JUDY VALENTE: It is an ordinary-looking, Tudor home on the main street of a New England town. But what goes on here is anything but typical. Here, an Episcopal priest, a Jewish cantor, and a Quaker pacifist face east for the Muslim call to prayer. Inside is a Buddhist meditation room and a statue of Shiva, the Torah, the Qur'an, and a life-size crucifix.This is The Peace Abbey, the brainchild of Lewis Randa, a special education teacher who dreamed of creating a sanctuary for the world's religions and whose own spiritual path led from the Catholicism of his youth to a highly personalized spirituality.
Mr. LEWIS RANDA (Director, The Peace Abbey): When people come to The Peace Abbey, they begin to wander about, they discover the rooms. They read the walls. I see this as a three-dimensional book through which you experience humanity's attempts to discover God.VALENTE: An emerging trend in 1990s America is that people are forging their own personalized spirituality, one that draws on many different religious traditions. But the question may arise: Does this allow for the development of a deep and meaningful spiritual life?
Mr. MARK HEIM (Andover Newton Theological School): There's a danger of selecting from religions only certain things that we would like. But in the religious world, it's true that no pain, no gain. If we don't have a religion that stretches us and helps us become transformed, we don't receive any real benefit from it.Mr. RANDA: We're here to support people on their journey, not to lessen their commitment to any particular faith tradition. I wouldn't think that anybody became less Buddhist or less Catholic because they came to The Peace Abbey. Quite the contrary, this is not a religious organization. It is a peace organization that sees religion as a vehicle for peace.
Mr. RANDA: I witnessed His Holiness, the Dalai Lama with John Paul II, with Mother Teresa and the heads of the great traditions, praying with one another. I knew then that my life had been changed.
Ms. MEG RANDA (Co-director, The Peace Abbey): The Peace Abbey really grew out of the school's roots of being committed to peacemaking and pacifism and to really empower the students to believe that any individual, no matter how small, can make a difference in the world. The students are all an integral part of the operation of the school and The Peace Abbey. So we're really open to letting the students be part of creating what happens here each day.
VALENTE: The abbey has attracted visits from some of the principal spiritual leaders of our time, as well as a steady daily stream of visits from neighbors, friends, and supporters. Randa's hope is that the abbey's mission will continue to echo through future generations. In Sherborn, Massachusetts, this is Judy Valente for RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY.
