About the Interfaith Center
The Interfaith Center at the Presidio is . . .
a San Francisco Bay Area grassroots interfaith friendship-building nonprofit organization, - welcoming people of all faiths at the Interfaith Chapel in the Presidio of San Francisco (the Presidio Chapel)
- an inter-religious advocate of peacemaking among religions, locally and globally.
Never has the need for healthy cross-culture relationships been greater. The Interfaith Center at the Presidio has an historic commitment to healing and peacemaking within, between, and among religious and spiritual traditions. The Center's mission is to welcome, serve, and celebrate the diverse faith traditions and spiritual wisdom of the Bay Area.
Developing Local & Global Relations
Since the turn of the century the Interfaith Center has collaborated programmatically with more than 50 sectarian, ecumenical, and interfaith groups on dozens of programs.
- The Center circulates an electronic calendar & newsletter of San Francisco-Bay Area interfaith activities to nearly 2,000 religious leaders.
- The Center is a founding Cooperation Circle of the United Religions Initiative (URI), participates in the Parliament of the World’s Religions Partnership Cities program, has working relations with half a dozen other interfaith networks, and led in organizing URI’s first North America assembly and North American Interfaith Network’s 20th anniversary NAINConnect.
- The Center is active in North American Interfaith Network, the Parliament of the World’s Religions, URI and other interfaith networks.
Creating Interfaith Learning Environments & Resources
Grants and generous donors have allowed the Center to shepherd numerous projects, workshops, and resources. The Center has published One World, Many Voices – An Interfaith Song Book (2002), Sacred Spaces – 2004 Interfaith Sacred Space Design Competition (2004), and Shared Wisdom – Developing Grassroots Interfaith Relationships (August 2004).
Other Center projects include: What Do You Believe? (a 50-minute film based on 300 interviews with teenagers); Lost and Endangered Religions (including an academic conference Harran: At the Crossroads); a project gathering supplies for Iraqi children; and a course about ‘interfaith literacy’ being presented in seminaries, congregations, and special gatherings.
Renovation plans for the Main Post Chapel include the creation and installation of 25 new stained-glass windows built around shards of glass gathered by U.S. Army Chaplain Frederick McDonald in 1944-45 from European sanctuaries suffering from war.
