Abstract
Within the worlds of Judaism and Catholicism, a variety of issues have to do with gender. Rabbi Stiefel and Father Rutten will discuss some of the central issues, giving special attention to the challenge of involving young men in religious activities and the claim made by some observers that spirituality has become associated with femininity.
Rabbi Sharon Stiefel is spiritual care director and rabbi of Sholom Hospice for Sholom Community Alliance. She holds a B.A. in sociology from Pomona College, an M.S.W. from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.A. in Hebrew Letters from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Pennsylvania, where she was ordained. Rabbi Stiefel has spent most of her career serving Jewish students on college and university campuses (Grinnell College, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Minnesota). In 2005 she received the University of Minnesota’s Breaking the Silence Award for confronting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identification.
Fr. Erich Rutten is the director of campus ministry for the University of St. Thomas and the chair of the St. Paul Archdiocesan Commission on Ecumenism and Interreligious Affairs. He holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Illinois-Champagne-Urbana, an M.A. in systematic theology from Saint John’s University (Collegeville, Minnesota), and an M.Div. from The Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity. Following his ordination, Fr. Rutten became an associate pastor at the Cathedral of St. Paul and then the associate pastor of Our Lady of Grace in Edina. Prior to becoming the director of campus ministry, he taught in both the theology department and justice and peace studies departments at St. Thomas.