Budd Friend-Jones

Gilbert (“Budd”) Friend-Jones was called to his current position as Senior Minister of the First Congregational Church (United Church of Christ) in Crystal Lake, Illinois in 2006. Prior to that, he served churches in Atlanta, Georgia; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Reston, Virginia; and South Paris, Maine. He has spoken and conducted workshops in Great Britain, Ghana, India, and the former Soviet Union.

Friend-Jones is the author of two books and numerous articles. He has been a founding member of civic and religious organizations including FaithBridge, in the Chicago northwestern suburbs, the Faith Alliance of Metro Atlanta, World Pilgrims, the Mayflower Theatre Project, and the New World Mime Theatre. He initiated a now-annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Interfaith Service and the two-year Faith to Faith, Face to Face interfaith certification program for lay people. He has led interfaith pilgrimages to Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, and Turkey. As a consultant for Magical Steps Travel in Kuşadası, Turkey, he organizes and leads trips for specialized groups. He serves on the Board for the North American Interfaith Network.

A native of West Virginia, Friend-Jones earned his doctorate at Howard University Divinity School, his M. Div. at Princeton Theological Seminary and his B. S. at Frostburg State University. He and his wife Gretchen have two children and three granddaughters.

Victoria Furio

Victoria Furio is the assistant to Dr. James H. Cone at Union Theological Seminary and the convener of the Climate Justice Initiative there, a group working to address the urgent threat of climate change in our time. With over 30 years devoted to social justice, she has worked on the local, national, and international levels in education and advocacy within the religious community.  She can be reached at: climate.justice2013@gmail.com.

Sister Mary Friedland

Sister Mary Friedland has practiced Raja Yoga meditation with the Brahma Kumaris since 1987. She enjoys experimenting with the principles and methods of Raja Yoga meditation to achieve higher levels of clarity and freedom in her life. Professionally, she has worked in the field of education as a classroom teacher, corporate trainer, textbook editor and yoga instructor.
She has a BA in Psychology from the University of Illinois and an MA in Special Education from Northeastern Illinois University. While living at the San Francisco Brahma Kumaris Center, she served on the staff of the Interfaith Center at the Presidio. She currently resides at the Brahma Kumaris Meditation Center in Chicago and teaches meditation and courses in practical spirituality throughout the United States.

Don Frew

Elder Don Frew is a Wiccan Elder and High Priest of Coven Trismegiston in Berkeley CA. He is a National Interfaith Representative for the Covenant of the Goddess. He has represented Wicca in interfaith work for over 30 years, including on the Board of the Berkeley Area Interfaith Council, at all of the modern Parliaments of the World's Religions, and on the Board of the Interfaith Center at the Presidio. He founded and serves as Director for the Lost and Endangered Religions Project and is Vice-President of The Interfaith Observer online journal. He has been active in the URI since 1998 and currently coordinates the Spirituality and the Earth CC (Multiregional). He served as a North American Trustee on the URI's first elected Global Council, as an At-Large Trustee on the second & third Global Councils, as a Continuing Trustee on the fourth Global Council, and serves again as an At-Large Trustee on the current Global Council.

Frank Fredericks

After graduating from NYU, Frank Fredericks worked in the music industry, managing artists such as Lady Gaga, and founding Çöñàr Records. In 2006, he founded World Faith. After developing the World Faith model, he traveled to Lebanon, India, Egypt, and Sudan finding passionate young people to start Chapters. World Faith is now active in nine countries. Frank resides in New York, working as a PR and Online Marketing Consultant and performing as a professional musician. As an active blogger, Frank contributes to various blogs including the Huffington Post, Washington Post, and Sojourners. Frank has been interviewed on Good Morning America, NPR, New York Magazine, and various international media outlets.

Matthew Fox

Matthew Fox, born 1940, is an American priest and theologian. Formerly a member of the Dominican Order within the Roman Catholic Church, he is now a member of the Episcopal Church. Fox was an early and influential exponent of a movement that came to be known as Creation Spirituality. The movement draws inspiration from the mystical philosophies of such medieval Catholic visionaries as Hildegard of Bingen, Thomas Aquinas, Saint Francis of Assisi, Julian of Norwich, Dante Alighieri, Meister Eckhart and Nicholas of Cusa, as well as the wisdom traditions of Christian scriptures. Creation Spirituality is also strongly aligned with ecological and environmental movements of the late 20th century and embraces numerous spiritual traditions around the world, including Buddhism, Judaism, Sufism, and Native American spirituality, with a focus on “deep ecumenism.”

Fox has written more than 30 books, including Original Blessing (1983), that have sold millions of copies and by the mid-1990s had attracted a “huge and diverse following.” He was likened by academic theologians in one New York Times article to the controversial and influential 20th century Jesuit priest, philosopher and paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, particularly for his interpretations of issues such as the doctrine of original sin and the Cosmic Christ and for the resulting conflicts with church authorities.

He is currently visiting scholar at the Academy of the Love of Learning in Santa Fe, New Mexico and lives in Oakland, California.

Heather Forest

Heather Forest's unique minstrel style of storytelling blends original music, folk guitar, poetry, prose and the sung and spoken word. She has toured her repertoire of world folktales for the past thirty years to theatres, major storytelling festivals, and conferences throughout the United States and abroad.She has recorded eight albums of storytelling and written seven children's picture books based on folktales, being selected as a recipient of the 1997 Circle of Excellence Award presented by the National Storytelling Association. 

Her many performance credits include The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., The National Storytelling Festival, TN, The Museum of Modern Art, NY, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland, Tales of Graz Festival, Austria, and the Glistening Waters Storytelling Festival, New Zealand. She has been a featured teller at major storytelling festivals throughout the United States, a keynote speaker at the National Storytelling Congress (USA), and has taught storytelling and communication arts seminars as a guest lecturer at universities and at the National Storytelling Institute (USA) in Jonesborough, Tennessee. 

Ms. Forest holds a Masters Degree in Storytelling from East Tennessee State University and a Ph.D. in Leadership and Change from Antioch University . She is founder and Executive Director of Story Arts, a cultural arts organization in Huntington , New York , U.S.A. that presents storytelling concerts and workshops in schools, theatres, and community centers in the Long Island , New York area. 

Julian Foley

Julian Foley, public relations coordinator for Untied Religions Initiative, joined URI’s development and communications teams in September, 2010. She produces and edits web content and URI publications, handles public relations and writes grant proposals. Julian has been working as a writer and editor since 2002. She became interested in interfaith cooperation while doing research and editing for journalist Sandy Tolan’s powerful book, "The Lemon Tree," published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2006, about an unlikely friendship between an Arab and a Jew in Ramla. Julian has also done work for Free Range Graphics, Firebrand Books and the California Teachers Association’s Institute of Teaching, among others. Julian holds master’s degrees in Journalism and Latin American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland. She lives in Berkeley with her husband and two children.

Sherry Fohr

Sherry Fohr (PhD) co-founded the Interfaith Studies Program in 2017 at Converse College after 16 years of experience teaching World Religions and other courses in religious studies and anthropology. She is currently an Associate Professor of Religious Studies, the Curricular Director of the Interfaith Studies Program, the Religious Studies Coordinator, and Co-Director of Women’s Studies at Converse College. Her awards and grants include a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship (while a doctoral student at The University of Virginia), an Arthur Vining Davis Grant (awarded to Converse College to found the Interfaith Studies Program), the Curriculum Innovation Award (at Converse College), and The Blue Key Honor Society’s Teacher of the Year Award (while teaching at Wofford College). Her research abroad in India resulted in numerous articles, presentations, and the book, Jainism: Guides for the Perplexed. Her current research focuses on interfaith cooperation via social media and the interfaith work of Jains in the United States.

Jeannine Hill Fletcher

Jeannine Hill Fletcher is Professor of Theology at Fordham University, Bronx NY. She is author of Motherhood as Metaphor: Engendering Interreligious Dialogue (Fordham University Press, 2013) and Monopoly on Salvation? A Feminist Approach to Religious Pluralism (Continuum, 2005). On April 3, 2014, Fordham University will host an academic conference designed to test the viability of ‘motherhood’ and ‘maternity’ as metaphor in Jewish, Christian and Muslim contexts. For more information, contact Jeannine Hill Fletcher at hillfletche@fordham.edu.

Eileen Flanagan

Eileen Flanagan is a Quaker writer, teacher, and activist. Her latest book, The Wisdom to Know the Difference: When to Make a Change – and When to Let Go (2010), was endorsed by the Dalai Lama and won a 2010 Silver Nautilus Book Award. Her articles have appeared on the Huffington Post, Beliefnet, and the Washington Post’s online On Faith column, as well as print magazines, such as Tikkun. She leads the board of the Earth Quaker Action Team, which uses nonviolent direct action to work for a just and sustainable economy. She is currently revising a memoir about trying to live a sustainable and Spirit-led life in a society that doesn’t encourage that. To follow her progress, visit www.eileenflanagan.com.

Christopher Fici

Christopher Fici is a writer/minister/teacher of the Hindu Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition, based in New York City. He has spent the last five years studying and living as a monk in Vaisnava communities in West Virginia and in New York City, where he is associated with The Bhakti Center. During his time as a monk, he taught vegetarian cooking classes, and courses on the philosophy of the Bhagavad-Gita at New York University and Columbia University. He is also involved in Interfaith work in New York City with Faith House and Local Faith Communities.

He is currently studying for his Master's degree at Union Theological Seminary in the city of New York.Christopher is an avid blogger, focused on the spiritual side of ecological and sustainability issues at his blog The Yoga of Ecology. He also contributes to Beliefnet, Elephant Journal, Good Business International, and State of Formation.

Jane Fitzpatrick

Jane Fitzpatrick is an analyst and an avid researcher of the intersections between religious traditions and international affairs with a passion for opera and art. She earned her master's degree in International Affairs from Penn State University and has a Bachelor's degree in Religious Studies from Gettysburg College. Jane has previously provided research assistance for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Strategic Religious Engagement Unit of the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Army War College.

Adeola Fearon

Ilari Oba Adeola Fearon is a visionary, poet, author, humanitarian, artist, healer and Chair of United Religions Initiative’s North America Leadership Council and Ex-Officio Global Trustee. Ilari Oba is a title meaning “Royal Messenger” in the Yoruba language from Nigeria. Adeola is an ambassador for compassionate living. Her life’s work has been devoted to empowering individuals and community. As an educator, interdisciplinary artist, and community engagement specialist her goal is to inspire, teach and heal.

Stefanie Felix

Stefanie Felix is a Seattle-based freelance editorial photographer. Her documentary style captures human nature exhibited in everyday life situations and relationships and resonates with many. Clients rely on her to describe their programs and missions with visually strong and emotional images. In a recent project, she was called by Faith Action Network of Washington to document a candlelight vigil at a Sikh Temple in Renton, WA, in response to the Wisconsin shootings in August. Resulting photographs were honored by Harvard Pluralism Project and were also the visual component of an educational/inspirational video produced with Faith Action Network chronicling this event. The vigil was a strong example of pluralism and interfaith cooperation. 

Pam Faro

Storyteller Pam Faro lives in Broomfield, CO and has performed and taught since 1988, across the US as well as several countries overseas. Her diverse repertoire includes original retellings of multicultural folktales, bilingual cuentos, biblical storytelling, interfaith storytelling, and personal/historical narratives including the true story of her great-uncle who survived the Titanic. A life-long Lutheran, Pam also served churches as music/choir director for 30 years. She received her B.A. in music with teacher certification from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and her Master of Divinity degree from Iliff School of Theology in Denver. An active member of the Network of Biblical Storytellers International (NBS), she has been editor of the Journal of Biblical Storytelling, teaches in the Academy for Biblical Storytelling, writes for The Biblical Storyteller magazine, and is a member of the NBS Seminar, a group made up of academics and performers developing a new paradigm for biblical scholarship called Performance Criticism. She guest-edited the “Interfaith Storytelling” issue of Storytelling Magazine” in 2016. Pam serves as a consultant/workshop-leader in using storytelling in ministry settings, in addition to her work as a performer/entertainer and educator in secular contexts.
Pam's website: www.storycrossings.com

Patricia Adams Farmer

Patricia Adams Farmer is a process theologian, writer, speaker, and progressive minister. She is a regular contributor to Spirituality & Practice and Jesus, Jazz, and Buddhism. After living five years in Ecuador (2011-2015), observing their ecological model for sustainability, she began focusing her writing/storytelling around themes of eco-theology and multi-faith expressions of spirituality. She is co-founder of Fat Soul International, a spontaneous movement of creative individuals and small groups of musicians, writers, and interfaith activists around the world who, in these times of unrest and change, seek to “widen out in love” rather than “shrink back in fear.” She is the author and co-author of several books including Embracing a Beautiful God, Fat Soul: A Philosophy of S-I-Z-E, and Replanting Ourselves in Beauty.  Join her at the Fat Soul Café on Facebook! You can learn more about her work and contact her at www.patriciaadamsfarmer.com.

Silvana Faillace

Silvana Faillace is Senior Director of Development and Humanitarian Assistance (DHA) at CWS. Silvana brings over 15 years’ experience in international development and the public health/nutrition field. She has extensive experience in the design, management and implementation of a wide variety of development and humanitarian strategies and programs at local, regional and international levels and across different cultures, having worked in Africa, South East Asia and the Americas. She has served in several leadership positions including as National Executive Director with the Colombian Red Cross, and Indonesia Country Director with Hellen Keller International. Before joining CWS she was Health and Nutrition Officer with UNICEF, Colombia. She holds a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University, an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics, and a BA in Political Science from Los Andes University in Colombia.

Daniel Epstein

Daniel Epstein is marketing and innovation consultant based in Toronto, Canada. He was previously a Harley Procter Marketing Director at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio where he was employed for 21 years. It was during his tenure at P&G that he conducted most of the Portraits In Faith interviews. He has an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Illinois and a BBA in Accounting from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. Daniel has been long involved in community service focused on reconciliation and dialogue across racial, religious, and ethnic communities. Portraits In Faith is a perfect intersection of the great passions in Daniel’s life: helping others heal, bringing people of different faiths and cultures together, global travel, and photography. Daniel is blessed to be the husband of Heidi and step-father to Lucas and Theo.

Paul Eppinger

Dr. Paul Eppinger is a graduate of William Jewell College, Princeton Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theology degree, and San Francisco Theological Seminary where he received a Doctor of Ministry degree. He has served as a missionary in Japan, the pastor of four different American Baptist Churches, as adjunct professor at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Kansas. He has served on numerous boards and committees for his denomination and in the communities in which he pastored. His last pastorate was at the First Baptist Church in Phoenix, which he served for seven-and-a-half years. He served as the Statewide Director of the successful “Victory Together” campaign in 1992 to establish a state Martin Luther King holiday. From 1993 to 2002, he served as the Executive Director of the Arizona Ecumenical Council, an organization uniting programs of 13 mainline and Roman Catholic denominations involving 700 churches and one million people. He then became the Executive Director of the Arizona Interfaith Movement in 2002. The Arizona Interfaith Movement is composed of 25 different major religious groups and seeks to bring understanding and respect of each other to all the major religions of the state and, thereby, to bring unity to all of the state of Arizona, the nation, and the world.