February 27: Professor Walid Saleh - Islam

Walid Saleh is associate professor of religion at the University of Toronto. He is a specialist on the Qur'an and the history of its interpretation. Before coming to Toronto, Professor Saleh taught at Middlebury College in Vermont.

February 20: Professor Reid Locklin - Roman Catholicism

Reid Locklin received his doctorate in systematic theology from Boston College in 2003. Although he has dabbled in such diverse areas as ecological aesthetics, New Testament theology and "Buffy studies," his primary research interests touch on interreligious dialogue and the theology of church. He will be teaching Catholicism, Christ in Christian Tradition, and other courses in the Christianity and the Intellectual Tradition stream.

He authored Spiritual but Not Religious? An Oar Stroke Closer to the Farther Shore (Liturgical Press, 2005). "Drawing upon his experience, as well as wisdom rooted in the Hindu and Christian religious traditions, Reid Locklin offers a thinking person’s guide to commitment in a world characterized by religious pluralism. " - Ecumenism

Visit Reid Locklin on the Liturgical Press website here »

February 13: Rabbi Lori Cohen, Temple Sinai, Toronto - Judaism

Rabbi Lori Cohen was ordained in 2000 when she completed her course of studies at Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem and Cincinnati, Ohio. Her path to the rabbinate included a ten-year career as a teacher in Toronto, with an emphasis on special education and a four-year position as director of a group home for troubled adolescents. Her love of teaching and compassion for the vulnerable in our society led her to her calling as a religious leader. During this journey she was the founder of a synagogue and Hebrew school in Newmarket, Or Hadash.

During her rabbinical studies, Rabbi Cohen served as rabbi for four years at Cedar Village: A Home for Jewish Living, a senior residential centre including both independent living apartments and nursing care. She also was the Principal for Mercaz - a community high school program. Subsequent to her ordination, she continued her studies as a Chaplaincy resident at Children's Hospital in Cincinnati.

In July 2001 she joined Temple Sinai as Associate Rabbi where she has been involved in all aspects of community life - teaching multiple age ranges, family programs, officiating at life-cycle events and leading religious services and rituals.

Rabbi Cohen is active in interfaith relations and has participated this past year as a Member of the Toronto Area Interfaith Council; as a Panelist for the Anglican York Credit Valley Ministry Day; as a Speaker for the Annual Commemoration of the Birth of the Prophet, and she sits on the Task Force for The World Centre for Interspirituality and Ecology, Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation. She is also on the Steering Committee for Jewish Culture and Heritage at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care.

Rabbi Cohen is married to Robert Gross and they have four adult children: Aaron, Joshua, Daniel and Silvia.

Visit the Temple Sinai website here »

ARCHIVE a selection of past interfaith programs

• Holocaust Education Week - November 1-11, 2007 To observe this week, CCDP welcomed guest speaker Dr. Felicia Carmelly info »
  
  
• Celebrating Our Differences: Forging bonds - and friendships - between faiths. November 2006: Guest Speaker Raheel Raza, award-winning journalist, public speaker, poet, playwright and author of Their Jihad - Not my Jihad. Info »
  
  
• CCDP is an active member of the Neighbourhood Interfaith Group info ».