Clergy Corner, Dec. 21, 2018 – Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette

ในห้อง 'Buddhist News' ตั้งกระทู้โดย PanyaTika, 22 ธันวาคม 2018.

  1. PanyaTika

    PanyaTika สมาชิกใหม่

    วันที่สมัครสมาชิก:
    12 ธันวาคม 2018
    โพสต์:
    572
    กระทู้เรื่องเด่น:
    1
    ค่าพลัง:
    +3
    clergy-corner-dec-21-2018-champaign-urbana-news-gazette.jpg

    Photo by: Robin Scholz/The News-Gazette

    The Rev. Florence Caplow of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign is interviewed at the church Monday, Dec. 17, 2018, in Urbana.


    The Rev. FLORENCE CAPLOW just so happened to be in the Southwest this month — attending a weeklong Zen retreat in New Mexico — when she heard about a function nearby that she had to be a part of.

    So, instead of returning to Urbana, the Unitarian Universalist Church minister extended her stay and headed straight to San Diego, where she joined 400-something others in a “clergy witness” event organized by a Quaker group at the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana.

    Just back home from the unique experience, the 54-year-old clergywoman and Terre Haute, Ind., native sat down with staff writer Tim Mitchell to talk about what she saw, her faith, Asian calligraphy and much more.

    Tell us about your time in Tijuana, where asylum-seekers on the highly-publicized ‘migrant caravan’ anxiously await word on whether they can cross the border.

    They were hoping for 100 clergy to take part, and there were more than 400 people there — mostly clergy, but also some lay people. We had people from every possible religious tradition: Muslims, Methodists, Presbyterians, Quakers, others. We gathered at a Church of the Brethren in San Diego, and we all went out to a state park that is on the border by the Pacific.

    You can get to the parking lot and see the wall and see Tijuana, but you are in a park. The wall was probably 25, 30 feet high, and it actually goes into the ocean at least 100 yards. It’s not solid, and you can see through it to the other side. From the parking lot to the wall is about a mile-and-a-half walk. All 400 of us, in stoles and clergy robes, walked along the beach to the wall. The border patrol was there.

    About 100 of those 400 people were willing to risk arrest. They were planning a nonviolent civil disobedience action. On the American side, there is a line of wire maybe 50 yards from the wall itself. It is a violation of federal law to go into that area. Their intention was to go into that area and get arrested. The people risking arrest ended up going into the water. There was a line of people on their knees praying in the waves with the border patrol looking on. I was there as a witness.

    Most of the migrants on the other side are in several really large encampments. We could see a huge, old bullfighting arena. That’s where many of the migrants were camped the week before, and they moved them further down the coast. I met several people who went to the camp to bring supplies. There are asylum-seekers who come across the border, mostly from Honduras and El Salvador, places where there is tremendous violence going on. They come across the border and requested asylum. The immigration authorities decided whether they have even remotely a case.

    If they do, they can stay in the U.S. with family and sponsors until that case is heard. They don’t have an easy way to get to where they need to go to reach family or sponsors, which might be Illinois. There are groups on the American side helping to translate bus directions for them.

    Are you now inspired to do more about this issue as a church?

    Yes. I held a meeting here to talk about how people might get involved. About 35 people showed up.

    How could churches in Champaign-Urbana come together to help send volunteers down there or provide sponsorship for people? My sense is Champaign-Urbana is a town that has opened its arms to a lot of refugees over the years. People of faith from all over are helping in whatever simple ways that they can.

    You hold the distinction of being both a Soto Zen Buddhist priest and a minister for the Unitarian Universalist Church. What church did you attend growing up?

    I am actually a sixth-generation Unitarian. My great-great-great-grandmother, Jane Potter, helped found the Unitarian Church in Cherokee, Iowa, in 1890.

    It turns out that three generations of the women of my family were involved in the founding of that church. They asked one of the female Unitarian ministers to be the first minister of that church. In 1890, almost no denomination in this country had women ministers.

    That church no longer exists. It closed in 1920.

    What’s your earliest memory of church?

    I remember taking part in religious education classes in a little limestone house in Terre Haute in the old part of town. I don’t remember what I was learning. I was probably a kindergartner or first-grader.

    What did you want to be when you were a little girl?

    I wanted to be a philosopher. I was one of those kids who was always asking the big questions.

    Why are we here? What is life about? Why do humans behave the way they do?

    I eventually discovered that Western philosophy was not going to help me with the answers.

    The ministry is actually a second career for you. What did you do before this?

    I was a conservation biologist. I was a botanist. I did surveys and conservation work with plants throughout the West, from California to Alaska.

    I tried to find new populations of some of the rarest plants in the world so they could be protected from extinction. I did field work in some of the most beautiful places on Earth, from high mountains to deserts to islands off the coast of Alaska.

    I did this for 30 years. I loved my work.

    How did you end up becoming a minister for two different religions?

    I wanted to help people in what may be a difficult time, whether you look at the economy or the environment or politics. I thought I could be of greater service by going into the ministry.

    One of the ways that I am a bit unusual as a Unitarian Universalist minister is that I am also a Soto Zen Buddhist priest. So I had two ordinations: one as a Zen Buddhist and one as a Unitarian Universalist. I became really interested in Buddhism in my teens. So imagine me as a teenager starting to read about Buddhism in Terre Haute, Indiana, in the 1970s. There were no Buddhist teachers anywhere in that community.

    When I moved to the West Coast in my early 20s, I found somebody who was teaching Zen meditation. I started connecting with San Francisco’s Zen Center. In Japan, there are two major schools of Zen. Rinzia Zen is the Zen of the Samurai warriors, and Soto Zen is more contemplative and meditation-focused.

    I was eventually ordained as a Soto Zen priest in 2007. I still do Buddhist weddings. Even though I was more involved with Buddhism, I always felt a very deep sense of connection with Unitarian Universalism. The sense that we are here to make this world a better place in whatever way we can is just in my bones. At one point, I realized what I wanted to do was to help the people that I love who are dedicated to make the world a better place. I wanted to do that with a grounding with a contemplative practice.

    Prayer is not a big part of the Unitarian Universalist way. They tend to be pretty intellectual and oriented toward action. I wanted to bring the depth of spiritual practice that I had as a Buddhist into the Unitarian Universalist ministry. So I went back to school in Berkeley, California, for full seminarian training with the Unitarian Universalist ministry, and I was ordained with them in 2016.

    What’s something about you that few know?

    I study Asian calligraphy, and one of the greatest living Asian chirographers, Shozo Sato, teaches at Japan House here in Urbana. I have a chance to study this rare art form with a true master.

    Have any other hobbies?

    I love to canoe and kayak on the rivers here. Sugar Creek over in Indiana is my favorite.

    How about a favorite movie?

    One of my favorite movies is a film called ‘The Soloist.’ It is about a Los Angeles Times columnist who gets to know a homeless guy on the streets of L.A. who went to Julliard as a musician. It is about learning to respect someone, regardless of their circumstances.

    I saw that one four times.

    Thank you
    http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2018-12-21/clergy-corner-dec-21-2018.html
     

แชร์หน้านี้

Loading...