? When we created the Islamic Chaplaincy Program, we considered field education to be one of the most important components to ensure that it met a standard of “authenticity” in a concrete way. We did not consider it appropriate to enforce a particular Islamic school of theology, law or spiritual practice on our students. However, we considered it unreasonable, even unethical, to deem a student to be a “Muslim chaplain” or “Islamic chaplain” if they were not claimed by a living, functioning Muslim community. For this reason, we hoped that all of our students would serve at least part of their field education within a Muslim community. Unfortunately, in the early years, it became evident that we did not have sufficient responsible and effective Muslim supervisors in the community. We had to undertake a kind of bricolage supervision, with the Director of the program serving almost as co-supervisor with those in the field. Now, there are some Muslim CPE supervisors and a few imams and chaplains who are capable of taking on this responsibility, although there are still not enough. There will remain a need for the Director of the program to continue to work with good supervisors who are available across society. Over the years, it has become apparent to me that more important than providing a measure of authenticity, field education is critical to weeding out those who could harm vulnerable persons if they were to become chaplains. For this reason, expertise perhaps is more important than doctrine in field education.

gious education and accommodation for American Muslims. The marginalization of these chaplain pioneers, men and women, was institutionally justified by pointing to their lack of official credentials, although we know the real reason was white supremacy. When we created the Islamic Chaplaincy Program, we wanted to ensure that it would not be financially, or programmatically, impossible for these pioneers to complete if they wished to do so. Further, we wanted to learn from the experiences these chaplain pioneers had of applying Islam in context, when these learnings were often epistemologically invalidated by other Muslims. Anti-Black racism has not disappeared from American, or American Muslim, society, so I urge the Director to be mindful of structural and discursive forms of marginalization that might emerge in the program. It is also true that women perform most of the care work in families and communities, and the wisdom and experience of Muslim women is often ignored and demeaned, while young men who can memorize texts are quickly elevated to positions of power and responsibility. As chaplaincy continues to professionalize, how will the education and training of chaplains contribute to the empowerment, or marginalization, of those who continue to be the primary caregivers in our society? •

Presidents leave notes as they leave office as words of wisdom for the years ahead. What words of wisdom would you pen to the Director for the years ahead? Do not forget that the first Muslim chaplains were African Americans, struggling within racist systems to provide hope, comfort, reli11

Nisa Muhammad Hanaa Unus ’19

put her mark on Shenandoah University as the first clergyperson in the school’s 150-year history who identifies as Muslim. It’s a big step for the small university located in Winchester, VA, with about 3,000 primarily Christian students. Chaplain Unus’s title at Shenandoah is Chaplain and Muslim Community Coordinator. She works within the university’s Office of Spiritual Life, which has built community relationships through various faith groups. Among other responsibilities, she educates students and faculty about interfaith communication and advises those of various faiths.

As Assistant Dean of Religious Life in the Office of the Dean of the Chapel at Howard University, Dr. Nisa Muhammad ’17 found herself working all hours during the pandemic to meet the needs of students who were studying via online programs. Dr. Muhammad is also the President of the AssoAs Assistant Dean of Religious Life in the Office of the ciation of Muslim Chaplains, where she Dean of the Chapel at Howard University, Dr. Nisa Muassisted Muslims through healing hammad ’17 found herself working all hours during circles and met members’ the pandemic to meet the needs of students who professional needs. were studying via online programs. Dr. Muhammad is The pandemic also the President of the Association of Muslim Chapbrought lains, where she assisted Muslims through healing

Nisa Muhammad ’17

circles and met members’ professional needs. The pandemic brought her problem-solving skills to the forefront. “It helped me to think outside the box and do things I would not normally do. I work longer and harder to help my students, many who feel lost and isolated as they struggle to stay connected.”

Tamer Sayed-Ahmed ’15

Ibrahim Long ’14

Tamer Sayed-Ahmed ’15 writes: “My Hartford Seminary education mattered when I became a Chaplain in the Air Force in 2016. One of my responsibilities is to provide confidential counseling sessions to all Airmen and take care of them more than anyone thinks possible. The multifaith courses I took at Hartford Seminary allowed me to better understand the basics of the religious needs of my Airmen, especially if they are Jewish, Christians, or Muslims. These courses gave me the education and knowledge to serve them effectively. For example, I was able to assist with several religious accommodation requests of beard, hijab, and dietary restrictions from Jewish and Muslim Airmen.

“This is a picture of me meeting with the President and CEO of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. It was taken on the day I graduated from my year-long CPE residency program (2013). I actually entered the program to complete my CPE requirement for my Islamic Chaplaincy degree. It was an exciting day. I not only graduated, but also received the Spiritual Care Department’s award for the Resident who best Integrated Academics, Research, and Clinical Practice. The picture shows the CEO as she shared with me some of her hopes to further integrate awareness of the needs of Muslim patients in her hospital as well as support greater awareness of Islam among staff. “

“As an Air Force Chaplain, I am working with Chaplains from different faith beliefs. On many occasions, we were involved in interfaith dialogue events. I remember at one event that there were Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim chaplains attending. The audience asked us questions about the differences of our religions and how they are related. Hartford Seminary exposed me to learn different religions than my own.”

Azleena Salleh Azhar ’18 participates in a multifaith dialogue during the pandemic.

Jaye Starr Boz ’18 and Zeynab Abdullayeva ’14 (both at left) gather at a meeting of the Institute of Muslim Mental Health in 2015. 14

Asnage Castelly ’14 a military chaplain out of Fort Bragg, NC, was in the Middle East in May to provide religious support for Muslims soldiers during the month of Ramadan. Chaplain Castelly is known to many as an Olympian who wrestled for Haiti – the country’s first Olympic wrestler – during the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As a military chaplain, Asnage counsels military personnel, arranges for and conducts worship services, and provides pastoral care, among many other duties. “One of the most unique aspects of studying at Hartford Seminary is actually the diversity of Muslims that attend. Any Muslim who applies to Hartford Seminary would not be surprised to see students and professors from differing Christian backgrounds. However, I was personally surprised by the diversity of Muslims. When I first starting studying my faith (before I went to HartSem), I was supported by people who had a particular approach to Islam and a worldview that undoubtedly influenced the way I understood my own faith and practice.”

The final year of his life—a year marked both by anticipating his departure and an unprecedented global pandemic—saw Sohaib embracing his calling as a teacher like never before. He wrote articles and maintained a poignant public blog; granted interviews and accepted speaking invitations; and continued to minister to his flock, publicly and privately. In each of these instances, he didn’t seek to avoid the subject of his mortality. Rather, he taught from it. “Over the years he was a marvelous instructor to all of us in how to live,” said Princeton’s Dean of Religious Life, Alison Boden, as she reflected upon news of Sohaib’s death. “In his last year, he taught us even more so how to die.”

On April 16, 2021—on the blessed day of Jummah (Friday), at the auspicious time of maghrib (sunset), in the sacred month of Ramadan—Imam Sohaib N. Sultan passed from this world. Sohaib, a proud graduate of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program at Hartford Seminary, was widely recognized as a luminary and pioneer in the field of professional spiritual caregiving. He was my dear friend and colleague at Princeton University, where we served side by side for almost fifteen years. On a more personal level, he was also a spiritual brother, a kindred spirit, and a role model to me. Sohaib was a lifelong student. From all accounts, in his formal study at Hartford Seminary (and Indiana University before that) he demonstrated a passion for knowledge and intellectual curiosity. But his zest for learning didn’t end there. When he and I first arrived at Princeton, in the summer of 2008, one of the things I was most struck by was Sohaib’s genuine interest in always growing—personally and professionally—and in learning more. He asked questions freely. He often requested reading recommendations. Even on an intimidating campus that can sometimes feel inhospitable to admissions of one’s ignorance, Sohaib wasn’t afraid to acknowledge his growing edges and express his curiosity. He saw every situation as the will of God and every challenge as an opportunity to receive a precious lesson from God.

Sohaib was a creator of community. The Muslim Life Program that he lovingly and personally shaped at Princeton has become an exemplar of chaplaincy. He hosted renowned guest speakers; engaged with social justice issues; modeled what an inclusive, progressive faith community looks like. He nurtured and challenged students and community members, helping them to grow in faith individually and together. Even his departure, heartbreaking as it was, was a beautiful demonstration of a vibrant community that came together to hold one another in grief and prayer.

In Memory of Sohaib Sultan

In spring 2020, Sohaib and I began to have phone chats fortnightly. These were unscripted and informal conversations—just friend to friend, colleague to colleague. But because we both were so informed by our theologies and enjoyed discussing theology, the conversations organically became very theological in flavor. I felt called to share these gifts with others and began to desire one final opportunity to join together in a program as spiritual brothers and colleagues. I was hesitant to impose on Sohaib’s precious time, but I also didn’t want to be stuck with regret. So I asked Sohaib if he’d be open to one final public program, conducted over Zoom, together. To my great delight, he enthusiastically agreed. We had just set a date when his condition rapidly deteriorated and his doctors advised him to prepare for his final days. Wisely, he decided to stop all public engagement to concentrate on his internal spiritual practice and time with family. Yet, graciously and magnanimously, he chose, nevertheless, to honor the commitment he and I had made. Called “Living and Dying with Grace,” this Hindu-Muslim dialogue—fittingly, a gift of kindness and a testimony to bridge-building between faith communities—stands as Sohaib’s last public teaching.

By Vineet Chander, JD Coordinator of Hindu Life and Hindu Chaplain, Princeton University

Sohaib Sultan is survived by his wife Arshe Ahmed and their daughter Radiyya Sultan-Ahmed, his parents, sister, and other loving family members. He is also survived by the extended families he helped to create or foster—the Muslim community he led, his colleagues at Princeton, his fellow alumni and mentors at Hartford Seminary. His legacy includes the lives he touched and the hearts and minds he inspired. I count myself in that blessed category. May we all honor his memory and keep his legacy alive. •

When he was given the devastating diagnosis of inoperable bile duct cancer in early spring of 2020, he received it in this spirit of a student. What does my Lord wish to teach me through this? I don’t mean to suggest that he did not grieve the sadness and heartache of impending separation from his dear wife, daughter, parents, and other beloved friends and family. He did—in the most beautiful and human of ways. And at the same time, he chose— commendably, I think—to keep his heart open and to remain a student, eager to discover what lessons his Divine Teacher had in store for him and for others through him. Sohaib was an inspired teacher and communicator. His sermons were filled with thoughtful reflection and practical wisdom. His one-on-one counsel was uplifting and affirming. When he sat on a panel, he could “steal the show” with an endearing nugget of wisdom or a charming (and disarming) anecdote. A former journalist, Sohaib was also a gifted writer. He authored two seminal introductory books on Islam—The Koran for Dummies (Wiley, 2004) and The Qur’an and Sayings of the Prophet: Selections Annotated and Explained (Skylight Paths, 2007)—along with numerous articles examining what it meant to be a Muslim in America today. Sohaib was no stranger to Islamic history, doctrine, or law, and could hold his own among theological heavyweights. But his special gift, I think, was his ability to make even the most complex and intricate theological concepts understandable, accessible, and practicable. 16

(1981-2021)

Books on chaplaincy abound, but most of them are written for a Christian audience. A new book aims to fill that void with a collection of essays written by Muslim spiritual caregivers, many of them with a connection to Hartford Seminary. Mantle of Mercy: Islamic Chaplaincy in North America was compiled by four distinguished Muslim chaplains, two of whom were trained as chaplains at Hartford Seminary. Jaye Starr ’18 and Omer Bajwa ’10 joined with Muhammad A. Ali and Sondos Kholaki, both graduates of Bayan Islamic Graduate School, to produce this 320-page tribute to the art of chaplaincy as Muslims practice it. “Muslim chaplains work in a variety of environments, among them hospitals, universities, the armed forces, local communities, and correction facilities. Each locale presents its own challenges, and each is touched upon by the authors in this volume, with a focus on North America,” according to publisher Templeton Press. “Across the span of over thirty chapters, these vivid reflections show us the power of Islamic principles to bring strength and comfort to the sick and suffering. In addition, the personal approach of Mantle of Mercy is intended to correct certain misunderstandings about the Muslim faith and to promote the development of a curriculum that is both ethically and spiritually sound, and that is informed by the real-world experiences of Islamic chaplains.”

With a foreward by Dr. Ingrid Mattson, who founded Hartford Seminary’s Islamic Chaplaincy Program, the book includes many familiar names, including an essay and farewell letter to colleagues from Sohaib N. Sultan ’10, the Imam and Muslim Life Program Coordinator at Princeton University, who died at the age of 40 earlier this year (See pages 16-17). Other Hartford Seminary contributors include: Ibrahim J. Long, Kamal Abu Shamsieh, Taqwa Surapati, Sakinah Alhabshi, Kaiser Aslam, Ali R. Candir, Bilal Ansari, Jawad Bayat, Tricia Pethic, Samsiah Abdul-Majid, Joshua Salaam, Lauren Schreiber, Jamal Bey, Mustafa Boz, Ryan Rasheed Carter, Nisa Muhammad, Azleena Salleh Azhar, and Rabia Terri Harris. The book, due out in January 2022, is available for pre-order.

Excerpts from Mantle of Mercy: Islamic Chaplaincy in North America

Chaplain Kaiser Aslam ’16 Rutgers University I was immediately impressed by the faculty I met [at Hartford Seminary] and by the atmosphere of the students’ relationship with them. I was particularly taken that historian and Ibn Taymiyyah specialist Dr. Yahya Michot hosted a weekly poetry night at his home for students in which he combined a host of different disciplines ranging from studying the languages of Arabic and Persian, along with Muslim history, and myriad random tangents on life. That night, I think I learned more about the science of Hadith than I had in years of study on the topic, even though Hadith studies was not even the gathering’s focal point. There was a deeply appealing atmosphere of camaraderie and openness that I had not seen in other institutions.  This was already making me rethink my dismissal of Islamic chaplaincy, but what really changed my perspective occurred the following morning as I was leaving, and we got news of what would become known as the Boston Bombing. Public transportation to Boston was suspended, and I found myself stuck in Hartford, which allowed me to witness how Hartford Seminary transformed; my heart felt that ‘Allah is the best of planners.’ I witnessed faculty helping students contextualizing information and making sense of the news as it was unfolding. Hearing about the Chechen origins of the bomber, Dr. Michot carefully unpacked the historical context of trauma that the people of Chechnya suffered and explored how that was being used to justify such a heinous and indefensible attack. I saw a structure of Muslim leadership come alive and a model of how to provide support to Muslim communities that would soon face the backlash of yet another so-called “Muslim terrorist” attack. I realized then what chaplaincy really was: a profession that facilitates safe and confident transition from one part of life to another providing language and methods to process life’s complexities.

Chaplain Dr. Joshua Salaam ’17, ’20 Duke University The more chaplaincy training and lived experience I acquired, the less stressed I’ve become journeying with people. I am no longer the youth director expected to “fix” youth. I am not the Imam expected to speak on Masjid etiquette if too many people are violating tradition. I am not the social worker expected to solve social and financial emergencies through a network of local resources. I am the chaplain. My role is to step back, see all those pieces, then step in real close and listen very intently. Chaplaincy is sometimes called a Ministry of Presence. The art of truly being present with an individual without judgment is at the core of chaplaincy.

Chaplain Samsiah Abdul-Majid ’14 Westchester Medical Center As I’ve learned to navigate death with Muslim men, so too have I around birth. Someone in the chaplaincy office said one morning, “Samsiah, a Muslim baby needs blessing before circumcision.” This thought flashed through me: What? Me? I am a woman. Sunni schools of law hold differing views on whether circumcision is an obligatory or recommended act, but it is common practice for Muslim families to circumcise their sons. Where I come from, circumcision is a rite of passage for boys, usually conducted during school holidays. I remember one such holiday some 60 years ago at the home of a grand-uncle. Some of my male cousins, about 11 or 12 years old, were there for a group circumcision. It was a somewhat celebratory time with prayers and a feast. After the circumcision, the cousins wore the traditional sarongs instead of pants, careful to hold them away from their groin areas. How the circumcision itself was conducted, I had no idea. Suffice it to say that it was an all-male affair held in the privacy of the front room. Having thus learned at that young age that circumcision was the domain of men, I parked it in the recesses of my mind. It’s amazing how strongly childhood perceptions are embedded into one’s psyche where they remain unexamined, powerful like an invisible fence that keeps one in check. I wonder what invisible fences I and other women hold within ourselves that circumscribe our reach.

Chaplain Tricia Pethic ’19 CEO, Muslim Prisoner Project I am writing this in winter, not long after the conclusion of 2020: the year of suffocation. People suffocated from COVID. Even non-sufferers felt suffocated behind masks. Then George Floyd suffocated. The one-two punch of COVID and George Floyd’s death mentally thrust me back into two places I’d been trying to recover from: prisons and hospitals. I began the year as a “recovering” former prison chaplain. I’d ministered to people on the receiving end of handcuffs, but also the ones who carried them. George Floyd’s story reminded me of many inmates I’d counseled who had their personal demons, but who would make valiant attempts to start anew. I also saw moral injury in Officer Derek Chauvin; the kind of cynicism I’d seen from many in law enforcement who had become accustomed to dealing with the worst of human nature—Ah, he doesn’t really need his mom. They’re criminals/inmates; they’re always putting on an act.  If Floyd’s death brought me back to the prisons, COVID brought me back to my hospital days, trekking out to hospitals within a three-hour radius to see humans in various states of death and dying as I met with their families to discuss organ donation. It was on this job that I suffered a nervous breakdown and began to reassess the emotional candle that I’d burned at both ends. My mind told me to prepare for the coming task, but my body told me it needed rest. I was expected to be empathetic and firing on all cylinders continuously, but as Gabor Maté points out, “when the body says no,” there is no backtalk. It wins. 21

Dr. Cathy Collins ’21

Alumni

in Action

Hired as Executive Director of Mercy by the Sea in Madison, CT Cathy writes, “I was not looking for a job. My friend and spiritual sister, Sherie Roberts, an alumna of Hartford Seminary, sent me the announcement for the job. … I hesitated in applying. I consulted the small group I had been journeying with in WLI [including Sherie’s daughter Carolyn]. They encouraged me to apply and see how things unfolded. I still was not certain. I asked [Dr.] MT [Winter] if I could talk to her about this opportunity. She listened as I shared my concerns of leaving my position with Habitat [for Humanity]. She then clearly said to me, “Cathy, this is not about a job, this is about a calling.” Her words and my experience with WLI, as well as the course I was auditing on Race, Religion and Politics, gave me the confidence to apply and be open to taking my spiritual journey into the professional realm. I look forward to finding ways to partner with Hartford Seminary on this important work of applied spirituality.”

Allyson Zacharoff ’18 Helps Lead Interfaith Gathering for Women Leaders Allyson Zacharoff, an International Peacemaking graduate from 2018, was one of three women religious leaders who organized “Kindle and Connect,” an online conference on June 16, 2021, that brought together women leaders from many different faith and secular/non-religious traditions from across North America for a virtual day of learning. The event was sponsored through the Alumni Grants Program for the John Paul II Center for Interfaith Dialogue. More than 150 women from many different faith traditions (Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Non-Religious, Hindu, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Interfaith, Pagan, etc.) and places (5 Canadian provinces and more than 30 U.S. states) took part. Allyson is a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinnical College in Philadelphia.

Imam Khalil Abdullah ’19 Appointed Assistant Dean for Muslim Life at Princeton Imam Khalil Abdullah ’19 will succeed Imam Sohaib Sultan ’10 as Assistant Dean for Muslim Life at Princeton University. Sohaib passed away in April at the age of 40 about a year after being diagnosed with a rare cancer (See pages 1617). Since 2017, Khalil has been the Muslim and Interfaith Advisor at Dartmouth College and co-chair of Dartmouth’s Council on Diversity and Inclusion. “Imam Khalil is no stranger to the Office of Religious Life, having served on our Advisory Council since 2019,” Princeton said in its announcement. “He has also been invited on numerous occasions to lead prayers and other events for our Muslim Life Program and has become a cherished spiritual advisor to many at Princeton.” He will serve in a program that Princeton describes as “a national model for its expansiveness of programming, breadth of inclusion of all Muslims and non-Muslims, its intellectual depth, its beauty, challenge, support, and relevance.”

Mother and Daughter Graduate from WLI 20 Years Apart When Sherie Roberts heard about a Hartford Seminary program called the Women’s Leadership Institute in 2000, she was immediately intrigued. It was different from the leadership and training programs she had taken as a corporate executive, and it sounded like something she needed. “It taught me a different way of approaching things,” she said. “The business world is handled in a linear fashion. In the Women’s Leadership Institute, we sat together in a circle encouraged to share all of who we were.” Sherie attended the program when her daughter Carolyn Roberts was 11 or 12, and Carolyn doesn’t remember much about it except that her mother went off once a month and stayed overnight in Hartford. She also remembers hearing her mother talk about Professor Emerita Miriam Therese (MT) Winter, who founded the program in 1996 and still runs it. “I heard a lot about MT and always wanted to meet her,” Carolyn said. Fast forward to 2020, and Carolyn had just finished a Ph.D. in geology and was hunting for jobs in the middle of the pandemic. Sherie suggested that she consider applying to the Women’s Leadership Institute, which had moved online. “Everything was super-chaotic at that time,” Carolyn said. “But it was once a month and remote, so I thought I could still honor that commitment. … After the first class, I thought ‘This is something.’” Though the 2020-2021 participants never met in person, everyone looked forward to the sessions and felt sad when they ended, Carolyn said. She received her WLI certificate this May. Sherie’s experience with Hartford Seminary didn’t end when she graduated from WLI in 2001. She went on to start an MA in Transformative Leadership and Spirituality in 2014 after being diagnosed with a serious illness. After several starts and stops, she wondered if she would ever complete it, but after some encouragement from Carolyn, she finished in 2019. Carolyn’s experience had some interesting parallels. While looking for a job, she was feeling more comfortable with learning remotely because of her WLI experience and MT’s encouragement. In January 2021, she began teaching remote Sunday school lessons, then did some guest lectures with middle school classes. That eventually led to a job as a private school teacher in Massachusetts. Sherie was not surprised. Her own experience with WLI taught her “a different way of approaching things.” She also had cross-cultural immersion experiences that were “absolutely amazing.”

“MT, she’s magical,” Sherie said. “I learned how to use my voice.” Carolyn had some of the same revelations, including “how to be a better listener.” It means a lot, Sherie said, to know that her daughter had a similar experience to hers 20 years before. “It’s a beautiful, unique experience,” Sherie said. “It gives us a shared vocabulary, a lexicon of what that experience was like. … It’s very exciting to be able to share that with my daughter.” • 25

Chaplain Aida Mansoor ’16 Father Michael J. Dolan ’21

Appointed to Hate Crimes Advisory Council

Named President of Northwest Catholic

Chaplain Aida Mansoor, a 2016 graduate of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program and Hartford Seminary’s Director of Field Education, has been appointed to the state’s newly formed Connecticut Hates Crimes Advisory Council. Gov. Ned Lamont announced the members of the council, which was mandated by a new state law, on June 1st. The council will be responsible for encouraging and coordinating programs that increase community awareness and reporting of hate crimes and to combat such crimes. It also can make recommendations for legislation concerning hate crimes, including recommendations on restitution for victims, community service designed to remedy damage caused by any such crime, and additional alternative sentencing programs for first-time offenders and juvenile offenders.

Father Michael J. Dolan, who graduated from Hartford Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry program in 2021, has been named President of Northwest Catholic High School in West Hartford. Northwest Catholic, run by the Archdiocese of Hartford, opened in 1961. It serves students from around the Hartford region. Father Dolan has had a long career in Connecticut, including time spent as a chaplain at both the University of Hartford and Trinity College. He has also served various parishes and as an administrator at numerous schools, both at the secondary and college level. He has been a board member at East Catholic High School, Notre Dame High school, and the Connecticut Council for Interreligious Understanding.

Dr. Bilal Ansari ’11 Receives 2021 Peacemaker Award Dr. Bilal Ansari ’11 , Faculty Associate in Muslim Pastoral Theology, Director of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program, and Co-Director of the MA in Chaplaincy, has been recognized with the 2021 Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Peacemaker Award by the Northern Berkshire (MA) Community Coalition. The Peacemaker Award is given annually to individuals or groups. The award, which originated as part of the local celebration of the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr., is made to people or groups who have contributed substantially to peace in the Northern Berkshire region.

Dr. Ansari was recognized for his racial justice work in Williamstown, MA. He is a founding member of the town’s Diversity, Inclusion, and Racial Equity Committee and serves on the Racial Justice and Police Reform group. Williamstown is the home of Williams College, where Dr. Ansari also serves as a Vice President in the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. “[Dr. Ansari’s] family has a long history in the Williamstown community, which he has shared, including painful acts of racism and discrimination against them,” the coalition said. “[He has] used this history to educate and empower the community to respond to racism, to not tolerate racism, and to address racist practices and their impact.”

Chaplain Jawad Bayat ’15 Is 1st Afghan-American with ACPE Certification Chaplain Jawad Bayat finished his spiritual care educator training and became the first Afghan-American and the fourth Muslim ACPE Certified Educator in the organization’s history. CPE offers accreditation and certification for centers and educators that provide Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). As an ACPE Certified Educator, Chaplain Bayat can train others in spiritual care. He also serves as Manager of Pastoral Care and CPE at Penn Medicine Princeton House Behavioral Health in New Jersey. “As a child of parents who came to the United States as refugees in 1981 during the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, this sacred work of healing and education was not even a possibility in their imaginations,” he said. “Much gratitude to the many folks who joined me on the different parts of my journey.” 27

Guat Kwee See ’07 By Caye Banks Helps Launch Centre for Interfaith Understanding in Singapore The Centre for Interfaith Understanding (CIFU), an interfaith initiative providing an inclusive space and critical engagements that bridge theory and practice on interfaith issues, launched virtually on Oct. 30, 2020, with Guat Kwee See, MA ’07, proudly looking on. Guat, who has kept in close touch with Hartford Seminary since her time here studying Christian-Muslim relations and hosted President Lohr during his 2019 Singapore visit, is the first chairperson of CIFU with Founder Mohamed Imran, a known interfaith advocate in Singapore, as vice-chairperson. Its 10 founding members, prominent interfaith advocates and bridgebuilders in Singapore, are Christian, Muslim, Bahá’í, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, and Humanist. Singapore is one of the most diverse countries when it comes to religious faiths. CIFU plans to develop programs in interfaith leadership, help strengthen the fabric of society, and bring interfaith discourse in Singapore to greater heights, with greater appreciation of diversity, challenging assumptions and stereotypes, and finding common ground, all things Guat enjoyed learning at Hartford Seminary. The organization plans to host guest speakers, develop programs with other organizations and communities, and seek collaboration with peacemakers and bridgebuilders in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

“When I was in the Holy Land, I met all the people who lived there, the Jews, the Christians, the Evangelicals, Messianic Jews etc., it challenged all my stereotypes. I began to see them as people, human beings, just like me,” she said. “They have family, they have pain, they have a history, but they’re trying to live their lives the best they can, and they want to do everything for their children to have a good life.” In 2003, Dr. Landau, who was starting a program at Hartford Seminary, told Guat about his plans. “When I was in London, he told me that he was starting this program called Building Abrahamic Partnerships.” I was excited! I flew over and visited Hartford Seminary. “Miriam Therese Winter, the Catholic sister, and her Women’s Leadership Institute was such an awakening and insightful moment for me, women coming together, talking about women, their impact and their faith and their traditions and everything in their history was so exciting. I met Professor Jane Smith, and she was a Christian with a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies. Now, how cool is that? From my world, coming to Hartford Seminary was like paradise.” One of her favorite teachers was the late Professor Ibrahim Abu-Rabi, who taught in Singapore as a Senior Fulbright scholar for one semester in 2006. Professors Abu-Rabi and Jane Smith were her thesis advisors. She also loved that there was almost no distance between the teachers and students.

The journey to get CIFU approved was a long one. It took almost a year before CIFU received its status as a registered non-government organization (NGO) under Singapore’s Registrar of Societies.

“Because the faculty is not that huge, we felt that we were family. The professors allowed us to just make an appointment, pop in, and talk to them.”

“Humanity needs to do this, otherwise all the bridges are collapsing, all the walls are thickening, they are getting thicker and growing higher, and more people are building walls,” Guat said.

Guat met so many people from diverse cultures, nationalities, and religious faiths during her time at Hartford Seminary and learned about the world through the eyes of her peers, as well as the faculty and staff.

Guat’s journey toward interfaith understanding began on a 10-week trip to Israel in 2001 with a friend. She had tours with a Jewish guide and a Muslim guide and was able to meet and witness the mixture of people there and their plight.

Guat met Dr. Yehezkel Landau during her trip. She went to a Passover open house he hosted and saw all different religious communities in one place. Jews, Christians, and Muslims were all sharing a meal together, reading their own texts, and singing their songs and hymns in their own languages. This was the first time she had met an interfaith avocate and peacemaker.

“We not only visited the usual tourist sites in Israel, Jerusalem, but also went into the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. We met Jewish families and Palestinian families, who were both Christians and Muslims. We began to have an insight into what life was like for all the different people in the land.”

She continues her role as an interfaith bridgebuilder and facilitator and wants to help strengthen CIFU’s reach all over the world and learn from others’ experiences as well. Guat hopes to encourage more people to dialogue about issues that matter to them, by listening, reflecting, and deepening the conversation with each other and themselves. The pandemic has not brought her down at all. “I don’t see it as negative or positive,” she said. “It is how you utilize the situation.” •

The Most Rev. Dr. Lorraine Bouffard, MA and D.Min. ’01

The Most Rev. Dr. Lorraine J. Bouffard, 80, passed away on Jan. 31, 2021. She graduated from Saint Joseph College in 1963, after which she joined the Peace Corps. For many years after that, she was a teacher at schools in the Hartford region. After retirement, she had a second career as a pastor, receiving her MA from Hartford Seminary. She was also ordained to the priesthood in the Ecumenical Catholic Church. For 10 years, “Pastor Lorraine” hosted and produced a monthly television show at West Hartford Community Television. She was also highly involved in protests in support of the LGBTQ community. In 2001, she received her Doctor of Ministry from Hartford Seminary and continued to serve as a Bishop in the American Ecumenical Catholic Church, as founder of the Parish of the Divine, and as a devoted food pantry volunteer and manager.

Gerald D. Ciarcia, BD ’55

Gerald D. Ciarcia, 95, passed away on April 23, 2021. He earned his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Hartford Seminary and served Congregational Churches in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. He later earned his MA from Assumption College and served on the staff of the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission. According to his obituary, “During retirement, he joyfully served in libraries and Councils on Aging in Florida and Massachusetts as a leader in U.S. and world history and opera groups. His pen and ink pictures and stationery are popular in the Cape region and throughout New England.”

The Rev. Dr. Paul A. Crow Jr., STM ’58 and Ph.D. ’62

The Rev. Dr. Paul A. Crow Jr., a distinguished leader in the worldwide Ecumenical movement, passed away on Jan. 23, 2021, at the age of 89. He earned a BS in Chemistry from the University of Alabama, a BD from the Lexington Theological Seminary, and an STM and Ph.D. from Hartford Seminary. Post-doctoral study took him to Oxford University, the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey, and the University of Geneva. The Rev. Dr. Crow was an ordained minister of the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, and had a career that included congregational ministry; Professor of Church History; General Secretary, Consultation on Church Union, and President, Council on Christian

Unity. He wrote six books and over 300 articles and chapters. For thirty years, he served in various aspects of the World Council of Churches.

Dakota. In 1991, Pilgrim Press published his book, New Beginnings.

Dr. Joseph Duffey, Ph.D. ’69

Cornelia (Nina) Porter Ford, of Stamford, CT, passed away on May 4, 2021, at her home. After her graduation from Vassar College in 1957, she and her family settled in West Hartford, CT. In 1976 she bought Herbs and Whey, a natural-foods store in Avon, CT, and ran it for four years. In 1983, she joined the Connecticut Unit of the Herb Society of America, serving as Vice-Chairman in 1989. In 1987, she graduated from Central Connecticut State College with a master’s degree in biology. Her obituary described her as a “quiet feminist and a life-long spiritual seeker” who was in the inaugural class (1996-97) of the Women’s Leadership Institute at Hartford Seminary. “Throughout her life, Nina sought personal connection with everyone she encountered, always asking their name and taking genuine interest in their lives. Strangers were simply friends she hadn’t met yet.”

Dr. Joseph Duffey, who attended and taught at Hartford Seminary and launched a legendary anti-war Senate campaign in the early 70s, passed away Feb. 25, 2021, at the age of 88. According to an article in The Hartford Courant, Dr. Duffey “took on the Connecticut Democratic machine run by John Bailey and won a three-way party primary” in 1970 while a professor at Hartford Seminary. He had earned his Ph.D. from the Seminary in 1969 and founded the Seminary’s Center for Urban Studies. Dr. Duffey lost to Lowell P. Weicker but, the Courant wrote, brought together a “large crew of fired up young progressives” that included “writer Michael Medved, who was Duffey’s speechwriter; Tony and John Podesta; future Fox News host and Trump appointee Larry Kudlow; and politicians such as Joe Lieberman, Sam Gejdenson and a Yale Law School student from Arkansas named Bill Clinton.” Actor Paul Newman co-chaired Dr. Duffey’s campaign. After his short-lived political career, Dr. Duffey became chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1977 to 1982, and then chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He also served as president of American University for two years. President Bill Clinton later appointed him director of the U.S. Information Agency. A New York Times article called him a “cultural arbiter” in the Carter and Clinton  administrations and someone who brought “progressive sensibilities” to his influential positions.

The Rev. Dr. Gordon E. Ellis,  D.Min. ’89

The Rev. Dr. Gordon Elon Ellis, 69, of Warwick, MA, died on Sept. 13, 2020. A graduate of Springfield College, he earned a master’s degree from Yale Divinity School and a doctorate from Hartford Seminary. He was ordained in 1976 at the United Church of Bernardston as a minister in the United Church of Christ and had a 38-year career serving four New England churches. During his career, he was well known for developing creative worship experiences, revitalizing churches, leading tours to the Holy Lands of Israel, Jordan and Palestine, and leading many mission trips to Mexico, Ecuador, and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South

Cornelia P. Ford, WLI ’97

The Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hasler, Ph.D. ’64 The Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hasler died on March 15, 2021, at the age of 91. He attended Houghton College, BA, 1954, Princeton Theological Seminary, M. Div., 1957, University of Pennsylvania, MA 1959 (American History), and Hartford Seminary Foundation, Ph.D., 1964 (Church History). According to his obituary, “In his 57 years of ministry, he touched the lives of countless people through his words, counsel, compassion, and deeds.”

The Rev. Bessie M. Juggins, BMP ’85

The Rev. Bessie M. Juggins passed away on June 19, 2021. She trained as a minister at Hartford Seminary, the Institute of Brooklyn New York, and the School of Theology at Virginia Union University in Richmond, VA. The Rev. Juggins served as the Assistant Pastor of Shiloh (New Site) Baptist Church in Stafford, VA, from 2004 until she passed away. She served other churches and had many different volunteer positions. Her obituary said, “Rev. Juggins’s passion was winning souls for the Kingdom of God. God opened the door for her to speak to many different congregations.” 31

The Most Rev. Dr. Lorraine Bouffard

Father Morcos Morcos

The Rev. Dr. Gordon E. Ellis

The Rev. Martha Lewis, BMP ’90

The Rev. Martha Lewis passed away on Feb. 13, 2021. She was number 14 of 15 children born to her parents. She became an ordained preacher in the Church of God and traveled extensively with her husband, Bishop Austin Lewis, teaching and preaching the Word of God as he conducted revivals in his homeland of Jamaica, the United States, and England. She served as co-pastor with her husband for 44 years of the New Testament Church of God in Hartford, which they founded in 1975 and she continued to serve as pastor until her death. She served as the President of the Women’s Department, head of the Y.P.W.W. auxiliary, and is a graduate of Hartford Seminary’s Black Ministries Program. Her obituary stated, “When Reverend Martha entered a room, the entire atmosphere was absorbed by her presence. She always had an entourage with her and you would have thought that she was indeed the first female African-American President of the United States of America.”

Father Morcos Morcos, BD ’60 and MA ’61

Father Morcos Morcos, the first Coptic Orthodox priest in North America, passed away on Dec. 9, 2020, in Ontario, Canada, at age 91. At the time of his death, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid tribute to Father Morcos on Twitter and sent his sympathy to the Coptic community. Father Morcos was born Wagdi Elias in Egypt in 1929 and lived in the U.S. from 1955 to 1964. During

The Rev. Martha Lewis

Dr. Joseph Duffey

that time, he studied at Hartford Seminary, earning a Bachelor of Divinity in 1960 and a Master of Arts in 1961. According to his obituary, Father Marcos was ordained by Pope Kyrillos VI in 1964 as the first Coptic Orthodox priest in North America. In that same year, he established St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church in Toronto, the first Coptic Orthodox Church in North America, where he served until recently.

supervisor/acting director of nursing at Fairfield Hills Hospital in Newtown, CT, she began her studies at Hartford Seminary and earned a Master of Arts degree focusing on spirituality. She served as associate minister at First Baptist Church of Stratford and as a chaplain at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Robert Rue Parsonage, Ph.D. ’75

David Joseph Rempel Smucker died on March 12, 2021, at the age of 72. He attended Bluffton College and Oberlin (Ohio) College, graduating from Oberlin in 1971. He earned a Master of Arts in Religious Studies from Hartford Seminary in 1973, later earning a Ph.D. in 1981 from Boston University in Christian church history and American religion. From 1981 to 2003, he worked at the Lancaster, PA, Mennonite Historical Society as researcher and editor of Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritag. According to his obituary, “David’s personal journey led him to embrace the Christian faith in an Anabaptist expression, with an ecumenical perspective. He applied his faith practically, spiritually and intellectually, inspiring many along the way.”

Robert Rue Parsonage died on July 31, 2021, at the age of 83. Bob graduated from Carlton College in 1959, Pacific School of Religion in 1963, Harvard Divinity School in 1970, and earned his Ph.D. from Hartford Seminary in 1975. In the 1960s, he joined Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference and worked for civil rights. He served as Executive for Education in the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S. and was the U.S. Representative to the World Council of Churches Committee on Science and Society. He served as president of Northland College in Ashland, WI, for 15 years.

Edith Hester Rodgers, MA ’03

Edith Hester Rodgers, age 83, passed away on March 10, 2021. She graduated from the University of Bridgeport with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Gerontology. After a long career as

David Joseph Rempel Smucker, MA ’73

The Rev. Dr. Dwight D. Snesrud, BD ’59

The Rev. Dr. Dwight Snesrud passed away on Dec. 28, 2020, at the age of 90. After service in the National Guard and working a milk route for a local dairy in Rapid City, SD, he graduated from Yankton College then moved east to attend Hartford

The Rev. Dr. Dwight D. Snesrud

Seminary. After graduating, he served churches in Whiting, Iowa. He earned his Doctorate of Ministry in 1980 from United Theological Seminary in St. Paul, MN. Dwight retired from the ministry in 1995, and in 1999 returned to Lincoln, Nebraska. For over 40 years, according to his obituary, “Dwight served an ever-growing flock of parishioners with much success and as one close friend recently stated, ‘Dwight is filled with the Holy Spirit and has a liberal human heart, both of which compelled him to share the message of Christ and work for the protection and advancement of civil liberties, and to serve the needs of the poor, tired, and oppressed in our society.’”

The Rev. Mark Freeman Strickland, BD ’58

The Rev. Mark Freeman Strickland, age 86, died on March 10, 2021. He graduated from New England College in Henniker, NH, then, his obituary said, “answered the call to ministry following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and graduated from Hartford Seminary in 1958. He was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 1958. Mark served Massachusetts UCC churches in Andover, Melrose, Arlington, and Lynnfield. According to his obituary, “his longest pastorate was at Centre Church, Lynnfield, where upon retirement he was given the honor of Pastor Emeritus. He was sought after for his powerful preaching and commanding presence in the pulpit. He comforted and gently shepherded many people in his life.”

On July 20, 2021, the day of Eid al-Adha, the air on the East Coast of North America was saturated with the smoke from the West Coast fires. The moon that night was orange. In Alaska and Western Canada, these North American fumes mixed with the plumes from the burning Siberian permafrost – as if COVID-19 was not enough to remind us that the earth and all the creatures that inhabit it, including humans, are interconnected. Rising from the fires that scorched trillions of trees, animals, and other creatures, that smoke “was more toxic than we thought,” observed National Geographic. “The seven heavens praise His (God’s) glory, and the earth, and all that is therein; there is not a single thing but sings His praise” (Qur’an 17:44), according to Sarra Tlili’s emphasis and translation in I Invoke

God, Therefore I Am: Creation’s Spirituality and Its Ecologic Impact in Islamic Texts. In the “Qur’anic

world,” Tlili explains, “creatures from the seven heavens to the tiniest beings are so engaged in God’s glorification that if their hymns were not concealed from humans none would have experienced a moment of quiet.” How would we feel if we could hear the creatures eviscerated in the fires of global warming, with survivors weeping for the slain of their kin? Would we have the courage to apprehend that such infernos are related to other human-made fires? Would we, like W. E. B. DuBois upon his 1949 pilgrimage to the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto, be stirred “to reassess and reformulate the problems of our day, whose solution belongs to no one group?” Would we, like Bushra Shanan, a Palestinian visual artist, perceive imprints of children – turned into cherubs, hugging teddy bears – seared into the billowing smoke over Gaza, including on May 13, 2021, the day of Eid al-Fitr? In the world of “no place safe,” as The Economist characterized it in the week of Eid al-Adha, where do we, the community of Hartford Seminary, human beings of myriad backgrounds, experiences and sensibilities, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and beyond, find hope? One place to look is in this issue of Connections. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Islamic Chaplaincy program, it celebrates our graduates, in this case Muslim chaplains, who work within the ever-imperfect human dynamics and institutions, typically non-Muslim, to help mend the world one person at a time. They do it humbly, echoing the words of Micah 6:8, as Imam Sohaib Sultan exemplified time and again, right through the very end. Such humble service redisciplines senses. It rebalances priorities and hierarchies. It is a seed, a sapling, an encapsulation of ongoing practices, of what must be done in the face of calamity. 34

why

Change ? Timur R. Yuskaev Associate Professor of Contemporary Islam Editor-in-Chief of The Muslim World This time – the fire this time – calls for “the protean care for the world,” as William E. Connolly puts it in Pluralism. Connolly’s protean is a plea to cultivate the ability to change in unexpected ways, to be resilient and flexible. And this is what Hartford Seminary has done. Last year we went through the agonistic process of strategic planning. We re-envisioned what we do to make our institution more resilient, flexible, and responsive to the challenges of the time. We are implementing this vision now. The 36-credit Master of Arts in Chaplaincy program, launching in the fall of 2021, exemplifies our approach. Open to adherents of all religions, it simultaneously strengthens and builds upon our commitment to the training of Muslim chaplains. It is at once new and deeply rooted in what we do. Crucially, we are developing it as an indelible part of our Interreligious Peace Studies area, one of our four strategic pillars, along with Religion Research, Global and Community Partnerships, and Executive and Professional Education. Linking these efforts is the vision and practice that emphasizes the vital role of religion in the work of caring for “the earth, and all that is therein.” Soon Hartford Seminary will have a new name and a new logo. This development comes after a year of discussions within the HartSem community – board members, faculty, staff, students, alumni, corporators, and others. The new name and logo will be publicized in October of 2021. Our graduates and students will learn about these new expressions of who we are before the public announcement. Please stay tuned. And please know that this transformation, faithful to what we do, responds to the challenges of our time. •

77 Sherman Street Hartford, CT USA 06105-2260 www.hartsem.edu Address Service Required

Hartford Seminary hosts our first “drive-thru” graduation. Graduates were greeted by faculty and staff to celebrate their achievement and pick up their diploma and gift bag.

Photos by Chaplain Aida Mansoor