Interfaith Excursion Around Chicagoland

By MARY FELLERS

Recently, a group of students traveled to Chicagoland to visit three different sacred spaces through the Interfaith club: Better Together of Spiritual Life. Sacred spaces refer to places where groups of people have dedicated a place of worship or meaning in their faith tradition. Better Together plans an annual trip to visit various spaces to learn about their historical roots, religious beliefs, and cultural differences. Visiting these spaces can teach us so much about people from all over the world. If you ever have the opportunity to travel to the Chicagoland area, be sure to visit these sacred spaces.

The trip was led by Tania Tauseef, Loras College Interfaith Coordinator, and Dr. John Eby, professor of History. I worked with Tania on much of the planning that went into this trip. Our goal was to visit spaces that are different from those in our Dubuque community so that students could experience something new. Furthermore, several of the students who attended the trip are international students from countries like Nepal.

The first sacred space we visited was the Zen Buddhist Temple. At the temple, we had