Berkley Center

Emma Coley and Matthew Igoe both majored in religion at Princeton University, where they were active in Catholic life on campus. In this conversation, the friends discuss how they approach questions of theology, justice, and reform as the next generation of laypeople in the Church. 

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.

This story is a part of the American Pilgrimage Project, a conversation series that invites Americans of diverse backgrounds to sit together and talk to each other one-to-one about the role their religious beliefs play at crucial moments in their lives. The interview was recorded by StoryCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.

Andrew Brown and Rebecca Ngu were active in church life and moved frequently during childhood because their fathers were Methodist and Pentecostal clergy, respectively. In this conversation, the friends discuss how being raised as the children of clergy has shaped how they approach their Christian faith as adults.

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.

This story is a part of the American Pilgrimage Project, a conversation series that invites Americans of diverse backgrounds to sit together and talk to each other one-to-one about the role their religious beliefs play at crucial moments in their lives. The interview was recorded by StoryCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.

Titus Adenote and Isiaka Ambali are Nigerian immigrants to the United States, where they have found a sense of personal belonging and spiritual fulfilment in the Celestial Church. In this conversation, the friends reflect on how divine intervention has shaped their journeys in pursuit of the American dream. 

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.

This story is a part of the American Pilgrimage Project, a conversation series that invites Americans of diverse backgrounds to sit together and talk to each other one-to-one about the role their religious beliefs play at crucial moments in their lives. The interview was recorded by StoryCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.

Olakunle Babalola and Oluwadamilare Alade both emigrated from Nigeria to the United States and have found a spiritual home in the Celestial Church of Christ, a global evangelical denomination. In this conversation, the friends reflect on their journey to the Celestial Church and consider the power of praying to God in the Yoruba language.

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.

This story is a part of the American Pilgrimage Project, a conversation series that invites Americans of diverse backgrounds to sit together and talk to each other one-to-one about the role their religious beliefs play at crucial moments in their lives. The interview was recorded by StoryCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.

Julius Michael and Nguyet Pham—refugees from Sudan and Vietnam, respectively—have settled in the United States after being driven from their homelands by war. In this conversation, the co-workers discuss how they have kept their faith during their personal journeys and consider how religion shapes their outlooks on life.

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.

This story is a part of the American Pilgrimage Project, a conversation series that invites Americans of diverse backgrounds to sit together and talk to each other one-to-one about the role their religious beliefs play at crucial moments in their lives. The interview was recorded by StoryCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.

Teresa Irwin and Meg Spesia are both members of the Catholic Worker Movement, a network of faith-inspired communities dedicated to social justice that was founded by Dorothy Day in the 1930s. In this conversation, the friends reflect on how personal experiences including religious pilgrimage and missionary work have shaped their faith in the unseen. 

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.

This story is a part of the American Pilgrimage Project, a conversation series that invites Americans of diverse backgrounds to sit together and talk to each other one-to-one about the role their religious beliefs play at crucial moments in their lives. The interview was recorded by StoryCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.

Colleagues and friends Jerilyn DeCoteau (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians) and Rick Williams (Oglala Sioux Tribe and part Cheyenne) discuss the terms "indigenous" vis-a-vis "American Indian" and the implications regarding identity and tribal sovereignty when people self-identify as Native but are not formal members of a tribal community.

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.

Colleagues Rev. Jackie Hibbard and Rev. Nicole Lamarche recall a moment in the wake of a mass shooting when their progressive church literally transformed unwanted firearms into garden tools, echoing the way transformation spreads from God to humanity.

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.

Colleagues and friends Talia Aygun and Matau Setshase discuss building spiritual connections with others, whether via negotiation with one's ancestors that generates an attitude of surrender, or via the ecstatic experience of truly understanding another person.

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.

New friends Nandi Pointer and Saleema Robinson reflect on their spiritual journeys through Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam as they seek liberation and truth through faith in a higher power.

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.

Jyotsna Raj speaks with her daughter Indra Raj about Hindu faith, which Jyotsna values for its freedom of thought and flexibility in individual practice, while Indra is skeptical about the existence of the divine, particularly as portrayed in Western Christianity, and aims to live a moral life outside organized religion.

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.

Friends and peers Emma "Scout" Wood and Amanda Mullennix talk about their paths to their religious studies academic program, exploring their academic and personal interests in the moral frameworks built by religious traditions and the ways religious and community belonging can be complicated by queer identity.

This story was produced by David Dault at Sandburg Media, LLC.