By Renée Gerhart

When Tom Anthony ’65 asked his father for advice on where to attend college, his father responded as every good Episcopal clergyman of his era: he gave his son catalogs and applications for the Episcopal colleges in the United States. Anthony chose Hobart, where he attended weekly chapel with the rest of the students and sang in the Chapel choir. Singing in the choir was something he enjoyed. Chapel attendance was required.

“Owing to my upbringing, there were certain comforts associated with the familiarity of the Episcopalian rite," says Anthony, now associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University. "But like any good liberal arts college, Hobart confronted me with a greatly expanded appreciation for the nature of belief as it affects people around the world at different times. I became more interested in what today we might term ‘intercultural belief.’”

Twenty-five years later, Ethan Cole ’00 used much the same criteria as Anthony when making his own college choice. “I was interested in divinity school and knew I wanted to attend an Episcopal college. Hobart was a good choice because it was close to home,” says the Buffalo-area native.

Cole immersed himself in religious life at Hobart. He was an active participant in Chapel activities ranging from Wednesday evening Eucharist services to interfaith gatherings and community volunteer efforts. Today, he is a first-year student at Harvard Divinity School, on his way to becoming an ordained Episcopal priest. “Hobart was a wonderful experience for me,” says Cole. “For the first time, I was able to experience and explore other religious traditions, which deepened my own beliefs. For me it’s an understanding that you don’t have to be threatened by other religions. Ultimately, we’re all praying to the same God.”

Although Hobart College was established by an Episcopal bishop and retains a loose affiliation with the Episcopal Church, the college was never intended to be exclusively for Episcopalians (see sidebar). Today, the Colleges religious service offerings have grown to include Buddhist meditation, Roman Catholic mass, Shabbat and Havdalah services, and Muslim Friday prayers that are bolstered by the Canterbury Club, Newman Association, Hillel, and the Islamic Student Association. The broad offering is not surprising. From the start, Hobart College did not discriminate in admissions based on ethnicity or religion.

"I think that's significant," says Lesley Adams, chaplain of St. John's Chapel. "It truly was open to all different people earlier than many other places. That kind of frontier spirit of trying to engage for the future rather than preserve some old English way of being has carried forward through the years."

While Cole may be unique among modern-day HWS students in choosing a spiritual career path, he embodies the spirit of religious life at the Colleges today: inclusive, tolerant of differences, and thriving.

The hub of religious activity at Hobart and William Smith is St. John's Chapel. While technically the chapel of Hobart College, its chaplain is charged with ministering to the entire Hobart and William Smith community. Although the percentage of students who participate in organized Chapel-sponsored activities at HWS is admittedly small, religious life is an important component of the campus experience for those students, who represent a spectrum of religions and traditions.

As much as anything, it's the chaplain who sets the tone for campus life during any given era. The current chaplain, the Rev. Adams, has been at St. John's since 1995. An Episcopal priest with a background in higher education, it is Adams' first experience with campus ministry. Hobart's third female Chaplain, Adams has been revered by students and faculty for her commitment to inclusiveness.

"Part of my role is to be a pastor for the whole community," she says. "Yes, I'm an Episcopalian. Yes, I do an Episcopal/ Anglican outreach on campus, but I really see this as an interfaith ministry. I don’t read Episcopal prayers when I’m in a public setting.” In fact, Adams has been teased by some faculty members about the number of ways she can refer to ‘God’ without using the actual word.

“People don’t necessarily think of diversity as a spiritual issue, but for me it’s fundamental in my belief that God created us all equally,” she says.

Adams coordinates services and activities with people from every denomination that serves on campus, such as Lorinda Weinstock, the Hillel program professional. Weinstock was hired to the new position two years ago to support Jewish services and expand Jewish offerings. Since then Weinstock has helped initiate the Jewish Culture Theme House on campus and worked with Adams to do community service projects.

“I feel that some students are looking to connect to Judiasm for spiritual reasons while others are looking for a cultural tie,” Weinstock said.

For Adams part of her service is also to minister to students without spiritual reasons or cultural ties. She sees this ministry has a tremendous opportunity, as few of today’s students grew up with any active faith tradition in their homes. “It’s very different than 30 years ago, when most everybody’s parents went to church regularly,” she says. “Some of them might identify themselves as ‘Christian,’ but many of them have no experience with religion at all. A fun part of the ministry is drawing in people who aren’t used to doing anything religious. They don’t necessarily say, ‘I’m going to be baptized and become an Episcopalian’—although that has happened on at least one occasion—but it’s exposure.”

One of the ways Adams does that is through Pasta Night, a dinner held on Wednesday nights at her home. Students cook a simple dinner—typically spaghetti, salad, and cookies—which they sit and eat on the floor. Adams begins the evening with prayers; the group eats and then engages in a discussion, often centered on a reading of some sort that someone has brought along to share. The evolving group of 30 to 40 includes both students and faculty members. The discussion focuses just as often on secular topics as religious ones.

“We’ve had students share poems from Winnie the Pooh and read from Alice in Wonderland,” says Adams. “In any case, it’s usually something that means something to that particular person that they want to share with the group.”

Adams calls Pasta Night, which she started shortly after coming to St. John’s, “a hospitality ministry.” “At the beginning of the year—particularly the first year when trying to find a place to connect—it’s comforting to students to be able to be in a home setting, to be able to pet the cat and see kids’ drawings on the refrigerator. It’s a rotating population that attends. Some people you expect to see every week, others come for a while and then don’t come as often once they find other places they belong on campus.”

It was the comfort of home that attracted sophomore Aline Gadue ’03 to her first Pasta Night as a first-year student, but the experience of fellowship that kept her going back. “It’s nice to do something that has a little more depth and meaning than some other activities,” says Gadue, a Roman Catholic and head of the campus Newman Organization this year.

Gadue says that while few students at HWS are regular churchgoers, she doesn’t feel that lack of participation is an indication of lack of belief. “I’ve met students of many different religions here, but I’ve met very few students who actually said they are atheists.”

She believes staying in touch with religion is an asset for college students. “College is such a period of change for students,” says Gadue. “A lot of people are really struggling with their identities and figuring out who they want to be. Participating with worship can be really helpful. It’s something that’s solid when so much is uncertain.”

Like Gadue, junior Julie Reineke ’02 became involved in campus ministry activities through Pasta Night. “A friend invited me to go my first year, and I’ve been a regular ever since,” she says.

The past two years, Reineke has been a Pasta Queen, one of the planners and organizers of the weekly event, which she doesn’t even think of as religious. “It’s really a good time,” she says. “The food is great, the company is good, and the discussion is always really interesting.”

That’s not to say religion isn’t important to her. A Methodist, Reineke has sung in her church choir since the age of three, and now worships and sings in the choir at a Methodist church in Geneva. She also participates in interfaith Chapel activities, such as picking apples and baking pies for the community lunch program. “My church involvement has always been a big part of who I am, so there’s no reason that shouldn’t continue in college,” says Reineke.

In addition to interfaith programming, there are numerous religious organiza- tions students can participate in. “It’s harder to do when we have tiny numbers,” says Adams. “We sometimes have so few Muslim students, so few Hindu students at any given time that it’s hard to provide something meaningful.”

That’s why two years ago, in recognition of the needs of an increasing number of Jewish students, the Colleges hired Weinstock. Shari Friedberg ’00 was involved in that selection process.

“It made a huge difference in our programming and our exposure on campus,” says Friedberg. “I also think creating the position was an important statement on behalf of the Colleges.”

A Reform Jew, Friedberg says she became much more religiously observant while in college than she ever was at home, or than she has been since graduating. She got involved in Hillel during her first year by going to Friday night Shabbat dinners, in part to escape a bad roommate situation. Like those who attend Pasta Night, Friedberg found friends and enjoyed the fellowship. She later became president of Hillel and lived in the Jewish Culture Theme House that was created last year.

“It’s not something I would have predicted before I left for William Smith, but it became a big part of my college experience,” Friedberg says.

Weinstock has encountered many students who like Friedberg have found a greater role for religious activity in college life. Weinstock also agrees that the Jewish community is more visible today at Hobart and William Smith.

"I definitely feel an increased awareness of the presence of the Jewish community and a stronger sense of good feelings about Jewish life on campus," she explains.

The most popular events sponsored by the Chapel are those special, once-a-year type interfaith events such as the apple picking and pie making, the AIDS Remembrance Service, or the Sexuality and Spirituality Service held during National Coming Out week. “I usually get a huge turn-out for that, and people are very moved by it and connected to it, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to join a club or come to services over and over again.”

In other words, while college students have a thirst for a spiritual connection, organized religion is not a high priority in terms of how they choose to spend their time.

“Spirituality is a tricky notion. It thrives in community but not necessarily in a conventional church community,” says Dunbar Moodie, a HWS professor of sociology who holds a Ph.D. in religion and society from Harvard University. “It seems to me that spiritual awakenings happen as much in groups like Refuse & Resist!, the Pride Alliance, or Amnesty International as in conventional church.”

While St. John’s Chapel might not be packed every Sunday, the participation in chapel activities—to whatever extent—is no less important. “I think the students involved in religious life at the Colleges today are much more sincere than when I was a student,” says Roy Dexheimer ’55, vice president for advancement at the Colleges. “There may be a smaller number, but they are enjoying their participation and having a meaningful experience, as opposed to going to chapel because it is required. Being forced to do something makes you want to do it all the less.”

Encouraging students to explore their beliefs—not indoctrinating them— is really the point of having a campus ministry program. Growing up, students may not have had the opportunity to explore various religious traditions. College can provide that experience.

“Part of what you can do in college is to grow spiritually,” says Adams. “It’s not uncommon for students to start to question things they’ve always held to be true. It’s nice to have a place where it’s OK to ask those questions and to wrestle with them.”

“My sense is that the Chapel provides a place where students with a church connection can begin to question the conventional wisdom in which they have been raised,” adds Moodie. “Sometimes that means they become very attached. Sometimes it means they stay away.”

The great thing about all that, according to Ethan Cole, is that the campus ministry is truly open to anybody who wants to check it out and see what it’s like. “You can go to a Catholic service or a Jewish service just to experience it,” says Cole. “Ultimately, college is about exploring the world and your place in it, and religion can be another way for students to do that.” It’s that history of religious inclusiveness at the Colleges that Adams wants to continue to foster. “I take it as a warrant to continue to open the ministry up and include and support students of all backgrounds,” she says. “Not just to say ‘You can be here,’ but to say ‘You can be who you are here.’”