The "Building Human Solidarity in the Light of Pope Francis' Encyclical Letter, Fratelli Tutti " conference will draw upon the experience of people from diverse religious, cultural and economic backgrounds who are developing new ways to transcend many of the divisions that are afflicting the human community and our common home on planet earth. We plan to engage global citizens to build transformative models of community development that bridge economic, political, religious and cultural divisions in the world.

We will examine the types of community building activities that have successfully translated the hopeful message of Fratelli Tutti into actualizing educational strategies that build communities promoting new bonds among diverse social, cultural, and religious groups in various parts of the world. We plan to use the latest technological platforms to publish the outcomes and recommendations of this conference.

Representatives from Africa, Europe, India, Indonesia, Latin America and the US will join our Fratelli Tutti conference. The Pontificial Council for Interreligious Dialogue will participate and we expect a message from Pope Francis. We have received a commitment from Stanford University Medical School to take part in our seminar on the global coronavirus pandemic along with representatives from a GMU partner in India.

GMU is collaborating with the Institute for Interreligious Dialogue and Islamic Studies (IRDIS) and State Islamic University (UIN) Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The central hub of the conference will be located at Tangaza University in Nairobi, Kenya, with other hubs in Rome, Indonesia, and California.

The 3 day conference will be conducted with the participants on Zoom but will also be live streamed on YouTube and Facebook so everyone around the world can view the proceedings. Please subscribe to the YouTube Channel!

Mark your calendar and stay tuned to GMU for updated information about the conference. You don't want to miss this opportunity to exercise your global citizenship!

Our final Global Citizenship Forum before the summer break will take place on Wednesday, June 2, at 7 pm PST.

It will feature two speakers with extensive background on human rights in the Middle East with a focus on the nation of Turkey. Doctor Nihal Sahan is a doctoral graduate of GMU and nowserves on the faculty of Santa Clara University and GMU. Hüdayi Çerkez Acar is a doctoral candidate in Global Security at Nairobi University in Kenya and a staff member of Harmony Institute in Nairobi. Both speakers have an extensive background in human rights issues and are knowledgeable about the interaction of Turkey with other key actors in the present-day Middle East.

"I feel that I have received an excellent education.The speakers have been wonderful, the readings insightful and the advisement personal and practical. The required volunteer experience provides that sense of reality and usefulness to our theory. Discussion among participants using Zoom technology has helped to hear other viewpoints and been supportive of the process." ~ Deb T., Au.D

Read more accolades from participants in this outstanding program here.

Googling is amazing, and so much fun. But it’s annoying when you type in a search and get 64,5873,984 hits. Usually, Google (and other search engines) can guess what you’re looking for, and the most relevant sources pop up first. But sometimes they don’t, and you wade through four or five screens of results, none of them helpful. Here’s a trick that works most of the time: if you’re searching for a term that consists of more than one word, or it’s a phrase, put quotation marks around it.

Let’s say you’re looking for a recipe for hot dogs. You type in those two words, without quotation marks, and—because the search engine or database is looking for occurrences of those words anywhere in the site--you may get hits that talk about the dangers of leaving a dog in a hot car. Try “hot dog”—your results will be much better. This works well when you’re searching for people, too. Put quotation marks around the whole name. Looking for the hymn “Rock of Ages”? Quotation marks, please, to avoid sites about rock music’s popularity among different age groups.

Good luck! And please contact me whenever you need help with research: finding resources on your topic, formulating citations, using databases, or anything else. Happy searching!

~Judy Clarence

We offer three tracks: Weddings and Other Commitment Ceremonies - Funerals and Other Rites of Passage - and a Complete Program consisting of both tracks. Upon completion of your selected track, you will be awarded a Certificate of Celebrancy granted by Global Ministries University, of which the Center for Celebrant Training is affiliated.

The People's Catholic Seminary announces a new program:

facilitated by Rev. Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP 

This program, retreat and/or independent study provides a rich resource for women and men to discover the Divine Feminine within the Christian tradition in Scriptures, the mystics, contemporary writings and in themselves.

It offers participants a new opportunity to weave an awareness of the divine feminine into all aspects of life and to articulate the wisdom of their own spiritual experiences in creative reflections including poetry, prayer, song, dance and journaling. Learn more!

"[This] article is about the value of theological education... GMU is pioneering a new model that may replace traditional seminaries." ~ President Gerald Grudzen

GMU student Thomas James has recommended this as the theme song for our international conference in August. Tom has been taking President Grudzen's course on Islam and has been engaged in a dialogue with teachers in Morocco. He will be one of GMU's presenters for the August conference.

GMU is committed to global citizenship and social activism. The upcoming international conference, "Building Human Solidarity in the Light of Pope Francis' Encyclical Letter, Fratelli Tutti," will be provided free of charge to everyone. But it takes a considerable amount of funds and resources to stage such an event, even online. Please consider supporting GMU's vision to help "build transformative models of community development that bridge economic, political, religious and cultural divisions in the world."