Remember finger-painting as a kid? You’d run to art class, open up the paint and anxiously dip all ten chubby fingers into the liquids.
After spreading an array of colors onto a previously blank page, you would bring the painting home to your mom, keeping your hopes high and praying the painting would be displayed in the most prestigious place in your home — the front of the refrigerator.
The different religions represented on campus work together in a similar way. Each one brings a different color to campus, mixing with one another to create the current portrait that makes Marquette University a fridge-worthy item. But does Marquette merely tolerate these religions or does it accept them with open arms and encourage them to grow? More importantly, what is it about Marquette that allows its campus to be so colorful?
JESUIT IDENTITY
Perhaps Marquette’s religious environment is partially due to its Jesuit identity. Stephanie Russell, executive director of the Office of Mission and Identity, explains that Jesuits are a religious order of Catholic priests who have taken lifelong vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and whose spirituality is grounded in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. They are “men on mission” and use these teachings to breathe life into student and faculty retreat programs, which teach about love and finding God in all things.
The Rev. David Fleming explains that Jesuits see “all things in this world as gifts of God, presented to us so that we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily.”
This return of love seems to radiantly beam from Marquette, particularly when it comes to accepting other faiths currently on campus.
Shazeen Harunani, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, attributes Marquette’s diversity to its accommodating attitude.
“I’ve found they’re very accepting and make an effort to help,” she said, leaning forward intently. “Especially this year, being president of the Muslim Student Association, I had (Campus Ministry) contact me to see how they could help. They have been an incredible resource and source of support.”
Alana Wauneka, a former Mormon and a junior in the College of Business Administration, also commends Marquette for its religions programs, which she believes allow students of other faiths to feel comfortable on campus.
“They’re really pretty accepting of everyone,” she said, smiling softly, remembering her experiences.
Although Marquette does provide numerous religious organizations for minority religions on campus, there is more to the university that shows how deep its ocean of acceptance truly reaches.
“Marquette would never downgrade another religion,” said Allison Scheetz, a junior in the College of Communication. Its respect for other religions is a big part of what keeps those of other faiths coming to a Catholic campus, she said.
“(The) attitude toward Catholicism is also very positive,” she added, noting that she feels the school would never force its beliefs onto anyone. “I really like how Marquette handles (its) Jesuit identity.”
Athiest Allison Herman, a sophomore in the College of Communication, seems to agree that respect is a big part of Marquette’s ability to attract students from other religions.
“When I first came to Marquette, I didn’t share my view for months,” Herman said, describing her initial fear of being condemned for her beliefs. But since coming, she said she has found a different reality than she initially suspected.
“I’ve never encountered anybody who would say, ‘No, you can’t think another way than us.’ But holidays can get a little touchy-feely,” she said, shivering as if the temperature had suddenly dropped several degrees. “Any event where (there is a prayer said), I feel a little outside of the circle. But otherwise it’s pretty good, with the exception of major holidays (when I) realize everyone else is going to Mass and I’m not. But it’s OK. They’re all very open-minded people, which is very cool.”
The acceptance and respect Marquette offers has enabled people of other faiths to feel welcome in the community. But Garrett Gundlach, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said he begs us to remember the importance of such an act.
“Christian faith is a tangible participation in the divine, a step with the rest of humanity toward transformation that can create harmony among peoples,” he said. It is doing more than being tolerant, he said, it is acting under the Christian notion of love.
This is the love, Gundlach believes, that has helped different religions to join — like colored segments of a stained glass window, molding together to create an astonishing piece worthy of admiration.
DIVERSE TRADITIONS
Walking through campus during the holiday season appears to be Milwaukee’s version of a religious, student-clad Las Vegas — a place full of life, lights and shows. But among all the wreaths, Christmas cheer and fattening treats are students of other faiths with important holiday traditions of their own.
Harunani, a devout Muslim, offers up a much different way of celebrating the winter holidays than an evergreen covered in ornaments and tinsel. Ramadan, Harunani explained enthusiastically, is the first main Muslim holiday celebrated close to the winter season. It is a month of fasting from sunrise until sunset that lasted from Sept. 1 until Sept. 30 this year. For Muslims, fasting is more than simply denying your body food.
“It’s supposed to be a removal from all distractions,” Harunani said, taking a more serious tone. “It’s abstaining from food, water, sex, gossip, anything that would distract you, especially things that are not a good way for you to be spending your time … not that eating and drinking aren’t good, obviously they are,” she said with a short laugh.
After recovering from giggles, she said sincerely, “It’s trying to be conscious of being a better person, kind and generous.”
At the end of Ramadan, Eid ul-Fitr is celebrated to mark the end of the fasting.
“The main part of celebrating is going to the mosque and saying a special Eid prayer,” Harunani said. “We also give gifts to each other and a lot of people give money.”
While most Christians get to leave the chaotic semester behind for break and rejoin their families to celebrate Christmas, minority religions are sometimes forced to spend holiday time without the people they care for.
Although Harunani has been lucky enough to go home for each holiday, she realizes that not all of her friends are quite so privileged.
“I have had friends who were stuck up here during some of the holidays, and I felt horrible,” she explained. “I just skip all my classes and go home. God is important.”
Thankfully, there are people around who enable Muslim students to practice their faith during times away from family.
“Usually you develop friend networks up here so you can go to prayer with them in the morning, which is nice,” Harunani said.
Lydia Roussos, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences who is Jewish, understands the challenge of being away from family.
“Last year I was in the dorms for Hanukkah and that was hard because you’re not allowed to light candles. I had to go down to the nasty kitchen in the basement of Mashuda to light a menorah.”
In times like these, Roussos said she spends holidays with the rabbi’s family. “I have a home away from home there,” she said.
This year, however, Hanukkah falls during winter break and Roussos is excited to be able to spend the time with her family.
While these students experience challenges before the Christmas season, for non-denominational Christian Jasmine Zapata, a senior in the College of Health Sciences, the challenge is something that will prove to be a daily struggle.
“My little brother died last November,” Zapata said, lowering her gaze to the table. “Last Christmas, my mom didn’t want to do anything that reminded her of our traditional Christmas, so it’s (been) kind of hard recently.”
Despite this tragedy, Zapata remains positive when explaining her family’s past traditions. “We had to do a series of events before we open presents,” she laughed. “We always read the Christmas story and sing carols together.”
The months ahead will be difficult, but Zapata chooses to keep her eyes toward God, from whom she derives her peace.
“The main part is appreciating the meaning of Christmas and each other,” she said.
It is this understanding and strong spirit of love that is consistent in most holidays. It is the intangible thread that ties people together, works to mend their differences and nourishes the unity of a diversified campus.