The Center plays a number of roles in the life of the School and University, ranging from the academic study of religions to explorations of religion in relation to practice, including in the living context of the Center as community. A key event occurs every May, when the Center hosts the final event of the School's academic year, the Commencement Tea. This happy celebration, open to all members of the School's community, their families and friends, is a way to mark together the fundamental human relations that keep Center and School alive and well.
The summer is quiet at the School and the Center, everyone settled down for some precious weeks of research and writing, the teaching and study of languages, some travel, and of course, needed time away from campus for rest and relaxation. But we are delighted each July to mark mid-summer by hosting a lunch open to everyone at the School in the summer months, faculty and students, staff and visitors. When the weather cooperates, we enjoy lunch in our lovely courtyard, though the cool space of the Common Room is also always welcoming those who wish to sit inside.
—by Francis X. Clooney, S.J., director of the Center for the Study of World Religions, Parkman Professor of Divinity, Professor of Comparative Theology