{"id":37,"date":"2025-09-08T13:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T13:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flourishingtogether.bc.edu\/?page_id=37"},"modified":"2025-10-06T00:59:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T00:59:24","slug":"story-12","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/flourishingtogether.bc.edu\/index.php\/story-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding a home as a stranger: Awakening the possibility of third space through campus ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Churches and Faith Communities as Third Places\/ Third Place Stories<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Through an immersion course called the Philosophy of Place, seven people from Gannon University traveled to Mt. Vernon, KY where we stayed at Appalachia-Science in the Public Interest (ASPI). The journey there and back involved stops at the underground railroad\u2019s river crossing, native American burial mounds (Fort Ancient), and Berea College, where we built a foot bridge.  The journey was one big liminal place where we found ways of being connected beyond majors, roles, and what Thomas Merton calls our false selves. We encountered strangers as strangers ourselves and we entered encounters vulnerable and ignorant. That third space yielded gifts, physical and spiritual—-walking sticks carved by hand from a local story-teller, Zen Buddhist guides and farmers, who led us on a walk into a forest, nature\u2019s silent third space. We drank water directly from Climax Spring. Singer-Songwriter Mitch Barrett told Appalachian stories through his songs, and a waste management official taught us about illegal dumping and the grip of poverty. The course was a collaboration between Campus Ministry and the Philosophy Department, integrating ultimate questions with a ministry of presence. Appalachia-Science in the Public Interest, a house adjacent to the Catholic parish in town, was clearly a neutral ground since the ASPI director, Timi Reedy, had a sign on the white board which read, \u201cBeing is everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After each day\u2019s journey or work, we had third space reflection and conversation as the pinnacle of the day\u2019s activity. When leaving, one person said that they learned philosophies of place, but they weren\u2019t sure how to \u201cleave the place\u201d and desired to return. Thus, there was an awakening to the third space as a sense of familiarity and belonging that remains with us as we launch into new and strange places. This exhibit will feature images, descriptions, and art from third space experiences. In opening ourselves up to these encounters our vocational choices were lifted to become engaged with the needs of the places we inhabit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listen to song \u201cSacred Yard\u201d by Mitch Barrett<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n