Record Staff Report
The Center for Interfaith Relations 23rd Festival of Faiths, set for April 24-28, will focus on feminine wisdom.
Under the theme “Sacred Insight Feminine Wisdom,” the 2018 festival will “explore practices, teachings and insight rooted in feminine wisdom,” according to a press release from the organizers.
Internationally renowned speakers and artists — including Diane Rehm, author and Peabody award-winning public broadcaster — will examine themes including: the feminine aspect of the divine, gender, addiction, suffering and healing, emotional intelligence and presence and creativity, said the press release.
“How would our institutions and society look with a true realignment of values and the reinfusion of the feminine? Understanding, lifting up and integrating the feminine may result in a new understanding and re-spiritualization of how we look at the world and ourselves.” These themes will be explored at the festival “through the medium of dialogue, workshops and discussion circles,” said the release.
The festival will also include spiritual practice sessions, music, art, spoken word and performance.
The five-day festival will open with the annual Interfaith Prayer Service at 5:30 p.m. on April 23 at the Cathedral of the Assumption, 433 S. Fifth St. This service is free and open to the public.
All other festival events will require tickets and will be held at the Kentucky Center for the Arts, 501 W. Main St.
- On April 26 at 10 a.m. a session entitled “Dark Nights of the Soul,” will be presented by Rev. Ruby Sales, Rev. Monica Coleman and Kenza Isnasni a humanitarian activist. “World religions teach us that suffering is part of the human condition. Our attempts to avoid suffering prevent us from experiencing essential insights and awareness that lead to spiritual healing and growth. Individually and collectively, we must step into the shadows, sit with our fears, and embrace vulnerability.”
- On April 27 at 2 p.m. at the Kentucky Center for the Arts, Mary Berry Smith, founder of the The Berry Center in New Castle, Ky., will present a session entitled “Modeling Wholeness: People, Place and Planet.”
This session will explore “best practices, and holistic approaches, to restoring and renewing bonds between people and the places they live. It will emphasize the feminine principles of interconnection, community, and care as models of wholeness,” according to information from festivaloffaiths.org. Rabbi Nina Cardin, an author and environmental activist and Kenza Isnasni, a humanitarian activist will also present during this session. - On April 27 at 7 p.m. Diane Rehm, author and Peabody award-winning public broadcaster, will present at a session entitled “Festival After Hours: HONOR! Feminine Wisdom.”
This year’s festival will include a “multi-faith city-wide blood drive” which will take place at mosques, synagogues and churches across the city during the five-day event. More details of the blood drive will be made available in the coming days, according to organizers.
The cost of tickets to the event is $25 for a single session ticket or $300 for a festival week pass which includes entrance to all festival programs and receptions before evening programs. Tickets can be purchased at the Kentucky Center for the Arts box office, by calling 584-7777 or online by visiting https://www.kentuckycenter.org. Individuals purchasing tickets can use the offer code INSIGHT to save 10 percent off a ticket purchase.
