religious life

religious life at lawrenceville

religious life at lawrenceville is visible and vital, designed so that students can deepen their own faith in the buddhist, catholic, episcopal, hindu, humanist, jewish, muslim, protestant, quaker, and sikh religious traditions. spiritual and religious life is also designed to encourage students to widen their understanding of and respect for traditions different from their own. religious life offerings, called explorations are welcoming, educational, and inclusive. explorations include worship services, yoga, mindfulness meditation, luncheon dialogues, programs of the religious life council and interfaith initiative, bible study groups, gita study groups, lunch discussion groups, nature walks, affinity group programing among others. all students, day and boarding are required to attend two explorations each term.

at lawrenceville, we believe that the understanding of the spiritual and religious dimension of life is essential to the secondary school education. therefore, all students take at least two courses in the religion and philosophy department, including introduction to religious studies in a global context. and all students engage in explorations, opportunities to participate in the wide array of offerings which reflect the multi faith world in which we live, as well as opportunities to move off the grid, to slow down, to be still, and to reflect.

our mission

to keep religious life vibrant, vital, and visible for our school community
to provide excellent worship and educational opportunities for students to deepen and grow within their chosen religious tradition
to inspire and cultivate “the best for all” through multi faith, spiritual, educational and experiential opportunities
and to be a bridge of understanding across difference

list of 2 items.

religious life council

the religious life council (rlc) aims to nurture spiritual and religious life at lawrenceville by providing visibility for its strength and diversity, and to cultivate understanding and respect among religious traditions. the rlc accomplishes this through regular meetings and lively exchanges, the very successful “what matters to me and why” program, field trips, and co-sponsorships with other clubs and councils. the rlc works closely with the diversity council to design explorations, has regular conversations with the gay straight alliance the rlc is convened by the school chaplain and has student representatives from all the religious traditions and members-at-large. all students are welcome.
interfaith initiative

lawrenceville's interfaith initiative, supported by the mayrock family fund, is a school organization that serves as a consortium/meeting place for all lawrenceville religious groups, clubs, leaders, clergy, and interested students, faculty, and staff to learn about and support each other's religions. the students and adult religious leaders meet regularly to share in a multi-faceted approach toward meaningful and deep conversations about each other’s religious beliefs and traditions.

each year the group convenes at the start of the academic year to choose a theme to focus on for their annual discussions and programming. past topics have included jerusalem, religion and art, women and religion, and momentous events in religious history.

religious life leaders

list of 10 members.

sue anne steffey morrow h'12

director of spiritual and religious life; religion teacher; chaplain

bio
sue anne steffey morrow is the school chaplain and a religion master. before coming to lawrenceville in 2003 sue anne served as associate dean of religious life at princeton university and dean of students and admissions at the duke divinity school. she earned her master of divinity from union theological seminary in new york city and is an ordained elder in the united methodist church. as school chaplain she oversees religious life at lawrenceville and in that role she convenes the religious life leaders, is advisor to the religious life council, supports and strengthens all the religious traditions represented in our school, and administers explorations for all students. rev. morrow also takes part in school community service programs, leading the tuesday skate program and community reach out.
peter baktis

orthodox chaplain
bio
fr. peter received a ba from concordia college, bronxville ny, mdiv from st. vladimir's orthodox theological seminary, a mdiv and mth from the general theological seminary, and a master of strategic studies us army war college. he has served 25 years of active service as an army chaplain (col) retiring 2015. he was the associate pastor of the cathedral church of the protection of the holy virgin nyc, rector of st. nicholas orthodox church, jamaica estates and currently the rector of mother of god joy of all who sorrow orthodox church in princeton, nj. fr. peter has published several articles in both theological and military professional journals. he is currently a board member of the dialogue institute, temple university and second vice president military office association of america pines and lakes chapter in nj. he is the orthodox church in america representative to the national council of churches usa convening table of interfaith dialogue and is the representative for both the jewish-christian dialogue and christian-islam dialogue sponsored by the ncc. he resides in hopewell nj.
erin brown

catholic chaplain
bio
fr. erin brown serves as the school catholic priest. he holds an m.a. and m.div. from st. mary's seminary and university in roland park, maryland. fr. brown is currently the acting chaplain at the college of new jersey.
vineet chander

leader for hinduism

bio
vineet chander is the religious life leader for hinduism. in addition to his work at lawrenceville, mr. chandler also serves as the coordinator for hindu life at princeton university and is an adjunct professor at fairleigh dickinson university. he has worked as an attorney and communications consultant, specializing in religious communications, community organizing, and advocacy. his current areas of interest include the bhakti movement, models of pastoral counseling, and the ongoing development of the hindu-american diaspora community. his writing has appeared in publications ranging from the “journal of vaishnava studies” to the “george washington university international law review,” and he has served as a regular contributor to beliefnet.com and the “huffington post.”
greg b. jones

hallelujah! chaplain

bio
greg b. jones is the hallelujah! chaplain at lawrenceville. he is a graduate of hunter college of cuny, princeton theological seminary, and the drew university theological school. at the canaan baptist church of christ in harlem, ny, where he formerly served as chief of pastoral staff for the civil rights icon the rev. dr. wyatt tee walker, (pastor emeritus), he is executive pastor, and enjoys a corporate career as vp cyber security training operations in financial services.
philip jordan '85

religion and philosophy teacher; leader for buddhism

bio
phil jordan ’85 is a member of the religion and philosophy department and is the religious life leader for buddhism. he earned his undergraduate degree in religion from williams college and received his master’s degree in theological studies, with a focus on buddhism and world religions, from harvard. after practicing for four years at a zen monastery in japan, mr. jordan returned to lawrenceville in 1997. he teaches several courses, including religious studies, three forms of buddhism, and chinese philosophy.
lauren levy h'97 '01 p'01 '02 '09

religion teacher; school rabbi

bio
lauren levy h'97 p'01 '02 '09 is the school’s rabbi and in 2013 celebrates 25 years of serving the lawrenceville community. rabbi levy received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in religion from temple university, before graduating from the reconstructionist rabbinical college in 1986 with a mahl and rabbinic ordination. she is responsible for implementing a full spectrum of religious and cultural activities for our jewish community. she is a religion master, supervises the jewish student organization (jso), and created and directs the interfaith initiative, a program that provides opportunity for substantive interfaith dialogue and conversation regularly throughout the year.
kameelah mu'min

religious life leader for islam
bio
kameelah Rashad serves as the religious life leader for Islam. She earned her undergraduate degree in psychology and her M.Ed. in psychological services from the University of Pennsylvania. She also obtained a second master’s degree in restorative practices and youth counseling from the International Institute for Restorative Practices and a post master’s certificate in family therapy. She is currently a doctoral student in clinical psychology at Chestnut Hill College. She is also the founder of Muslim wellness Foundation (MWF), an organization dedicated to reducing stigma associated with mental illness, addiction and trauma in the American Muslim community. She currently serves as the Interfaith Fellow & Muslim Chaplain at the University of Pennsylvania.
savraj singh '99

leader for sikhism
bio
savraj singh ‘99 is the religious life leader for sikhism. he has been the youth representative for the sikh community at several national catholic-sikh interfaith dialog retreats, and is the northeast region representative for the sikh american legal defense and education fund. mr. singh is trained in the sikh musical tradition of kirtan and in 2005 co-founded the seattle sikh retreat, the premier sikh retreat of the pacific northwest. professionally, mr. singh is the founder and ceo of wattvision, a startup dedicated to saving the earth through energy conservation. before wattvision, he co-founded contestmachine.com, and spent four years at microsoft as a program manager on the office user experience team. mr. singh graduated from princeton university with a bse in computer science.
nina laubach

Leader For Yoga & Meditation

bio
nina laubach is a registered teacher with yoga alliance and served on faculty for the alignment yoga advanced studies program, instructing teachers for certification in madison, wisconsin. she completed the alignment yoga (ay) 200-hour and 500-hr yoga teacher training programs and enjoys teaching beginner and intermediate level classes, workshops and retreats. nina is a licensed professional engineer and worked for several years analyzing structural and architectural failures. she has an undergraduate degree from swarthmore college in engineering and a m.s. from the uw-madison in structural engineering. her work and studies with structures, anatomy, contemplative dialogue, meditation, centering prayer, and finding stillness in everyday life, infuse her playful and gentle style of teaching.