Interfaith & Ecumenical Studies Minor

Bellarmine University takes pride in the fact that from its very beginnings we have been an institution grounded in the Catholic tradition and universally open to all people. The Trappist monk Thomas Merton is our most prominent patron saint. Merton built deep and enduring friendships with people across lines of social and religious difference and gathered wisdom from Eastern and other religious traditions. He identified the roots of inclusivity in his own Catholic faith and discovered what he called a vocation to unity. “We are already one,” he wrote. “But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are.”

Inspired by Merton’s quest for the true self and vocation to unity and in keeping with Bellarmine’s mission and its goal of preparing students for global citizenship, the interfaith and ecumenical studies minor will help students achieve the following goals:

·     to explore, through dialogue, their own and others’ religious, spiritual, and value-based worldviews and traditions;

·     to develop religious literacy involving multiple traditions;

·     to identify within these traditions the bases for dialogue, cooperation, and collaboration;

·     to explore the history of that dialogue and efforts to work together for the common good; and,

·     to engage persons and communities with diverse faith perspectives and worldviews to address contemporary social concerns.