Faith to Faith : Religions Follow the Golden Rule at UC Irvine, Sharing One Roof

IRVINE —  On most Fridays, when school is in session, a patchwork of tin-colored trailers serve as church, mosque and synagogue.

Around noon, the Catholics put up portraits of Jesus, fashion a makeshift altar and then a priest says Mass. An hour later, Jesus and the altar come down and the Muslims take over.

They remove their shoes, roll out their prayer rugs and deliver the final call to prayer over a microphone hooked up to a small speaker at 1:15 p.m. Within an hour, the Muslims complete their services and make way for the Jews, who mark the Sabbath at sundown with prayers and dinner.

“Fridays are hectic,” said Father Patrick Philbin, after leading a Mass recently. “The Catholics barely have time to pack up and leave.”

Welcome to UC Irvine’s Interfaith Center, the only ecumenical organization on any of the nine UC campuses. Founded primarily at the urging of UCI’s first chancellor, Daniel Aldrich, the privately funded organization has steadily grown through three decades, despite blurring the lines between church and state.

“Dan felt very strongly that students should not only develop their minds and bodies, but also should have the space to explore their spirituality,” said Mabry Steinhaus, 82, the senior member of the Interfaith’s board of directors. “We’ve been privileged to help kids do that.”

UCI Interfaith is sanctuary to about 1,800 weekly visitors, representing 17 faiths including Protestants, Hindus, Buddhists and Bahais. In past years, it’s also given shelter to Sikhs, Pagans for a Better Understanding and, for one afternoon, Hare Krishna followers.

Today the center, tucked away in the university’s engineering complex, celebrates its 30th anniversary. The organization will mark the occasion with a Mexican fiesta, where attendees will rededicate themselves to the center’s main goals of fortifying faith and promoting respect for the world’s religions.

“Some people think we are silly trying to do what we do,” said Nancy Jenks, whose 20 years as the center’s executive director has earned her the nickname “The First Lady of Interfaith.” “But how does anyone expect we are going to get along in this world? It has to start somewhere.”

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Interfaith began in 1966 inside a temporary trailer near the new campus of less than 1,600 students. For the next 14 years, the center thrived, sharing a small building with a clothing store and restaurant among other businesses in what is now Irvine Marketplace.

Impending commercial development drove the continually budget-strapped organization from its old home. Unable to find affordable shelter within miles of campus, the board offered to purchase its own trailers on campus and donate them to the university. Further, Interfaith would pay all costs associated with operating the center.

Aldrich, the center’s chief backer and a longtime member of the United Church of Christ, agreed.

Since moving to campus in 1981, Interfaith has always struggled to survive financially. Every year, the center strains to raise the $50,000 needed to cover Jenks’ modest salary, and maintenance, phone and electric bills.

UC officials did not return repeated phone calls to discuss the center’s presence on campus, though as a public university, UC policy calls for the separation of church and state and avoiding the appearance of sanctioning religious organizations. UCI officials also would not comment on the matter, offering only a faxed copy of university policy regarding church and state.

The policy states in part: “As a State instrumentality, the University must remain neutral on religious and political matters. The University cannot sponsor or fund religious activities. . . . “

But since relocating to campus, Interfaith has drawn few, if any, protests and has enjoyed the tacit approval of the university’s administration. (Former UC President and UCI Chancellor Jack Peltason hosted an Interfaith fund-raiser at his Irvine home in March.)

Through the decades, Interfaith has quietly built on its mission to foster religious understanding by expanding upon the ordinary and extraordinary events of life. For instance, one of the center’s longest-standing traditions is Thursday lunch, where people of various races and religions break bread together.

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Dat Trinh, a UCI senior who was raised as a Buddhist but is considering converting to Catholicism, was among 25 students sharing conversation at the luncheon earlier this month. A majority of those participating in the 17-year-old afternoon ritual were Catholic, one of the largest religious groups on campus and the faith of a quarter of the center’s visitors.

“I’m still in the discovery stage,” said Trinh, 22, a chemistry and biology major from Santa Ana. “The point of every religion is to be a good person, but Catholicism seems to offer a more personal relationship with God, which is important to me.”

Besides trying to enrich a student’s everyday life, Interfaith has opened its doors during times of intense grief and anger. When the space shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, the center sponsored a memorial service that drew hundreds of students, Christian, Jews and Muslims alike.

In November, more than 50 students turned out for a service after the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Catholic and Episcopalian groups brought flowers to the ceremony, where the Jewish prayer for the dead was read in Hebrew and English.

“It was beautiful,” said Marlene Silverman, the campus advisor for the Jewish students and one of three chaplains at the center. “I think it was a profoundly important spiritual and learning experience for all the students.”

While priding itself on tolerance, the Interfaith Center has found its own commitment to diversity tested on several occasions. About seven years ago, a group of fewer than 10 students calling themselves the Pagans for a Better Understanding wanted access to the center.

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Many, including the center’s board of directors, balked at admitting them, but Jenks argued that banning the group would violate the spirit of Interfaith. She won.

The Pagans, however, won few converts and disbanded a couple of years ago.

“They were known to sit in a circle and burn candles,” said Jenks, 60, still a bit puzzled by the pagans. “They would really just talk about their pagan beliefs. They believed in witchcraft, you know.”

Around the same time, a band of Hare Krishna followers from Laguna Beach suddenly appeared one afternoon, helping themselves to food and sleeping on the center’s sofas. Jenks resisted the temptation to cast them out.

“They kind of scared me,” she said. “But they didn’t do any harm, and they left after a few hours.”

But Interfaith has not embraced all faiths. It has clashed with a few fundamentalist Christian groups, who insisted on proselytizing--even in the center.

“You can’t be in a facility like this where we are working together and come in and try to convert the heathens,” said Jenks, a former Baptist turned Presbyterian. “It’s offensive and we don’t allow that to happen here.”

For the religious students, the Interfaith Center has been an invaluable part of their campus life and education. This is especially true for small groups like the Muslims, who are a tiny minority on a predominately secular and Christian campus.

If not for Interfaith, the 100 Muslims at UCI would be forced to travel to mosques in Lake Forest or Garden Grove--a distance that may prevent most from attending the all-important Friday prayers without skipping classes.

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“We are very lucky,” said Abdel Ahmed, 31, an Egyptian and doctoral student in mechanical engineering. “I was worried when I came here whether I could find a mosque at all.”

For other students, the center provides a uniquely relaxed forum to reexamine their own faith. Linh Le, a Catholic student, said he has benefited from the many discussions about the strengths and weaknesses of his religion.

“If everyone around you believes like you do, then you are never going to be challenged,” said Le, 23, a biology and studio art major. “And without challenge, there is no growth.”

And for Philbin, the Catholic chaplain for the last seven years, there are no doubts about the center’s contribution to campus life. He fondly recalled this year’s Cinco de Mayo celebration during which the Vietnamese Catholics sang two songs in Spanish to honor their Latino cousins.

“That’s what this is all about,” said Philbin. “When I drove home that night, I knew God was happy with me that day. I saw brother and sisters loving one another.”

In return, the Latino Catholics have promised to sing in Vietnamese during the Tet holidays next year.

“I don’t care what anyone says about us,” Philbin added. “I know what we are doing is good.”