Parliament of Worlds Religion 2004 Barcelona

Author(s): Parliament of the World’s Religions
Publisher: USA Parliament of the Worlds Religions

Page 115

Program Descriptions Thursday, July 8, 2004
ENGAGEMENT SESSION 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Tom Downes
Melanie Freas Alan Steinfeld Dorothy Cunha Martha Foster
Alden Bevington
William Hayashi
Room 115, Spanish/English/Catalan Panel Discussion/Interactive Workshop
This program will open with a panel discussion describing the vision, genesis and progress of "InterSpiritual Dialogue" - an unfolding practice of the InterSpiritual Dialogue Action Community (ISDAC). Modalities of interspiritual dialogue and expression will be highlighted along with a global action initiative and exploration of models of cooperation. Participants will then be invited to share in a hands-on interactive process that will feature reflection, silence and collaborative interspiritual dialogue. ISDAC moderators will use techniques that demonstrate the advantage of different traditions working together to promote community action plans.
Dr. Kurt Johnson is a founding member of InterSpiritual Dialogue. He is a board member of the National Service Conference of the American Ethical Union, Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture and a member of the UN Spiritual Caucus. He is widely published in science, religion and ethics. He co-authored Nabokov's Blues: the Scientific Odyssey of a Literary Genius.
Brother Wayne Teasdale, Ph.D., is a Roman Catholic lay monk and noted author of The Mystic Heart: Finding a Universal Spirituality in the World's Religions and A Monk in the World. He serves on the Baord of Trustees of the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions and is a Counselor for the InterSpiritual Dialogue Action Community.
Martha Gallahue is a founding member of ISDAC, a practicing psychotherapist and an interspiritual practitioner. She is a member of the United Religious Initiative at the UN representing the American Ethical Union. Martha also represents the Spiritual Caucus of the United Nations at the Parliament of the World's Religions.
Annette Knopp is a teacher/counselor in the Advaita Tradition and has pursued experiential work in Tibetan Buddhism, Shamanism and healing and integration techniques. Ms. Knopp specializes in holding Women's Circles for the recognition and celebration of the Spirit in its female embodiment and is a Counselor to ISDAC.
Matt Mitler originally trained in Humanistic and Existential Psychology and later discovered the healing potential of theatre. He studied with such masters as Jerzy Grotowski, Carl Rogers, and Jean Huston. In 1997, he merged psychotherapy and theatre to found Dzieci, a theater group with a higher purpose. He is a founding member of the ISDAC (InterSpiritual Dialogue) Service Council.
Rev. Tom Downes, Ph.D., is a founding member of ISDAC and a practicing psychotherapist and interspiritual practitioner with backgrounds ranging from Christian mysticism, eastern religious
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practice and Tai Chi Chuan to shamanism. He is also representing Pax Christi at the Parliament of the World's Religions.
Melanie Freas is a member of the Service Council of ISDAC. Formerly associated with both the Omega Institute and the University of Creation Spirituality, she has pursued experiential and intellectual training from a wide variety of both Eastern and Western spiritual traditions. Her most essential work is that done under the tutorship of Russill Paul, a teacher from the Hindu tradition of Nada Yoga who is also presenting at the 2004 Parliament,
Alan Steinfeld is a member of the Service Council of ISDAC and producer and host of New Realities Television which has brought viewers the leading edge scientists and mystical and spiritual thinkers that are changing the way we think of the world. He is cofounder of the Concordia Foundation.
Dorothy Cuhha, founding member of ISDAC, is a member of the corporate business community. Dorothy practices Peruvian Shamanism working with, among others, Oscar Miro-Quesada. She is on the steering committee of the Institute for Life Purpose, a non-profit organization dedicated to propagating the conversation of living one's purpose.
A member of the InterSpiritual Dialogue Collaborative Circle, Ms. Foster is the founder and executive director of Living Earth Television. She has worked for three decades with festivals, broadcasters, museums and universities in both the USA and Asia. She has graduate training in both anthropology and media. She created the Windy City International Documentary Festival and developed story ideas for an Emmy award-winning documentary series for Chicago Public Television.
A member of the Collaborative Circle of InterSpiritual Dialogue, Alden Bevington has studied, prayed and practiced with a full spectrum of teachers and congregations representing the many faces of human spirituality. His particular interests have been religious psychology and the philosophical and meditational techniques which comprise the world's mystical teachings.
Dr. Hayashi is a Professor of Humanities at Columbia College in Chicago, where he teaches courses in Mystical Consciousness: East and West, the Philosophy of Love, and Spirituality and Empowerment, and serves as Director of the Senior Seminar Program: Voice, Values, and Vision. He has been a teacher of Siddha Yoga meditation for over twenty years, a student of Chinese energy methods, and an author and panelist in the inter-faith
movement.
Religious Values and Social Activism Rabbi Emeritus Sidney Schwarz
H. H. Swami Sadyojathah Paul Knitter
Room 116, Spanish/English/Catalan Lecture
One of the great challenges to religious communities is to find ways that the wisdom of respective faith traditions can motivate its adherents to work for social justice and world peace. Many young people have a hard time finding religious inspiration for their own altruism and their desire to make a