Table of Contents
Chaplain Kathleen Buckley
The Great Financial Aid Misconception
Chaplain Kathleen Buckley: A Ministry of Hospitality
It was a "baptism by fire" of sorts for new St. Lawrence Chaplain Kathleen BuckleyÑshe arrived late last summer, and less than three weeks into the fall term the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked.
"I didn't even know where the candles were kept," she says. "But I was impressed, and continue to be impressed, by the care and cooperation I found from every part of the St. Lawrence community. When it became known we wanted to do a service the night of the attacks, students, faculty and staff filed in or called to offer help." Thus it was that on the evening of September 11, not 12 hours after the attacks began, Rev. Buckley was able to lead a Service of Compassion, complete with a printed program, music and speakers from the Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist traditions.
"Hospitality is at the core of my ministry," says Buckley, who came to St. Lawrence from the chaplaincy at Skidmore College. "I want people to talk and learn from each other and practice spiritual principles that enable us to deepen our connections with one another and with the Earth, and with all life." She defines spirituality as "that which moves us toward wholeness, which invites us to explore what nurtures our spirit in the broadest way possible. That's an area that has not been systematically explored on many campuses in recent history," she adds.
Buckley has also been Protestant chaplain at Union College. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, she earned her Master of Divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill., and is ordained in the Presbyterian Church.
To activate her philosophy, Buckley has introduced weekly meditation sessions, labyrinth walks (a form of meditation), and such special events as a United Nations interfaith service for peace and a "blessing of the animals," to which people were invited to bring their pets. To the traditional Christmas Candlelight Service liturgy she added songs in Swahili and Croatian so worshippers could "experience rich Christian traditions from around the world."
She also instituted observances of the Hindu celebration Divali and of the winter solstice last fall. "My goal is to have an interfaith ministry," she says, "so we can learn to respect a variety of religious and spiritual traditions." - NSBAdapted from the Spring 2002 ParentScope.