Cornell United Religious Work

he CURW Covenant
A Covenant Among the Chaplains, Staff, and Advisors of CURW

(Note: This statement is meant to add to, not supplant, the "Procedure for Appointment of University Chaplains," August 1978 and the "Mission and Goals of CURW" statement in the Preliminary Program Budget Submission of October 1979)

We understand that throughout its 59-year history, the genius of Cornell United Religious Work has been the cooperative and united work its chaplains, advisors, member groups, and central staff have undertaken with willingness and enthusiasm, while acknowledging and respecting religious and doctrinal distinctions. (ADDITIONAL PHRASE ADDED TO PREVIOUS WORDING******)

We understand that the purpose of such cooperative and united work are:

to create interreligious understainding and respect among ourselves and to encourage these among others;
to establish a more humane campus, community, and world by providing leadership, counsel, and encouragement to people in their search for wholeness, meaning, and a vital faith;
to respond actively to issues of moral and ethical importance on the campus, in the community, and in the wider world;
to draw on the resources of the University for our own work, and to contribute to the life of the University in our turn.

We therefore promise one another:

that we will engage in cooperative and united work, creating opportunities to fulfill this commitment; (CHANGED FROM EARLIER VERSION)
that we will actively support and strengthen one another and our member communities, will oppose and expose any activity that demeans, distorts, or misrepresents any member community of CURW, and will attempt to bring about reconciliation;
that we will participate faithfully in the necessary, routine activities of CURW, i.e., we will attend staff gatherings, cooperate with the CURW board and its committees, assist the Director and central staff of CURW whenever needed, and inform one another of scheduled activities;
that we will take an active part in creating, implementing, and evaluating cooperative and united programs which serve the purposes of CURW and CRESP, its collegial partner, both in Anabel Taylor Hall and elsewhere on campus;
that we will allocate a regular portion of our time to cooperative and united work, either by choosing to work on certain events or programs or by accepting the assignments of a committee of chaplains, advisors, and staff.

March 5, 1980
Revised July 2001