Cader Room Naming Spotlights HDS’s Commitment to Religious Literacy in Media and Entertainment

At HDS, Cader-Frech is a Dean’s Council Member, a former Religion and Public Life fellow, and last year’s president of the Harvard Divinity School Film Fest. He is the co-founder and social impact specialist of DeeperDive, an initiative exploring the role of religion in entertainment media that provides religious literacy training for media executives. 

HDS MTS candidate Lorenny Diaz, who interned at DeeperDive this summer with Cader while working toward a Certificate of Religion in Public Life in Arts and Media, delivered remarks at the beginning of the celebration. 

“Throughout the summer, we built a case study on the potential instances of religion in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer and further amended the religious literacy test for entertainment media,” Diaz said. “Entertainment media is a place where worlds composed of texts, ideas, beliefs, and humanity collide. This collision, the disruption, and the creation that follows make it necessary for us to live in the messiness, to understand the processes and impact of world creation.” 

Dean Marla F. Frederick introduced the event, saying: “We are here today to celebrate a generous gift from a dear friend and alumnus of the School, Mario Cader-Frech. Mario’s gift builds on his deep commitment to religious literacy and media, which he focused on last year while he pursued his master of religion and public life degree . . . Mario, thank you for everything you do to support education and religious literacy in service of a just world at peace.”

Read the full article at hds.harvard.edu.