. good morning. we're about to start a wonderful conversation about interfaith here in san francisco. and we're excited to welcome our guests. welcome rita and michael. so the san francisco interfaith council has a wonderful history. how did it get started? >> it was the result of two disasters. what happened was in the winter of 1988, i was the executive

director of the jewish council. and they were told they had to help with the homeless problem because there were not enough shelters. i was not at the meeting because i'm not a clergy. but the rabbi, your predecessor was, and he came into the office at jcrc and said, rita, we got to help. and we formed a committee and the congregations opened their doors and other congregations provided meals and we took care of them in the winter. that following september, 1989, we have the earthquake. and jim emmson, the pastor of the presbyterian church received a call from church

world service. they wanted to help them that were displaced by the earthquake. they made it clear to the pastor that they wanted to give money to everybody so jim formed another ad hoc interfaith committee. and to nobody's particular surprise, the same people that served on that committee as well. and we decided we could not keep starting committees every time there was a problem. we decided to start the san francisco interfaith council and we've been in business ever since. >> what is the mandate or mission, mike snell. >> driving mission continues to be disaster preparedness and homelessness. what was once the emergency winter shelter is now the interfaith winter shelter. and it's the palm springs of shelters in the eyes of the city. and we have 40 congregations

that are serving meals at host site congregations and it is a wonderful experiment and interfaith work and we continue to do work with disaster preparedness. and every other year we've run workshops for help with response so disasters. these have been wonderful opportunities. we saw it with katrina. it was a faith community that was there before the federal government was there. and having ton new orleans recently, the faith community continues to be there. so we know the role that we have to play in the event of a disaster here. what we're seeing too is we're looking at the fact here's and opportunity to get congregations speaking to each other in neighborhoods and in this way we're doing interfaith work as we prepare for the inevitable. but in the process, we're doing interfaith work and that is

exciting. >> but there's been fallout from that in this sense. for example, calvary presbyterian church is on jackson and congregation isreal is on california and webster. they've gotten to know each other. and when they could not use hi of its sanctuary because it was being retro fitted, left over from the 1989 earthquake, calvary offered the sanctuary for the services. not only did they provide the sanctuary but the rabbi spoke there. and when they came back to their sanctuary, pastor jim kitchen spoke with them and they began to do things together. >> and i imagine out of this initial disaster response as interfaith work because normal and not just reactive to a particular event in the community there are different ways in which the different

relationships are formed on a day to day business. do you have other examples of people have gotten to know each other and work together? >> well, there are all kinds of ways. and i think martin luther king, jr.'s celebration is an example, michael. >> if we play a major role, it's the role of convener, bringing people together. and we do that on a monthly basis with our monthly breakfast. but martin luther king, jr. is a perfect example where martin luther king, jr. was a preacher. he was a minister. but this great pioneer no civil rights too is what martin luther king, jr. was. so we were asked to take on the mantel of cecil williams had been doing for many years. and we had 5,000 people coming together to celebrate justice. it was a real wonderful opportunity for us to also reconnect and connect again

with our brothers and sisters, not only in the african- american community but for instance, the contemporary jewish museum. we were partners in this event and they opened the doors and they challenged people. and they said what is your dream? it was really a wonderful, wonderful opportunity for us to show the role of the faith community in a positive light in what we can do. >> thank you so much. we'll take a quick break. ,,,,

it's become more normal for clergy across the spectrum to gather. >> i have to make a correction. it's not only clergy. but it's clergy and layty. but as you may know as a former congregational rabbi, that was very important in the regulation. coif to stand up for the -- i have to stand up for the lay people. >> please. >> were talking about the ongoing work of the council. one of the thanks that i think we're proud -- things that i think we're proud of is the second thursday of every month at 8:00 a.m. to 9:30, we have a breakfast.

and congregations will host that breakfast. it's complementary. it's at saint mark's lutheran church. and we have someone offer a meditation from their tradition. and we bring in an agency or some sort of presenter in which congregations can key into. so they don't have to reinvent the wheel. and i think what people enjoy the most is the faith journey that is offered. and if i can give you and example. next week, we're going to be having old first and calvary presbyterian churches are going to host the breakfast. and we'll have rabbi mellon offer the meditation and have someone from faith action united come and speak about the interfaith response to the california budget crisis and what the congregation cans do to voice their opinion in light

of the proposed cuts that can hurt the most valuable in our society. and finally we'll have a representative from the latter- day saints. and we've been getting clergy and lay leaders coming to be with us. >> it seems like the monthly breakfast is a micro -- is a scene what have is going on in san francisco. while we have what we my think of a traditional theological structures, we have an extraordinary diversity of what people would consider religious and/or spiritual in terms of how they articulate the learnings in their day to day life and so much of it has to

do in the context. social justice and personal faith journeys. how do you see that mix? what you observe about that mix in our city? >> san francisco is supposedly a very unreligious community. and maybe that is true in terms of actual membership. but you point out an important thing. a lot of people say i'm not religious, i'm spiritual. but this place, our monthly breakfast gives people and opportunity to express that spirituality. fremont is supposed to be the most religiously area in the united states. but i think san francisco is a close second because we've got everybody here. the wonderful part about the interfaith council is that we value everybody. and we start -- the chair

starts our meeting every second thursday by saying, this is a place where you can be when he you are. and if you're asked to offer a prayer, you offer in your terms because that is the way we learn. >> and in your years of working in the interfaith work in san francisco what kinds of trends have you seen? >> i've seen more interest now than we started with. and the san francisco interfaith council is not the first interfaith organization in san francisco. we started during the civil rights movement with another organization called the san francisco conference on religion and race. and that was started because of concern about seg agree gas station. but -- segregation. but we realize quickly there were other issues. there were issues of employment and housing and jobs. and the issues still exist. and i think that the faith community can play a role in call ago tension -- calling

attention as michael calls it shining a light on these issues. >> we'll take another quick break and we'll come back to continue the conversation. please join us in just a moment.

welcome. we're in a conversation with mike and rita. welcome back. we were talking about trends that you've noticed over the years. >> i think probably a big turning point for interfaith came at 9/11 when there was a

need -- as you remember too, everybody went to their houses of worship during that horrible tragedy. but there was a coming together of faith as well and the relationization that there's a need to talk to one another. and i think it's been given great value by political and public officials and the need within the community to get to know one another better. because we're all neighbors. rita can share a little bit -- i wasn't here at the time of how we responded here in san francisco. and we've got some exciting news to share with your listeners too with what is going to happen for the tenth anniversary observance. >> mayor brown called the, code, leaders of the faith community we were there at the table. but we were there with other people up to that point had not

wanted to join the interfaith council. but when we were charged with bringing together everybody for the komen racing, -- commemoration, we are all shocked by what happened that we knew that we had to coming to the. we didn't do that the following tuesday at the civic auditorium. so i think that was the turning point, as michael said, in terms of acceptance by the larger community of the role that a faith community can play. >> remind me of an experience that i had when i was went down to louisiana. i, like many other people, went to louisiana to help. and i went down to baton rouge want context of the jewish community they moved from new orleans to baton rouge and house ton and at land tax.

in -- atlanta. and in baton rouge people gathered around what you would think of as social services but also interesting was the way people began to talk about their faith or spirituality and some people, dare i say talked about god or jesus and law. and i gained some interesting and interesting and spiritual reflection was spurred on by disaster but not related to a hungry stomach or where am i going to lay my head tonight or get my medications, all quite serious issues. and i was wondering if you see that that along the way with all the other issues that come to the floor like the budget crisis and social services, that faith journey is an

undercurrent that stimulates that. >> we do a faith journey every month and michael said for some people it's the most important part of the program. it's amazing to hear some people he is stories. people with relate to almost everybody's story, not all but some. >> and you hit on something important. we'll attribute this to the chief our success. our constituents are about 800 congregations in the city and county of san francisco. how do you keep their interest and keep them together? we have been able to do that by giving them opportunities to coming to the to work together. and i think when they are on that playing field of life, there's trust built and they can feel openness to talk about that which is most intimate to them and that is their faith. but i think the foundation has to have the coming together and

working together as sort of a prerequisites of the fact that you can open up and talk about that. >> we'll be right back here on mosaic. girl: hi, mom. hi, sweetie. [ beep ] man: how's it going, buddy?

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for more information about the san francisco interfaith council, please call the number on the screen or go to the web at -- the web that you see on the screen. welcome back to mosaic. i'm honored to be your host this morning. we'reing is a marvelous

conversation about interfaith activity with michael and rita. we finished the last segment talking about how social justice issues and personal faith journey relationships form a particular bond in the community and how that yields a lost benefits for the quality of life in san francisco. >> absolutely. we consider ourselves the facilitatetors of that conversation. we give the people the opportunity and we inform and invite and we convene. and i think we would not be telling the whole story had we not mentioned the role that we play as convener and that goes beyond just the congregation. it includes as of late, the faith base social service agencies in our city. we've just assumed a new leadership role where we're convening them and

collectively. if you can appreciate what they do here to serve the most valuable in our city. serving over 3 million meals a year and the bedroom gets are at -- the budgets are at risk of being cut severely so we're bringing them together to tell their story of what they do in light of the california budget cuts. we consider that an important role to play. and you'll hear more about that as the days go on. >> we're not the only pebble on this beach. there's an interfaith council in other counties. and there are activities going on in the east bay, the south bay. and we get together to talk about what we're each doing. and we're each reflecting the needs and the wishes of the community we serve. so interstage alive and well all over the bay area. and we like to think that the

bare area leads the way for the rest of the country. but i have to admit there are people doing in new york and los angeles and in carmel, california and portland, oregon and so on. so i think people are beginning to recognize each person's faith is very important to him or herself. but we can share it without losing it. we can share it by enhancing it. >> what do you think in today's world is the role of an interfaith council when we're faced within the context of national media anti-religious feelings in our communities especially with debate about the terrorism and the middle east and the muslim community gets highlighted? but other community have been highlighted that have stirred up the issues. >> that is very important. we can play and we do play a

role in bringing together a voice of sanity, hopefully. >> we stand with religions because fort hood is an example. here you have someone from the muslim community that ran amok. ran amok. and people started pointing financinggers and we know that is wrong. and we have always stood with the oppressed. and we're able to help tell the greater story and to use those opportunities to help inform people what the religion gouges really say. and -- religions really say. that is part of our role. >> do you know how we compare in the bay area to other

interfaith councils? >> i think we compare favorably. but i think people getting together, no matter what the mission is it comes down to learning -- you have to learn more. when you and i get together, you no longer are the great unknown. you become someone i know and like and i want to work with. yes, we'll disagree on various things. but that is okay. i don't even agree with my husband on everything. >> it's interesting. rita and i were in hayward and we met with president obama's director of faith base initiatives and volunteerism and partnerships. it's on the president's radar. it's on the radar of folks that realize the value that the faith communities can offer. i think that the partnerships by engaging the faith community

is going to yield great fruit in terms of what can be done. we're seeing it locally here. >> michael and rita, believe it or not, we've come to the end of our conversation together. it's a comma in the conversation. so we urge people to get together and take advantage of all of your activities. thank you very much for being with us. and thank you for joining us. have a great day.

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