Hickey Center for Interfaith Studies & Dialogue
Advocating scholarship and encouraging strategies for living peacefully in a religiously diverse world.
The Hickey Center and the IIIT Chair for Interfaith & Islamic Studies promote understanding and appreciating differences of social justice issues through education and dialogue in an increasingly global landscape.
Upcoming Programs »
February 5, 2025: Tea with Shafiq
Share a cup of tea and good conversation! Join us to chat with Dr. Thom Donlin-Smith who taught in the Department of Religious Studies at Nazareth for over three decades. Listen to stories from GAC and his plans for the future. GAC 351, noon
February 6, 2025: UN Interfaith Harmony Week Event
Exhibiting the Truth: Lessons about Interfaith Harmony from the World of Art
Hear Father Michael Calabria talk about interfaith narratives. While the “clash of civilizations” narrative still prevails in global political and religious discourse, works of art and material culture present a counternarrative – a story of shared beliefs, values, ideas, aesthetics, and knowledge. Using examples from current museum exhibitions, Fr. Michael will show the importance of artwork for narrating the history of interfaith relations and its value for interfaith harmony today.
Bio:Michael Calabria, OFM, PhD is the Founding Director of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies and Associate Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at St. Bonaventure University. In addition to graduate degrees in Egyptology, Library Science, Theology and Sacred Scripture, he obtained his PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter, UK, in 2015. His dissertation, titled The Foremost of Believers, provided an analysis of the Egyptians in the Qur’an, Islamic Exegesis and extra-canonical texts. He served as a consultant for the 2013 documentary In the Footsteps of Francis and the Sultan, the 2017 film The Sultan and the Saint, and is featured in an upcoming film by Unity Productions Foundation titled: Islam’s Greatest Love Stories. As a Franciscan friar, he served as the Special Assistant for Dialogue with Islam for the Order of Friars Minor from 2016-2021. In addition to his journal articles and conference papers on the Mughal period, he is the author of The Language of the Taj Mahal: Islam, Prayer and the Religion of Shah Jahan (I.B. Tauris, 2020).
February 25, 2025: UN Interfaith Harmony Week Event
Rochester as a Sanctuary City: Community and Belonging
4:00pm in the Forum
An event celebrating both African American History Month and Interfaith Harmony Week
A panel discussion with keynote: Rev. Angela D. Sims, Ph.D. - President, Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School and guest panelists:
- Rabbi Or Zohar
- Bishop Kara Wagner Sherer
- Alma Omerhodzic of Barakah
March 19, 2025: Global Citizenship Conference
See the GCC 2025 Brochure here
Annual Events and Programming »
Besides an interdisciplinary: DE&I and Interdisciplinary Interfaith Studies - Minor we offer academic conferences for scholars, seminars and workshops for civic and religious leaders, teachers, college and high school students, and community members to uphold our College Mission of diversity, inclusion and equity.
- Global Citizenship Immersion Program for High School Students
- Sacred Texts and Human Contexts
- Global Citizenship Conference
- Abrahamic Dialogue Institute
About »
Our history and what we do.
Local Organizations »
Interfaith groups within the Rochester area.
Resources »
Event and lecture recordings, articles, videos, and links on interfaith topics.
