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Chikelue, who established the Liaison Office of the Archdiocese of Abuja, currently serves as executive director of the Cardinal Onaiyekan Foundation for Peace, which supports programming to build and strengthen processes of peace in Nigeria and Africa at large.

The USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture (CRCC) recently held its first in-person event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019. More than 70 clergy and faith-inspired community leaders met in an airy space at the Hotel Maya in Long Beach for a half-day conference to discuss the challenges and lessons of the pandemic–and simply to gather, mindful of public health precautions, to share stories and fellowship after a long period of isolation.

Even if de-occupying the entire state of Hawaii is a nearly impossible dream, inklings of what a more Hawaiian Hawai'i might look like help to keep the dream alive. Wong-Kalu smiles when we tell her we are going to Molokai to interview Ritte, whom she calls Uncle Walter.

“When you go to Molokai,” she says, “it’s a very Hawaiian place.”

“When I was in the underground, we would hold meetings in CICM facilities,” Castro said. “And when I was a prisoner, Belgian priests visited me and gave me a gift of a cooking stove because they heard that there was not enough food for the prisoners.”

“I’m trying to bring more Filipino programming to northeast LA,” said 30-year-old Aquino, whose Filipino-American Day of the Dead exhibit, which includes original work by other Filipino-American artists, has become an annual feature at Avenue 50 Studio in Highland Park, between downtown and Pasadena.

As we settled into our meal, Bawer gazed across the lush valley and remarked, “Why would you think you have to open a book to find God?”

Bawer explained that God, called Kabunyan by the people of the Cordillera, is everywhere. “I know the body of Christ in rice and chayote,” he said.

The following report—geared for anyone who seeks to transform communities, from congregants to faith leaders to funders—shares the process, challenges and lessons from a project to consult with local faith groups ready to take on transformative work in their communities.

“I wanted to be a police officer at one point,” Shah said as people began recounting stories about encounters with the LAPD. “Then the police killed my friend in the projects.”