When Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School launched three years ago, it engendered a new Certificate in Religion and Public Life, providing students the opportunity to develop the knowledge, skills, and networks to leverage their master of theological studies and master of divinity degrees across a range of professional contexts, including in journalism, government, humanitarianism, and organizing.
In addition to coursework and a capstone project, the certificate includes 280 hours of internship work, sometimes facilitated or bridged by the program’s professional fellows.
Over the summer of 2023, over two dozen HDS students earning their certificate spread out across the country and world working for organizations, government offices, and companies to highlight critical community stories, empower youth, advance justice for Native communities, and more.
Below are stories from four of these students about how their work in various communities impacted their learning and future.
Auds Jenkins, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Auds Jenkins, MDiv ’24, worked as a reporting intern in the features section of the Minneapolis Star Tribune to gain field experience in journalism, her chosen professional track in the CRPL program.
“As a reporter, I focused my attention on the intersection of race, culture, and religion, and the fertile in-between places where people are building pathways to collective healing and liberation,” Jenkins said.
During the 10-week internship, Jenkins reported and wrote stories about reparations in churches, a filmmaker who is trying to decide whether to become a Hmong shaman, a sacred Dakota island, a Two Spirit powwow, and kung fu zombies.
Jenkins not only highlighted important issues, but also focused on ways to tell stories that both informed and strengthened community.
“I am drawn to journalism because the stories we tell become the world we inhabit,” Jenkins said. “I believe that narrative has the power to grow our souls, illuminating our true nature as beings who are in inextricable relationship with all other beings on our gorgeous, collapsing earth. As a budding journalist, I see my work as an act of love and solidarity, a small contribution to a world transformed.”
Jenkins said she does not take for granted the trust put in her by the subjects of her stories and wants to continue with journalism after graduation.
Jenkins expressed appreciation for those who supported her efforts, including her editors, fellow interns, and RPL journalism fellow Deborah Jian Lee and RPL associate director Susie Hayward.
“I am honored to have been given this opportunity to embed myself in the fabric of the Twin Cities as a storyteller. I am grateful for everyone that shared their story with me and trusted me to present it to the world,” said Jenkins. “Perhaps most of all, I am enlivened by the possibilities that emerge when expansive, deeply human narratives about religion, spirituality, and the biggest questions of our time are injected into the public sphere with care and rigor. My internship was but 10 short weeks, but I plan to continue this work for a lifetime.”
Kenneth Moales III, City of Boston Office of Neighborhood Services
Having interests in the intersection of religion and government, Kenneth Moales III, MDiv ’24, interned with Will Dickerson, senior advisor of faith-based initiatives in the Office of Neighborhood Services for the City of Boston.
The office aims to reduce the silos between the City of Boston and its constituents, and Moales described his work as getting “City Hall out of City Hall by putting boots on the ground to service the community’s needs.” His area of focus was attending to the concerns and needs of diverse religious leaders across Boston’s neighborhoods.
During one of the city’s first prayer walks this summer in Harambee Park, faith leaders, police officers, and other community members came together to pray and connect. Moales recalled during that event that a community member asked the religious leaders if they could do that every week, telling them “your presence means a lot.”
“This moment alone showed me how significant faith leaders are in the community,” said Moales. “As I think of my own vocation in ministry at a time when the Church is on the decline, it showed me that faith leaders remain an important fiber that keeps communities together.”
Moales said the internship furthered his passion to continue this work at the intersection of religion and government and to help faith leaders find ways to have the most impact in the city’s communities.
“This work encourages me to always be present beyond the four walls of the Church and to also encourage leaders of religious communities to be present to the wider community,” said Moales. “I hope that more faith leaders understand that ministry is doing life with people, and so many people in this world need to see them outside of the pulpit and in the neighborhoods.”
Taylon Lancaster, Kid’s Education Engagement Project (KEEP)
Taylon Lancaster, MDiv ’25, took the course "Religious Literacy and the Professions" in the fall of 2022 that changed his perspective in “unimaginable ways.” This summer, he travelled to Monrovia, Liberia, to intern with KEEP and uplift Liberian children through education regardless of their social and geographic status. While in Liberia, he learned that in many Black and brown communities, the youth in particular were disproportionately affected by systemic inequities.
“Interning in the heart of Liberia gave me the opportunity to bear witness to unapologetic Black bodies, African cuisine, and the need for justice-driven generosity,” Lancaster said. “As I reflect upon my time in the motherland, out of all I saw, heard, and read, I discovered that Africa is deceptively portrayed one-sided. The ancient saying is true, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover,’ however I would additionally submit that we shouldn’t judge or determine what we see as a universal truth of what is.”
Lancaster expected to spend his summer in hot and humid weather. However, unbeknownst to him, the months between May and November are considered the rainy season in Liberia. As a result, he often found himself frustratingly soaked. This was a moment where his perspective was shaken once again:
“I was speaking with a coworker, Sowei, and I began expressing the discomfort that I was experiencing due to climate changes coming from America. She began to encourage me and said:
‘Taylon, I know it’s rainy season which we call stormy season, but without the overflow of water, the uncontrollable flooding, or the wind, we wouldn’t have water to store for summer or enough water canisters for the community when they’re in need. In fact, I’m thankful for tumultuous winds because as a country, we operate with 70 percent of electricity on a regular basis and that helps provide our country with electricity to power our basic needs.’
This personal moment was most meaningful for me because I was able to understand the power of perspective and always aiming to see the positive in what seems to be a negative situation.”
Following his experience, he wrote a children’s book titled The Journey to becoming YOU, dedicated to the youth of Liberia. The book is expected to be published at the beginning of 2024 and Lancaster plans to donate a large part of the proceeds to KEEP with intentions to keep returning to Liberia to work with young people.
“I believe my greater work is to practice holistic ministry much like Jesus,” he said. “I want to use my influence, unique perspective, and lived experiences as tools to uplift humanity.” Through his work learning about humanitarianism in the CRPL and through his work with KEEP, he is better prepared to do just that.
Sam Reeve, Utah Diné Bikéyah (UDB)
Sam Reeve, MTS ’24, spent his summer in an area of Utah that overlaps with the Navajo Nation where he assisted with the planning and execution of the UDB’s annual gathering, the “Bears Ears National Monument: The Bears Ears Summer Gathering.” This is a time where Native peoples camp at the Bears Ears National Monument to participate in sacred ceremonies, present on community issues, and provide support and solidarity to one another.
Reeve became interested in this work after taking a focus section class by RPL fellow Cynthia Wilson as part of his work in the organizing track of the CRPL.
“She introduced us specifically to the movement to protect Bears Ears and the work of UDB. This focus was one square of the larger tapestry of knowledge she and many incredible speakers taught us about past and ongoing inter-Tribal efforts around the country to secure and protect Indigenous ways of being, and to seek justice for crimes of erasure, land theft, child abduction and forced boarding school enrollment, and broken treaties.”
Reeve spent most of his time in a UDB community center located in Bluff, Utah. There, he transported food donations across the Navajo Nation, shared meals and conversations with UDB board members, and was able to attend Navajo Nation local government meetings on water adjudication which was attended by representatives from Navajo Nation, the U.S. Federal Government, and the state of Utah.
“I have known no more beautiful and stark a land, nor a stronger connection between a people, their lives and ways, and the land, than in these ancestral lands of the Nations of the Colorado Plateau,” Reeve said. “I will always remember the day-to-day dedication of the UDB staff, and their connection to land and ancestors that gives them strength to continue.”
Reeve notes that this experience has served to “shake, unsettle, and unhouse” his understanding of himself as a non-Native person whose work is focused on resistance and non-violence.
“There is no path to justice in this country that does not lead from and is led by Native people. My time this summer will guide all my future studies—through HDS and hopefully into a PhD—and how I show up as a citizen in this country.”
—by Michael Naughton and Danielle Daphne Ang