Cornerstone Events of last year’s 2007 Festival of Faiths included:

November 7th        
The 3rd Annual Table of Faiths Celebration to benefit the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council. Honorees include Alvin Brooks and The Kansas City Star. Lunch 12 PM – 1:30 PM. Faith Exhibits 11 AM – 2 PM at the Westin Crown Center Hotel, 1 East Pershing Road, Kansas City, MO.

November 8th  
The Open Circle Spiritual Film Showcase, in cooperation with CRES, present a special screening of ONE: THE MOVIE. Armed with only a digital video camera, a list of questions and a dream, three suburban dads set out to become independent filmmakers in search of "the meaning of life". Miraculously, they are joined in their quest by many of the world's greatest spiritual leaders, authors, icons, and masters of our time. The movie weaves the novice filmmakers' remarkable adventures with the answers to life's ultimate questions in a journey that just may transform your way of seeing the world as "One".  7:30 PM, Tivoli Cinemas in Westport.  All seats are $6.  For more information & reservations call Open Circle at (816) 931-0738 or visit www.OpenCircleOnline.com.

November 10-11th 
Interfaith Unitown, an event for high school students to deepen spiritual awareness of their own faith while learning to advocate respect for the unique perspectives of other religions and beliefs, co-sponsored by the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council and Harmony. St. John United Methodist Church, 6900 Ward Parkway, Kansas City, MO.  $35.00 per student (includes meals). For information contact Emily Siedlik, emily@kcharmony.org, 816-333-5059, www.kcharmony.org.

November 11th     
The 18th Annual Harmony Interfaith Concert, bringing people of all religions and ethnic backgrounds together in celebration of the sacred gift of song. Join the community choir and meet neighbors who enjoy singing and learning about ethnic and religious diversity.  Community Christian Church, 47th and Main, Kansas City, MO, 3:00 PM. Tickets are free. Freewill offering helps support Harmony. For a rehearsal schedule or other information, call 816-333-5059 or contact csutter@kcharmony.org.

November 12th        
The Hindu and the Cowboy, a play featuring Kansas Citians’ own stories of faith experience, All Souls Unitarian Church, 4501 Walnut, Kansas City, MO. Curtain: 6:30 PM. No Charge.  For more information, go to www.hinduandcowboy.com.                  

November 13th     
Keynote Speaker Event: The Daniel Pearl Foundation Dialogue for Muslim-Jewish Understanding featuring Professors Judea Pearl and Akbar Ahmed, Village Presbyterian Church, 6641 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS, 7 PM, General Admission tickets are $15 each. Click here to order tickets online. For more information, call 913-671-2320.

November 14th
The Hindu and The Cowboy, Johnson County Community College, College Blvd. & Quivira Rd., Overland Park, KS 66210, GEB 233 (Craig Community Auditorium), Presented by Johnson County Community College Student Life & Leadership Development Office.  Noon.  Free and open to the public.  For more information, go to www.hinduandcowboy.com.

November 15th
The Open Circle Spiritual Film Showcase and the Kansas City Friends of Jung present SOUNDS OF THE SOUL, a glorious homage to the remarkable Fez Festival of World Sacred Music in Morocco, which brings together a unique array of musicians from Muslim, Christian and Jewish backgrounds. 7:00 PM pre-screening mixer, 7:30 PM film at Tivoli Cinemas in Westport.  All seats are $6.  For more information & reservations call Open Circle at (816) 931-0738 or visit www.OpenCircleOnline.com.

November 15th       
The Hindu and the Cowboy, Ottawa University, 11 AM. For information, call 785-242-5200 (x 5084, Erika Marksbury)

November 18th        
CRES 23rd Annual Thanksgiving Family Ritual Dinner,  Immanuel Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall, 1700 Westport Rd, near State Line, 6:00-8:00 PM. Cost: $25 per adult, $20 child. For more information: 913-649-5114 or staff@cres.org. Reservations accepted after Nov. 1. 

THROUGHOUT NOVEMBER
The Sacred in Art, a self-guided tour at the Nelson-Atkins Museum.  The Rev. Vern Barnet, DMn, has prepared this tour essay for you with a detail or two of 17 works of art in the Museum’s permanent collection, including works representative of stories from Christian, Hindu, Native American, Nigerian, Assyrian, Egyptian, and Greek traditions. The essay is available for you to download at www.cres.org or through a link on the Festival of Faiths’ website, www.festivaloffaithskc.org.  Printed copies are also available at Festival of Faiths events, or by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to Art, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171.

Additional interfaith activities occurring in Kansas City prior to or within the Festival of Faiths timeframe include:

November 4th 
Reflections on War, Grief, and Hope, a concert performance of Ralph Vaughn Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem by the Village Choir and Orchestra, Village Presbyterian Church, 6641 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS. 5 PM. Admission is free.
November 9th

November 5th
Jewish-Catholic Relations: Yesterday and Today will be addressed by Father Dennis McManus, Associate Professor of Theology, Georgetown University. Father McManus is the Holder of the Smilow Chair in Catholic-Jewish Relations at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, Washington, D.C. and Co-editor of the series, "The Word Set Free: Preaching the Lectionary Free of Anti-Judaism." Sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Bureau/American Jewish Committee, the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, the Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph, The Benedictine Monks of Conception Abbey, and Rockhurst University.

7 PM at St. Thomas More Parish, 11822 Holmes Road, Kansas City, Missouri. The community is invited to attend at no charge. For more information call 913-327-8125.

November 16-18 
Interfaith Men’s Retreat—Join Dr. Jim Fleming, a local psychiatrist and meditation instructor to strengthen your own spiritual core as well as share sacred experiences of religions and traditions other than your own.  St Benedict's Abbey, Atchison, Kansas.  For more information or to apply, contact Dr. Jim Fleming at jflemingmd@yahoo.com or 816-213-1885.

November 17th        
Mystics of the World's Great Religions, presented by Swami Chetanananda, a monk of the Ramakrishna Order of India and Vedanta Society minister, Vedanta Society of Kansas City, 8701 Ward Parkway, Kansas City, MO.  816-444-8045,
www.vedantakc.org. 10:30 AM. No Charge. All are welcome!