Center for Religious & Spiritual Life
Reflect | Resist | Rejuvenate
The Center for Religious and Spiritual Life is an interreligious, nondenominational body that promotes spiritual flourishing for all students, religious and nonreligious alike. Our areas of focus are ethical reflection, social and racial justice and civic engagement, mindfulness and contemplative practice, and community building based in dialogue and respect. We provide resources grounded in different faith and wisdom traditions, and strive to raise religious literacy and promote interfaith engagement toward a more inclusive, just and engaged citizenry. In the midst of a vibrant academic community, we encourage explorations of mystery, faith, ritual and that which we experience as holy.
We invite you to reflect, resist, rejuvenate with us, and remember—whoever you are, wherever you have been and wherever you are going, you are welcome here.
Our Mission
The Smith Center for Religious & Spiritual Life offers guidance and pastoral care through a lens of mutuality and exploration, and we collaborate to respond with grace and courage to the events that threaten to disrupt our lives. We are invested in what Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King and others before him called the “beloved community,” a dynamic vision in which the worth, dignity and promise of each human is honored and in which we strive to live as stewards of the earth and its creatures.
Connect With Us!
About the Center
The Smith Center for Religious & Spiritual Life is a unique setting for student engagement.
View moreOur Staff
Our staff members are here to guide and assist you in your spiritual growth and fulfillment.
View moreNewsletter
To learn more about what we're up to each semester, be sure to read our newsletter.
View moreStudent Advisory Board
The CRSL Student Advisory Board fosters collaboration and dialogue between students and the Center for Religious & Spiritual Life.
View moreFeatured Events
Remembering Swetha
- Sanctuary 2:30pm
A memorial and celebration for the life of Swetha Donepudi '24. A proud resident of Lawrence House, Swetha was an engineering major, a violinist and an active participant in the Student Government Association, most recently as class president.
Meditation
- Sanctuary 5 p.m.
Students, faculty, staff, and alumnae are invited to come together in person for weekly mindful meditation led by Ruth Ozeki and Mary Beth Brooker. We will do a simple, relaxed, silent practice of sitting and walking meditation, based on Zen forms. Chairs and floor cushions are available. Meditation instruction will be offered each week. All levels welcome.
Mindful Mondays
- Campus Center 003 12:15
If you are looking for a place to make connections and practice tools for awareness and self-acceptance, come join Mindful Mondays! With light meditation, embodiment practice, and discussion, we make a space that encourages healing and community. Bring your lunch and all are welcome! Contact aostow@smith.edu with questions.
Soup, Salad & Soul
- Bodman Lounge 12:15pm
Homemade vegetarian soup and salad. Arrive when you can, official start time is 12:15pm. Enjoy lunch and take part in reflective, student led discussions on spirituality and life.
In this time of urgent racial crisis, we emerge from ongoing planning into powerful action.
With recommendations from our Toward Racial Justice at Smith plan, Smith College continues its commitment to transparency, to inclusivity and to racial justice at Smith. Informed by student, staff and faculty voices to Inclusion in Action work, as well as student and alumnae/i demands, discussions with the Inclusion Council and Presidents’ Cabinet, the college commits to action.
Center For Religious & Spiritual Life Blog
Recent Posts
What is Mindfulness Anyway?
Anna OstowInvocation for Generating Justice and Joy Nov. 30, 2021
Kim Alston2021-2022: The Center for Religious and Spiritual Life Explores Transformative and Disability Justice as Spiritual Practices
Matilda CantwellReparations in Higher Education
Kim AlstonFor more, visit our Wordpress blog.
Contact
Helen Hills Hills Chapel
123-125 Elm Street
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063
Fax: 413-585-2794
We are open daily to the Smith community from 7:30 a.m.-9 p.m. for prayer, reflection, conversation, meditation, study and worship.