Religion
Chautauqua provides a wide variety of services of worship and programs that express the Institution’s Christian heritage as well as its interfaith commitment. The Institution, originally the Chautauqua Lake Sunday School Assembly, was founded as an educational experiment in out-of-school, vacation learning for Sunday School teachers.
While founders Lewis Miller and John Heyl Vincent were Methodists, other Protestant denominations participated from the first year onward, and today Chautauqua continues to be ecumenical — as well as interfaith — in spirit and practice.
Daily Worship
The chaplains represent intended theological, denominational, gender, racial and ethnic diversity, as well as ministerial context. The philosophy of the Department of Religion, from the beginning, has embraced and manifested the belief that an expression of these diversities is key to Chautauqua’s future.
Interfaith Lecture Series
2 p.m. EDT Monday–Friday, Hall of Philosophy
This series is designed to present issues that impact the lived experience of everyday life from theological, ethical, moral, humanitarian, philosophical and religious perspectives.
Sacred Music
For nine generations Chautauquans have been gathering in the Amphitheater on Sunday mornings and evenings to join the Chautauqua Community Choir for Sunday Morning Worship at 10:45 a.m. and the evening Sacred Song Services.
CHQ Mystic Heart Meditation Program
The Mystic Heart Community is dedicated to serving all Chautauquans by providing opportunities for the study and practice of universal techniques of meditation, contemplation, and related disciplines drawn from any of the world’s religious or wisdom traditions.
Abrahamic Program for Young Adults (APYA)
The Abrahamic Program for Young Adults (APYA) is designed to reflect the efforts and mission of the Department of Religion in building the Abrahamic Community by teaching young adults at Chautauqua Institution about the shared heritage of the Abrahamic traditions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Denominations and Religious Organizations
In addition to Department of Religion programs, Denominational Houses and religious organizations at Chautauqua Institution offer religious services, lectures and low-cost housing options during the nine-week Chautauqua season.
Charter For Compassion
Chautauqua Prays for Peace through Compassion
8:55–9 a.m. Monday–Friday
Around the Peace Pole in the Hall of Missions Grove
The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves.
Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honor the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.
It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and emphatically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity.
We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.
We therefore call upon all men and women
- to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion
- to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate
- to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures
- to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity
- to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies
We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries.
Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.
For more information visit: Charter for Compassion
Contact
Carolyn Snider
Administrative Assistant, Department of Religion
716.357.6386
csnider@chq.org
CHQ Dialogues
The purpose of Chautauqua Dialogues is to foster and advance the ideal of a “beloved community” by providing a forum in which people of diverse backgrounds can bring their political, religious, cultural, and social beliefs, experiences and knowledge to conversations that matter.
Chautauqua Memorials
There are many ways that the Chautauqua community remembers those who have died. Please use the form linked below to share information about memorializing a loved one and to request follow up from Chautauqua Institution staff. If you would like to share a loved one’s obituary or host a memorial service at Chautauqua, please reach out to the Department of Religion staff via email (religion@chq.org).