John Camardella, MRPL '22 Offers Morning Prayers at Memorial Church
John Camardella, a public educator who was a Fellow in the Religious Literacy Project from 2018-2021 and now a candidate in the inaugural Master of Religion and Public Life (MRPL) cohort, shared about his upbringing and the necessity of enhancing public understanding of religion at Harvard's Memorial Church on March 11, 2022.
He opens with this story about an unexpected invitation:
"In January of 2018, I received a phone call from the director of player development from the Toronto Blue Jays, A Major League Baseball. I was stunned.
I was asked to travel to Tampa and present to their front office and coaching staff, and how applying our method for studying religion and culture might improve relationships in their organization.
I know nothing about baseball.
You see, one of my former high school students was now an infielder for the team.
And after overhearing the conversation in the training room, respectfully told the team exec to call me.
Throughout the weekend at Spring Training, I met Protestant Christians from Texas, a reformed Jew from California, players from Korea and Japan, who were raised in Shinto and Buddhist traditions, and devout Roman Catholics from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
What my former student understood, and a major league baseball team was beginning to understand, was that each of us have the capacity to educate ourselves and deepen our commitment to one another in this vibrant and diverse world we all inhabit."
Listen to the full sermon on SoundCloud (starting at 9:34)
Read more about John's story in this Humans of HDS feature from the fall.