The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

Dr. Regina A. Boisclair

Cardinal Newman Chair of Catholic Thought, Alaska Pacific University
The Spiritual Environment of Greater Anchorage

My vision of the project is divided into sections, although this division does not reflect chronological sequence:

Section I

Identify all the religious groups in Greater Anchorage.
Classify the groups according to religion and branch.
Provide a brief sketch the history and identify ethos, ethnic, and socio-economic make-up of each community.
Include three or four pictures of each place of worship and of the community in action.
Identify alternative "religious communities" reflected in such areas as religious broadcasting, schools, social services, bookstores, discussion groups, etc.

Section II

Provide an in-depth study of one congregation in each of the different religions identified in the area. This will include one Roman Catholic, one Orthodox, one Anglican and one community in as many Protestant denominations as possible. Specific congregations will be selected either because they are ethnically unique (e.g. Thai Buddhist) or they represent a particularly Alaskan expression of ethnic diversity (e.g. St. Anthony's Catholic Church is a territorial parish that is also home to a community of Korean Catholics).

Section III

I will interview a number of Church administrators to identify how they sense religion has impacted on the public life of the community. I will hand over my findings to our active learning instructors in hopes that some of their students will choose to focus on some aspects of these findings.
I sit on the Interfaith Council and have access to their archives. My personal contribution will be to trace this history and consider why and how its creation led to the dissolution of the Anchorage Inter-Christian Council.
As Newman Chair, I am one of the sponsors of the first major Intra-Christian Conference in Anchorage. This took place this June. I informed the participants about the project.

In hope and anticipation that APU would be awarded my application for Affiliate Status, students in a course we call Spiritual Environment, did some of the preliminary leg work and provided contact and statistical information regarding many religious communities and auxiliary religious services in the area. This information will be included in the final files that will be submitted. They have given the students in the next class a good start on a number of religious bodies with a breakdown list of particular communities.

I am writing a letter to be sent in August to all the religious communities in the area that will alert the leaders of these communities to the project.