This July 24-28, NAINConnect 2008 gathers grassroots interfaith activists to commemorate the 20th anniversary of NAIN’s 1988 Connect, characterized then by the New York Times as the first major interfaith dialogue in America since the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions.

This year’s theme is Embracing an Interfaith Future. Workshops will explore the subject from three perspectives: Multifaith Challenges We Face, Gifts We Bring, and Making a Difference.

You can review your workshop options by clicking on Workshop Schedule in the menu on the left. Six workshop sessions are featured, each with half a dozen offerings. Pioneers, founders, innovators, and international leaders in grassroots interfaith development will present and facilitate the workshops. By May, registrants will be invited to indicate workshop preferences for each of the six sessions.

Conference activities will include opening and closing celebrations, three dozen workshops, four plenary sessions, two banquets (one off-campus), a bus tour of San Francisco, with early morning and late evening meditation sessions led by leaders from different traditions.

A Hornblower cruise on the Bay

An optional supper cruise on San Francisco Bay is scheduled during Saturday evening’s ‘free time’ and costs $80. We will confirm supper cruise reservations after 30 have been received, allowing us to guarantee the cruise. If less than 30 choose this Saturday night option, the event will be cancelled and money returned to those who signed up.

NAINConnect 2008’s interactive website was launched in March. Most of the scheduled workshops have their own page on the site. It provides a workshop description, short bios of the presenters, and a chance for you to weigh in about the subject. So the dialogue begins early this year, with the July 24-28 gathering becoming a culmination of our interaction. The site is open to the public, not just registrants. We hope you get excited about the issues and decide to register early. During the Connect plans are to webcast selected workshops and subsequently keep them available on the web.

This year’s site is the University of San Francisco, a distinguished Jesuit institution with a sterling reputation for supporting interfaith concerns. St. Ignatius Cathedral sits in the center of USF's campus, which is in the heart of the city. Most of our sessions will be in it’s newest facility, the Fromm Center for lifelong learning, a beautiful setting next door to the cathedral. USF, a co-sponsor of the NAINConnect 2008, has gone out of its way to make this a perfect setting for NAIN 2008.

NAINConnect 2008 site at USF

When to register? The sooner the better. When you register, sending in your deposit (refundable if you have to cancel) or your full payment. We will send a confirmation, including a workshop schedule where you’re invited to list your preferences for each workshop session.

Why do we think we’ll ‘sell out’ the 200 registrations available? The site is comfortable and attractive – by San Francisco standards the conference is inexpensive – a distinguished list of presenters is lined up – the issues addressed are important to thousands of interfaith groups in North America – eight successful interfaith organizations with innovative approaches will be profiled. Altogether it looks like early registration is a good idea. Note that the registration fee goes up $75 after May 15.

What does registration include? Your registration badge gets you into all plenary sessions, workshops, celebrations, devotional opportunities, the bus tour, and the Friday evening and Sunday evening banquets.

What does registration cost? Registration is $275 through May 15, after which it goes to $350. A $100 refundable deposit secures your registration and room until June 30, when payment is due in full. An optional Saturday night supper cruise costs an additional $80.

Partial registrations for a single day of the conference or for particular workshops will not be available until July 1, and only on a space-available basis.

Scholarships? A limited number of scholarships are available for young adults. Through fundraising we hope the number can be increased. Please consider the future leaders of the interfaith movement when you register, and include a tax-deductible contribution for a scholarship. Thank you!

Requests for scholarships, due by May 1, should include a person’s name, age, religious or spiritual tradition(s), and a statement of interest in attending NAINConnect 2008. They should be sent to Mike Goggin at mikeg@ifcmw.org and Jan Saeed at bahaisus@usbnc.org.

How to register? First, read this document, then fill out either the print or e-mail versions of the registration form. Send printed registrations with a check to Interfaith Center-NAIN, P.O. Box 29055, San Francisco, CA 94129. Send e-mail registrations to Corbin Davis at corbin@interfaith-presidio.org, and pay with your credit card information or by Paypal, as indicated on the form, including a $5 convenience fee for the electronic transfers.

What are the housing options? – The university’s residential halls are close to the cafeteria and our meeting rooms. A room in a residential hall, reserved for double rather than single occupancy, is the least expensive housing available. Yes, you can indicate with whom you want to share your double occupancy.

For those who want their bathroom closer than ‘down the hall,’ there are a limited number of condominium units, where two or three bedrooms share facilities and a common area. Condo bedrooms cost about $10 more than the dorm rooms, but the condo option includes a 15-20 minute uphill walk or short drive (if you bring a vehicle) from where we meet.

If neither dormitory nor a shared condo suits you, we can refer you to nearby motels.

You can secure housing for a family member accompanying you, even if he or she is not registering to attend the conference.

As the registration form clearly indicates, payment can be made by check, credit card, or Paypal. Please add a $5 convenience fee if paying by credit card or Paypal.

Registration is $275 until May 15, then goes to $350 on May 16.

A refundable $100 deposit secures your registration and room until June 30, when the full amount is due.

A group of more than 30 planners, veterans of NAIN as well as newcomers, have expressed an interest in NAIN 2008, receive the minutes, and do the work. About half live in the Bay Area and participate in monthly meetings. Paul Chaffee is the point person, Fred Fielding is communications director, and Corbin Davis, a seminarian, will be the on-site conference director.

Our co-sponsors include the University of San Francisco, which reduced its fees to allow us to use their beautiful campus for this gathering. The FAITHS Program of The San Francisco Foundation, which sponsors on-the-ground interfaith programming for hundreds of faith-based organizations, is also a co-sponsor.

Your host and sponsor is the Interfaith Center at the Presidio, a 13-year-old Bay Area interfaith organization that makes its home at the Interfaith Chapel in the Presidio of San Francisco, an urban national park. A board that has always represented more than a dozen religions is drawn largely from 22 Bay Area interfaith Sponsoring Organizations.

Home of the Interfaith Center.

If you have more questions, please contact Corbin Davis at corbin@interfaith-presidio.org.