OCRL Participates in April Pilot Program with Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom

The Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life (OCRL) is participating in a national project with Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom (SYRF) to explore the intersection of religious/spiritual identity with sexuality and reproductive choice. Funded by a pilot grant from SYRF, OCRL chaplains, Brown students, and Brown administrators and Medical School faculty will meet for three Wednesday evening sessions in April to create a more focused dialogue on these important themes, which represent critical junctures in the lives of students on campuses. Moreover, the relationship between religious/spiritual identity and sexuality is an important but often less explored areas in the fields medicine, public health, and human care professions including those of clergy and religious leaders.

Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom (SYRF) educates, organizes, and empowers youth and young adults (ages 16 to 30) to put their faith into action and advocate for pro-choice social justice. SYRF is a program of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. SYRF creates venues for youth education and activism, designs youth-specific materials, and builds lasting relationships with youth-oriented organizations, campus clergy, and youth programs of our denominations.

The first session on April 1 will feature Donna Freitas, professor of Religious Studies at Boston University. Her 2008 book: Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance and Religion on America’s College Campuses (Oxford University Press, 2008), was one of Publishers Weekly Best Nonfiction Books of 2008. Freitas is dynamic young scholar whose work spans from fiction to research scholarship. She will speak with us about her research, insights, and the implications of the dual silences prevailing on campuses about both sexuality and spirituality.

For more information about this program, call 401.863.2344.