The Temple's Homeless Ministry

Volunteers serve breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m. every Saturday at Grace Place, the Episcopal church at 637 S. Dearborn in the South Loop. So far, eight members of the Temple have volunteered to prepare the food at the Temple and serve it at Grace Place. Health services are provided at the new site in partnership with the Heartland Alliance.
For more information about volunteering and contributing clothing and cash for this ministry, contact Rev. Claude King at 312-236-4548 or claude@chicagotemple.org.

The Tutoring Center of Chicago Temple

For information on funding of this program, see Dr. Cheryl Magrini’s spiritual pilgrimage that is also a fundraiser for the Tutoring Center.

Click below for detailed information about this fundraising adventure!

> Download Pilgrimage (PDF)
> Download Pledge Form: ( PDF file | Microsoft Word File )

Dr. Magrini’s El Camino Pilgrimage in Spain, Sep. 26-Oct.30, 2010.
March 1, 2005 the Chicago Temple launched The Tutoring Center of Chicago Temple in partnership with Ruben Salazar Bilingual Education Center, a Chicago Public School. The school has many low-income families and the reading levels of the children are often below age and grade level. The mission of the tutoring program is two-fold: first, to build a strong committed relationship with an adult, and second, to develop a life-long love of reading through reading fluency. This program is in keeping with its mission goal of ministry with children and the poor.

To begin the tutor volunteer process, complete the volunteer application located on this page (PDF) and on the home page of Chicago Temple’s web site. (PDF form) Fax or email to: Rev. Dr. Cheryl Magrini, The Tutoring Center, 77 W. Washington St., 2nd fl., Chicago, IL FAX: 312-236-4106; email to: cheryl@chicagotemple.org.

> Download The Tutoring Center of Chicago Temple - Tutor Volunteer Application for Fall 2010

What exactly is The Tutoring Center of Chicago Temple?

The Heifer Project

Each year the Temple and Society and Missions Committees invite members and friends to support the Heifer Project which, in a unique way, is engaged in efforts to end world hunger. A year ago, the congregation contributed some $10,600.

Heifer International is a nonprofit, humanitarian organization dedicated to ending world hunger and saving the Earth by providing livestock, trees, training and other resources to help poor families around the globe become self-reliant. Heifer requires its recipients to “pass on the gift” by sharing offspring of their livestock with others in need, thereby setting off a “chain of giving.”

We Are One of Chicago’s “Great Places and Spaces”

Each year, scores of visitors  tour the Temple in May as part of Mayor Daley’s “Great Chicago Places and Spaces” program. The Temple opens its doors to visitors to see the Sanctuary and Chapel in the Sky as part of the series on “Great Interiors” that includes the 190 S. LaSalle Building, the Fine Arts Building, the Palmer House Hilton, the Reliance Building and the Rookery Building.

Chicago CROP WALK

Each fall, a “walking team” from the Temple joins hundreds of other Chicagoans in the annual Chicago CROP Walk. For the Temple, the goal is to raise $3,000 for CROP, the interfaith agency dedicated to “fighting hunger in Chicago and worldwide.” One of the Chicago recipients is the Marcy-Newberry Association. The Chicago Temple also serves as a way station serving drinks and snacks to participants. If you are interested in joining the walk or sponsoring a walker, call the Rev. Cerna Castro Rand.

The Silk Road Theatre Project

This independent theatre company in residence at the Chicago Temple was formed to produce a series of dramas that would showcase playwrights of Asian, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean backgrounds (the countries along the ancient “Silk Road” trading route). This is something that conspicuously is absent from the current American theater scene. Jamil Khoury and Malik Gillani, founders of the company, hope that such plays would portray the complex histories and perspectives of these cultures and challenge American stereotypes. This is especially urgent following the attacks on 9/11.

This relationship between the Chicago Temple and the Silk Road Theatre Project is unique but understandable considering our own congregation’s commitment to such multicultural and interfaith dialogue. We have hosted the interfaith Thanksgiving Service and the annual Memorial Service for the city and county. We are a venue for the Chicago Humanities Festival, often having presenters from around the world who give divergent views on significant topics. Occasionally, we have included people of other faiths in our Sunday worship services and Wednesday noontime services. While we are very certain of our Protestant Christian identity rooted in Methodism, we are open to critical thinking and challenging conversation.

For more information about the Silk Road Theatre Project, go to www.srtp.org

Looptopia

Looptopia, sponsored by the Chicago Loop ALliance, was inspired by the “White Night” events of Paris, Rome, and Madrid and has been heralded as the nations’s first “dusk until dawn artistic celebration.” As the loop is transformed into a “sensory playground” each spring, the Temple serves as a venue for concerts, story telling sessions, magic performances, short film showcase and a midnight Taize Worship Service.

Chicago Humanities Festival

Each year the Temple hosts numerous lectures, panel discussions, and readings as a participating venue for the Chicago Humanities Festival. SInce 1990, world-renowned authors, scholars, poets, policy-makers, artists, and performers have gathered at Chicago’s many cultural institutions to celebrate the power of ideas in human culture. And, each year tens of thousands of enthusiastic audience participants rediscover the rich and vital role the humanities play in their daily lives.

This year’s festival begins October 3 and goes through November 16. The theme will be “Thinking Big!” Program guides will be available at the Temple. For more information go to www.chfestival.org

Temple Hosts Six 12-Step Groups

Six different kinds of 12-step groups meet regularly at the Temple.  Although not sponsored by the church, the groups reflect the church’s efforts to extend its hospitality to those in need.

The present cluster of groups include Narcotics Anonymous, Emotions Anonymous, Al-Anon, Overeaters Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous and Families Anonymous. Some of these categories have more than one group meeting at the Temple.  For more information call the church office-312-236-4548.

Science and Religion Panel

The Chicago Temple has been at the forefront of a major new initiative in the Chicago metropolitan area: “Science Chicago: Life’s a Lab.” Since September 2008 scores of the region’s civic, educational, academic, corporate, and nonprofit organizations will be involved in the sponsorship of programs with the goal of improving science literacy in the region and teaching life-long learning skills of evidence-based discovery. The Temple has already begun this year-long exploration with a reading panel focused on the intersection of science and religion.

The Chicago Temple was invited to be one of the original partners of the “Science Chicago: initiative, which was spearheaded by the Museum of Science and Industry and made possible through the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.