Hi Blog Readers! Today, I want to write about a topic I have not discussed before on the blog—religious life for students here at Wellesley.
I think there are two main ways to engage with religious and spiritual life at Wellesley. Firstly, there is the college’s Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (ORSL). ORSL has Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, and Unitarian Universalist chaplains and coordinators. These Chaplains will host regular gatherings and special events for religious holidays, and they are also available for one-on-one support meetings with students.
An example of the cool events ORSL hosts that are open to all students. Image credits to the ORSL Instagram.
Houghton Chapel and the Multifaith Center serve as the main hubs for everything religious on campus. It is often where Chaplains hold their events and serves as a gathering space for religious student organizations. The Multifaith Center also has a nice meditation room students can use!
The Meditation Room! Image credits to KieranTimberlake.
The entrance of the Multifaith Center! Image credits to KieranTimberlake.
Secondly, there are many religious student organizations at Wellesley. By doing a little research, just a few of the organizations I could find are Al-Muslimat, Hillel, Darshana, Christian Fellowship, and Heartspace. These student orgs are amazing and celebrate their respective holidays and host bonding and fundraising events.
And, I want to talk about my personal experiences as a Buddhist with religious life at Wellesley! When I applied and committed to Wellesley, I chose to indicate which religious background I aligned with and got added to a mailing list for Buddhist students- that was how I found out about Buddhist life at Wellesley in my freshman year!
There is an awesome Buddhist chaplain, John. Twice a week, he hosts mindful meditation in the Multifaith Center’s meditation room that is open to all students. I would occasionally attend meditation during my freshman and sophomore years. The chaplain also teaches a PE class on mindful meditation that students can take.
A few times a year, I meet with the chaplain one-on-one just to chat and ask about anything—Buddhism, faith, current events, school, etc. Chaplains are a great resource and listening ear.
As you can see, there are abundant ways to find and engage with your religious community at Wellesley! I hope this post was informative and thank you for reading.