Embodied Prayer and Ignatian Spirituality

Prashant Olalekar, S.J., JAI Guest Artist and Bannan Visitor

Embodied & Active Prayer,
InterPlay Improvisational Methods
and Ignatian Spirituality
Justice & the Arts Initiative (JAI) Guest Artist Series
Santa Clara University Fall 2011
Final Report on Prashant Olalekar, S.J.’s Residency
Sept 28-Oct 12, 2011
Compiled by Kristin Kusanovich and Nicholas Santos, S.J.
December 31, 2011

Final Report on Prashant Olalekar, S.J.’s Residency JAI Fall 2011 SCU

Table of Contents:
Foreword and Project Description
by Kristin Kusanovich 3-7

Biographical Background 8

Sample of Campus Publicity 9
Reflections by Faculty & Staff 10-14
Michael Zampelli, S.J.
Carolyn Silberman
Jack Treacy, S.J.
Fr. George Aranha
Philip Boo Riley
Aldo Billingslea
Maeve Louise Heaney
Matthew Smith

photos by Chuck Barry
Penelope Duckworth

Student Perspectives 15-18

Conclusion 19
By Kristin Kusanovich

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Foreword and Project Description
by Kristin Kusanovich, Co-Director, JAI, Senior Lecturer, Department
of Theatre and Dance and Liberal Studies Program at SCU
Prashant Olalekar, S.J., works at the intersection of Ignatian spirituality,
justice, the arts and embodied cognition. He draws upon the techniques of InterPlay, which
originated with Cynthia Winton Henry and Phil Porter’s groundbreaking work in dynamic
improvisational ensembles in the Bay Area of California. InterPlay helps people develop very
basic communication skills and be comfortable in interactive silences, sounds, stillness and
movement with others in a trusting, communal environment. Fr. Olalekar’s work takes
InterPlay into an even more prayerful direction, and follows in the tradition of the Jesuits
using the arts to help teach and build the faith. His work opens people to the possibility of
spiritual grounding, helps integrate a fragmented and disassociated self, and for some, offers
unsought after profoundly religious experiences among supportive witnesses.

Body wisdom, obvious to advanced practitioners of sport, dance, yoga, theatre, walking
meditation, martial arts, etc., is regularly dismissed for a variety of complex reasons; often it
can be difficult to describe or share experiences in embodied spirituality with words.
Interestingly enough, as a Catholic priest who represents a faith tradition that minimizes our
inherent ability to learn while moving, Fr. Olalekar’s approach to a deepening of our faith
relies on our ability, no matter what our limitations are, to mobilize our bodies in space in
order to accomplish this goal. Thus, to some, his work might be seen as revolutionary, or
even threatening. Afterall, it is based on his applications of a technique that originated in the
U.S. Though already applied in India successfully, through his ministry alongside of
marginalized groups and global peace exchanges, it might be seen as yet another shallow
cultural export that is dumped on the unsuspecting global market of ideas. In fact, being
highly interactive, his work could sound so threatening that a person might never venture
over to the sunny dance studio to see what is going on with those fifty people who have taken
off their shoes to listen, learn and move on a breezy October day at “the Jesuit University in
Silicon Valley” as Santa Clara University is marketed.

Fr. Olalekar did not work with wholly marginalized, disabled, impoverished or sex-
trafficking populations during his residency at SCU. But the 300 people that he interacted
with during his 2.5 week residency in the Fall of 2011 learned about life in India, his

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ministry, his work for peace and the organized efforts to effect change by bringing hope
through strengthened relationship and identity-building that InterPlay as he has fashioned it
creates. They saw images and heard stories, listened to music and watched videos of people
in Mumbai India living with remarkable challenges and experiencing transformations both
subtle and bold of nothing less than the human spirit.

In his homily at the Mission Santa Clara he challenged the congregation to see the beauty in
dis-ability, starting with our own areas of dis-ability. At SCU, in his interactions with
students, staff and faculty, he may have worked with people with non-visible disabilities,
people who have been abused, raped, had addiction issues and witnessed violence in their
family or community. He certainly engaged many students who would rather interact
through technology than face to face, let alone touch the shoulder or hand of a stranger and
meditate on a prayerful intention. And he definitely interacted with people who have
suffered family break-ups, depression, stress disorders from hard-pushing parents,
discrimination, bullying and isolation. The people he worked with were not the worst off in
society by any means. They were for the most part the 1% of the world’s population that will
have a college education soon. But there was obvious and articulated healing going on in
each of the sensitively facilitated workshops he led throughout his residency. Primarily, he
did work with people who may be in positions of leadership to help solve some of the world’s
greatest social and spiritual problems in the future. SCU is educating students to be leaders
with highly developed competence, compassion and conscience, and Fr. Olalekar’s residency
was a clear indication that the university is providing its community with a means for
meeting its mission to educate men and women for others.

Throughout Fr. Olalekar’s residency, participants were challenged to expand their
understanding of how we interact with God and each other, and how we listen to and notice
the ways we are being led to grow closer to God. Participants from young adults to senior
citizens came to understand the sophisticated notion of experiencing a specific calling with
regard to the shape of one’s ministry; in the case of Fr. Olalekar, this has involved becoming
an expert facilitator in InterPlay processes as a pathway to peace. By working to bring to
light the ways this technique can serve the Ignatian spirit of finding God in all things, Fr.
Olalekar has become truly effective and responsive to the real needs of the populations he
serves. This vocational discernment of his, so openly shared, really seemed to be appreciated
by participants who are also attempting to do that quiet activation and listening in their own
lives.

Many participants were probably not aware of the potentially threatening role that any
embodied practices, whether InterPlay, dance, mimesis, choreodrama, have played to

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greater or lesser degrees depending on the century, in the Catholic Church. They were
probably unaware that from many protectors of the Catholic faith there is the fearful sense
that since pagans, protestants and numerologists have at times included movement in their
practices of yore or even at present, we should avoid any exploration of the possibilities of an
embodied way of knowing our spiritual reality as Catholics because we could not possibly
find something fitting or appropriate in that.

Movement, like any technique or technology, can be used for good or ill. But it is not
inherently problematic or immoral. Dismissing the possibility of exploring this most
altruistic, artistic and sacred mode of learning that Fr. Olalekar and others understand to be
a new creative way of ministering to their deeply diverse societies, is akin to suggesting that
since pagans ate potatoes, priests who are called to serve soup shouldn’t allow potatoes in
the soup.

It was lovely to witness the openness of the participants, unsullied by such discourse, who
simply and generously allowed for the essentially phenomenological experience to be taken
for what it was and will remain: multiple and enduring tactics for spiritual encounter and
peace-building. Nor did the Catholics among the participants feel their rites threatened. No
one was naïve enough to misinterpret what was happening, walking away with the idea that
“this must be the new Catholic Church.” But plenty of participants surely said, to themselves,
“This is a potentially new facet of my experience of being a Catholic” and “this allows me to
see a new way in which I as a future leader, citizen or teacher could potentially serve the
most marginalized among us.”

Many participants were active Catholics who experienced immediately the uniqueness of this
approach but who also were able to consider this experience as framed by their
understanding of a faith life that does not stagnate. Certainly our faith relationship needs to
grow through time and that openness to a deeper relationship comes from our actively
seeking it. Fr. Olalekar’s work is a way of not letting our image of God be tied to too small a
set of rules, and yet it does not contradict the structure that brings Catholic practice into a
universally sharable rite.

Some participants raised Catholic or other Christian traditions, but not currently active in
their faith life, after experiencing one workshop had what might be termed a “faith
recollection”: a return of sorts to the sensitivities they may have had at a younger age to
prayerful intentions; the yearnings for that simple connectedness to God; the ability to
“play” in a clearly structured environment; and the permission to greet, interact with and get
to know strangers in an artistic and honest way. Fr. Olalekar’s work generously allows a

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space for and facilitates all of this.

Students not comfortable with any language regarding God or self-defined as atheists found
ways to express their appreciation for the experience and showed a graciousness toward Fr.
Olalekar and respect for the faith tradition he obviously represents and embodies as an
engaged Jesuit. They also benefited greatly from the experience.

Residency Organization
Fr. Olalekar was on the campus of Santa Clara University from September 28-October 12,
2011 courtesy of the Justice and the Arts Initiative (JAI) which is directed by Kristin
Kusanovich and Carolyn Silberman and the Bannan Visitor program of the Ignatian Center
for Jesuit Education directed by Mick McCarthy, S.J. His residency was managed by JAI
program council member Nicholas Santos, S.J. and Ms. Kusanovich, who applied for and
were awarded a Bannan Visitor grant to cover Fr. Olalekar’s travel expenses. Lodging and
fellowship were provided by the Jesuit community of SCU under leadership of Rector
Michael Zampelli, S.J.

Faculty and staff from six different departments hosted Prashant and showed an enormous
amount of creativity, flexibility and desire to learn more about India through his residency.
21 faculty and staff members attended lunch discussions to learn more intimately about the
practices and challenges of InterPlay India. In many cases, conversations turned to building
bridges in the future to allow for partnerships on the part of students, staff or faculty
wanting to connect through Fr. Olalekar with the Jesuit mission in India.

Fr. Olalekar’s residency was organized to not only provide in-depth experiences for members
of the campus community of SCU, but also to present him with multiple opportunities to
interact with a number of religious communities in the Bay Area who all work with issues of
diversity, religious education and marginalization. Every event in the residency was
thoughtful and thought-provoking and many people attended more than one time to have
more opportunities to learn from and experience his teachings.

Ms. Kusanovich and Fr. Santos produced, participated in and witnessed each portion of his
multi-faceted residency which included public lectures, workshops, academic lectures and
community events. Fr. Olalekar also met with leaders in the Jesuit community at SCU and
directors of programs. All in all he had 27 key activities in his 2.5 week residency. It is
estimated that he was able to interact with over 300 people during the Santa Clara leg of his
Fall 2011 ministry in the U.S. Carolyn Silberman (JAI and Theatre & Dance), Philip Boo
Riley (Religious Studies), Michael Zampelli (Performance Studies), Patricia Plude (Music),

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and Greg Schultz (Campus Ministry) all interacted extensively with Fr. Olalekar and
collaborated with him to create learning experiences through various lenses of the arts,
theology, spirituality, culture and ideas, improvisation and liturgy.

Off-campus offerings included a workshop for community members at the local St. Clare’s
Parish with 25 parishoners, school staff, students and Fr. George Aranha, and a staff
development afternoon with 74 staff members of Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County
staff led by CEO Greg Kepferle. Fr. Olalekar also presided at the INFOCUS mass, a monthly
gathering of Indian families for Catholic mass from from a number of parishes in the Bay
Area hosted by Fr. George Aranha and now in its tenth year.

Following key on-campus workshops, JAI arranged for written reflections and evaluations to
be collected as evidence of the effect of Fr. Olalekar’s teachings and workshops. This report
contains only a sampling of faculty, staff and student perspectives culled from the responses.
It also contains photos taken by SCU university photographer Chuck Barry. It is hoped that
this report will be useful for Fr. Olalekar’s fellow Jesuits in India, the staff at the Ignatian
Center at SCU, and those interested in the way JAI is providing intellectually, spiritually and
vocationally rich experiences for the entire campus community and important non-profit
partners to SCU in the Silicon Valley through its globally-minded Guest Artist Series.

jai
Mission &
Purpose

The Justice & the Arts Initiative (JAI) at Santa Clara University is in its fifth year
as a model university program that aligns the Catholic and Jesuit Mission of SCU with rich
experiences in arts-based philosophy, practices and engagement.

Student artists come to Santa Clara University to grow in their own artistic disciplines and
obtain a well-rounded, liberal arts education. In the process of attending SCU, students are
exposed to the Jesuit tradition of intellectual inquiry, ethics and spirituality. The programs
of JAI are one possible entry point for them as they seek to integrate their artistry with the
greatest needs of the world and work in creative solidarity with people from marginalized
populations. JAI creates an intellectual frame of reference for examining and fostering
artistic processes that are critically bound to issues of justice.

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Biographical Information of
Fr. Prashant Olalekar, S.J.

Fr. Olalekar, a Jesuit priest of the Mumbai province in India, is a peace activist, spiritual
director and presently, director of Jivanvikas Sadan Retreat House, Bandra, Mumbai. He
has served as former Novice director and Coordinator of Formation of the Mumbai Jesuit
Province. He completed doctoral studies (D.Min.) at the San Francisco Theological
Seminary, California in May 2006. He is the founder of InterPlay, India. His current
research interests include integrating Ignatian Spirituality with Body Wisdom.

Introducing InterPlay

InterPlay is a form of moving meditation that helps integrate body, mind, heart and spirit.
It uses forms associated with the arts—movement, storytelling, voice and stillness—to
actively and creatively unlock the wisdom of the body. InterPlay India is a global social
movement dedicated to connection, human sustainability, and play. Fr. Prashant integrates
the Ignatian spiritual exercises and InterPlay techniques through Global Peace Exchanges —
opportunities to interact through structured play and improvised interrelatedness with the
poor, the differently-abled and other marginalized groups.
.

www.interplay.org

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Sample of campus-wide publicity:
JAI creates a 20-week project plan in anticipation of each of its globally-situated guest artist-

activist’s visits to reach out to the university community. Local Justice & the Arts Initiative

enthusiasts, community partners, non-profits, arts educators and religious organizations

stay apprised of JAI’s activities through print, email and personal correspondence.

September 4, 2011

We are pleased to announce the residency of Prashant Olalekar, S.J., who will be on campus
from Sept 28 to October 12 as a Justice and the Arts Initiative (JAI) Guest Artist and Bannan
Visitor. Fr. Olalekar, is the founder of InterPlay India, which organizes Global Peace
Exchanges with opportunities to interact through structured play and improvised
interrelatedness with the poor, the differently-abled and other marginalized groups.

"The unique joy of interacting as playful equals is beyond words."
-Fr. Prashant Olalekar, S.J

Please join us at either of these public, free events, to learn more and experience some
examples of how InterPlay is done. RSVPs for groups are appreciated.

TUES, OCT. 4 at NOON

A lecture & demonstration of Prashant's work in the areas of embodied spirituality. It will be
held in Studio A of the Music and Dance Facility, on the corner of Franklin and Lafayette
Streets. Your students are welcome to join us too. [12:00-1:15 pm]

THURS, OCT. 6 at 7 pm Prashant will offer a workshop for the community in conjunction
with St. Clare's Parish just footsteps away from campus on the corner of Lafayette and
Lexington. [7:00-9:00 pm]

If you would like to meet Fr. Olalekar or have him visit any of your classes during his
upcoming residency, please contact us at jai@scu.edu

Best regards,

Kristin Kusanovich and Carolyn Silberman, Co-Directors
JAI - Justice and the Arts Initiative, Santa Clara University

Email jai at scu.edu

Web www.scu.edu/cas/jai Supported in part by the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education

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Faculty & Staff Reflections on Fr. Olalekar’s Visit

1. Michael Zampelli, S.J. Course: Culture & Ideas

Just a little feedback on Prashant Olalekar's visit and the advantages that it afforded my
class. First, Prashant was a very warm and inviting presence. Not exuding any sort of
"expert" air, he provided a very accessible route for my students to engage the InterPlay
activities. They, in turn, participated fully in the exercises--getting more and more "into
them" as they spent more time together.

Second, the course (essentially on "performance studies") begins by broadening the notion
of performance beyond purely aesthetic performances (like dance concerts, plays or piano
recitals) to include all of those actions and behaviors that are somehow highlighted and then
presented for an audience (even if the audience is only oneself). This takes us into the arena
of "play" quite often. Before Prashant's visit, we had been discussing the ways in which the
range of performances we are familiar with (performances in daily life, play, ritual, formal
aesthetic pieces) function in a variety of ways--to teach, to heal, to make or foster
community, to deal with the sacred, etc. etc.

Prashant's InterPlay demonstration--AND his explanation of the work he does--proved to be
a great illustration of the range of performances available to us AND the range of effect such
performances have on real people, particularly those who are marginalized and are IN NEED
of healing, community, etc. Prashant took the conversation to a new level--from abstraction
to concreteness. The students had to put this IN THEIR BODIES. AND--the students
EXPERIENCED a fostering of community, a healing, etc. This was invaluable to me in the
class.

Third, and this is quite important to me as someone committed to performing arts--the
EMBODIED nature of this experience was terrific. Knowledge, spirituality, desire, etc. find a
home not only in the head, but in the BODY. Engaging the body means engaging the mind,
the heart, the spirit. I'm not a Platonist--so this stuff was just awesome!

Thanks so much for the chance to experience Prashant and his work! I'm grateful to JAI and
to the Ignatian Center for making all of this possible.

Cheers,

Michael

Michael A. Zampelli, S.J.

Rector, Santa Clara Jesuit Community Locatelli University Professor
Department of Theatre and Dance
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95053 (408) 554-2175
FAX: (408) 554-4795

mzampelli@scu.edu

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2. Carolyn Silberman Co-Director JAI

Time with Prashant Olalekar, S.J.

It is challenging to summarize the Prashant Olalekar, S.J. experience but I'd like to
contextualize the overall experience as deeply holy in the realm of what I know as "sacred
dance." It was Martha Graham, one of the legendary modern dance artists of America
who wrote that "the instrument through which the dance speaks is also the instrument
through which life is lived: the human body."

When experiencing Fr. Prashant in action, it is truth which speaks to the reality of the
experience. Let there be no doubt that this man has discovered how movement, artfully
directed by him and responded to by those present, frees the spirit into prayerful praise.
Reverence pervades the space. A quiet calming reminds us of the Psalm, "Be still and
know that I am God."

In the classroom studio with my Charisma team a small group of musicians, dancers,
actors who are exploring the intersection of arts and spirituality, gather and stop to listen
and start to move. The session unfolds. Time, space and energy are explored thought
the body, mind and spirit. Integration. Reflection. Prayer. All are purposefully directed
as imaginations join in community to create a time of praise through a different way of
knowing.

For me, personally it was a time of discovery. Safely, in the quiet meditative moment of
the movement experience, there was mystery. It was mystical. I experienced a very deep
connection to the person of Christ, a deep connection to His suffering. It was as real as
my experience of poverty in El Salvador combined in bittersweet contrast with the deep
joy of community. Difficult to describe. Transcendent in nature.

I am deeply grateful for both my students and for myself, for having experienced
Prashant Olalekar, S.J.

As the year of 2011 winds down, I review this experience as one of grace made manifest.

Carolyn Silberman

Faculty Theater and Dance Department

Co-Director of the Justice and the Arts Initiative

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3. Jack Treacy, S.J. Director of Campus Ministry

Thank you for inviting me to join you and Prashant for the session in the dance studio.
As one who was initially hesitant when I heard the word "interactive," I was surprised by
how much I enjoyed the experience.

The benefits for me came from two sources. I quickly became at ease with the suggested
movements, and found that by the end of the session I felt refreshed, lighter, less
concerned about my mental "to do" list. It was a helpful reminder of the need to move
my body! I also appreciated Prashant's talk about his work with those most in need of
healing and a realization of their dignity. I suspect it offered many of our students a new
way to view spirituality.

I am grateful to you for your continued exploration of this theme of justice in the arts.
And I look forward to more interactive sessions with you!

Warmly
Jack Treacy, S.J.

Director of Campus Ministry

Santa Clara University
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95053

4. Fr. George Aranha. Pastor, St. Clare Parish,
Santa Clara CA

It was a unique experience to have Fr Prashant lead us in Interplay both at the monthly
Indian Family Mass (also known as INFOCUS) and at St Clare Parish in Santa Clara. I
received very positive feedback from several young and not so young participants. There
was a sense of playfulness, joy and the expansion of spirit. I was happy to participate in
both the events and I am personally grateful for this unique, playful experience.

Fr George Aranha
Pastor
St. Clare Parish, Santa Clara, CA

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5. Philip Boo Riley Religious Studies

Per the request of JAI I am sharing the observations and discussion points from my
Religious Studies class that had as its guest, Prashant Olalekar, S.J.

One of my interests was that the workshop, readings and post-workshop reflection would
offer the students a perspective on what solidarity means in the context of InterPlay. My
interest was met, and then some!

Key points:
• An embodied solidarity that we can ‘feel’ instead of just ‘talk’ about - the energy
of the body, “the body never lies.”
-Spirituality and Body: Embodied…has roots in both the Indian Hindu
tradition and the Western Christian tradition, particularly in terms of the
Incarnation.
-“God who shits” equivalence with Jesuit maxim, “finding God in all
things.”

• Stand with marginal populations as equals
-Fr. Olalekar gave plenty of wonderful examples, sharing with us how his
initial misfgivings fell away as he interacted with individuals through
InterPlay.

• Silicon Valley “epiphany”: Hafiz “Come Dance with me.”

• Jesuit Superior/Congregations and the UN Millenium Goals regarding poverty
-Not possible to rely on merely sharing wealth- rather, through
establishing global partnerships we bring about equality, justice and
peace through addressing issues of poverty.

So in addition to the physical experience that made up most of the workshop, students
were also given in a short period of time a very rich framework within which to reflect on
their experience.

Thanks so much to JAI for making this rich opportunity available to my students and
me.

Sincerely,

Philip Boo Riley
Religious Studies

6. Aldo Billingslea Dept. of Theatre & Dance, Acting

I really appreciated the time I spent with Fr. Prashant. It was curricular and spiritual
development. Refreshing to hear of his journey into this study and recognize the points
where the practice parallels what I’m teaching and where it offers additional clarity.

Aldo Billingslea
Dept. of Theatre & Dance

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7. Maeve Heaney Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education
2011-2012 Bannan Fellow JSTU / SCU

I participated in two sessions with Fr. Prashant, and found it very significant that as
Banaan presences in Santa Clara, there is so much overlap in our approach Although my
area is music, the underlying theology is very much about an integrated anthropology
and epistemology which allow us to 'understand' and welcome the particular way in
which music (and God though music) works in us. In Western culture, we have an
alienated relationship with our bodies, which have their wisdom, and through which life
and God have something to say to us (Ignatian spirituality's "finding god in all things"
also applies to our embodied existence!!!).

I found the workshops profound, creative, inspiring. I found Fr. Prashant's presence
humble, charitable, fun, intelligent and spiritual. Meeting him and participating in the
workshops was profoundly edifying for me, so I thank both of you for enabling it to
happen!

Blessings,
Maeve Louise Heaney , Bannan Fellow in Theology, Spirituality and Music

8. Matt Smith JAI Program Council and
Director of Outreach / Engagement, Campus Ministry

I came to Prashant's workshop stressed by the workload that was facing me upon
returning to my office. As we began I felt insecure in my body, but that quickly
dissipated as our group transformed into an adult playground. My heart rate rose and I
began to sweat. We all took risks. The exercises gave me access to joyful childhood
memories and put me in touch with my heart, and not just because it was working hard!
I left feeling connected. I observed that throughout the rest of the week I was much
more positive than I had been in previous weeks. In fact, there was a bubbliness about
me that I had not felt in quite some time. This experience was both deeply consoling and
profoundly transformative. Thank you for the opportunity!

Peace,
Matt Smith , Director of Outreach / Engagement, Campus Ministry

9. Penelope Duckworth Religious Studies

Thank you for the lovely lunch and workshop with Prashant. I hope to attend on
Monday at 1 as well. I urged my class to go to the workshop at St. Clare's. I thought it
was wonderful to experience Prashant's teaching and try to imagine how it feels for the
poor and handicapped. I thought of the sex workers perhaps experiencing the freedom
of their bodies for the first time. He has a gentle way of releasing inhibitions and
bringing about a quiet healing. He is a bridge person in many senses; the one that I
noticed was his ease in what is often seen as the 'feminine' world of body and nurture to
which he brings his Jesuit training and theological expertise.

Thanks again,
Penelope Duckworth, Religious Studies

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Student REFLECTIONS!

Eight Santa Clara University undergraduate courses encountered Fr. Olalekar’s
work through lectures and workshops in the dance studio or in other
performance spaces and classrooms. The following courses participated as groups
ranging in number from 14 to 33 students:

Ways of Understanding Religion
Cultures and Ideas I
Charisma: Intersections of Art & Spirituality
Writing and Sustainability
Beginning Modern Dance
Dance Composition
Improvisation
Acting

Participants were then given the opportunity to reflect in writing on their
experience of learning through movement, play, improvisation and prayerfulness.
Included in this section of the report are a sampling of the key concepts and ideas
that were found in the post-workshop reflections. In some cases responses were
edited for brevity, clarity and spelling, aggregated if overlapping and all were
made anonymous by removing any identifying details.

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STUDENT TESTIMONIES
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Although improvisation’s qualities as a healing and spiritually enriching art form
are well known, I have not experienced these qualities so intensely, genuinely and
profoundly until this past class with guest Father Prashant Olalekar, S.J. The
class was spiritually enlightening and meditative in terms of bodily and physical
awareness. And every activity, regardless of its familiarity, was modified to
involve momentary inward evaluation…the experience was a true testament to
“living in the moment” and “experiencing the present.”

I realized how wonderfully flexible the immense range of our emotions and
expressions as human beings is. On a spiritual level, each moment for meditation
and reflection made me exceedingly aware of the individual’s interconnectedness
with his or her physical surroundings, especially the organic world and other
human beings, and called to mind sacramentality - the idea of seeing and
rediscovering the divine within all of creation.

Prashant’s ‘Sound/Story’ presentation of “looking for Christ in ten thousand
places” and “seeing Christ in ten thousand faces” was an inspiring, evocative and
powerful application of improvisation as a means for social justice and peace
through artistry. …I could not help but feel drawn to the greater purposeful
message of a call for social agency. For along with Fr. Prashant’s presentation,
learning about the Playing for Peace program with InterPlay India and their all-
inclusive message for all people to be ambassadors for peace through art strongly
resonated with me. It helped me realize how improvisation can be used as an art
form and a tool to inspire communal expression and communication, and change
and transform hearts to recover a deeper sense of what it means to be human.

As the class came to a close, I found our group dynamic to be more focused,
cohesive and sensitive to others’ actions than it was before. We were unified.
The experience will help me to connect and understand everyone around me on a
more fundamentally empathetic and intrinsically human level. …I am confident
that this has allowed me to see the potential for artists, musicians and performers
to find social agency, charitable purpose and a possible future in social justice in
their work.
+
When I would close my eyes after dancing around I would feel like a weight was
lifted. I had a free spirit. The exercises brought out both inner and outer peace,
making it easier to connect with others in the environment.

+
The most engaging moment was when we chose a concern and decided to “hand
it’ to God. Somehow I truly felt my problems lifted to God; and then I felt a sense
of pure relaxation and peace.

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When we were lying still and having a conversation with God I relaxed and got to
reflect on my life in this interesting transition period. I really enjoyed my
conversation with God. I felt more comfortable than I have in a long time; I felt
momentarily free of stress and burdens. I felt relaxed, and felt a sense of
belonging.

+
Growing up without a religious affiliation, the workshop was a different
experience for me. I was invited to connect the events of the week to God, for
however brief the moment, to have that faith in Him in order to do that, and I
wasn’t sure I could suddenly do this. But I found a surprising sense of release in
it, even if I only succeeded momentarily. I learned that sometimes having faith in
a superior being can be a form of trust and release. Later, in sharing a burden
with a person at the workshop I realized there was mutual and immediate trust.
This lifted this weight off my back almost instantly. It helped me to experience
this day with happiness, relief, strength and confidence.

+
I thought the most engaging moment was the partner “prayer.” Watching the
movement of the two volunteers making such simple shapes in the space and
having that moment of introspection was a rare shared moment amidst our
individual busy lives. These experiences bring different people together so easily
and make interaction in the world seem a lot simpler.

+
The exercise that stood out to me the most was when we offered up our own
worries and grievances to God. We watched two individuals in the center
translate our emotions into movement and be the vessel through which our
thoughts were sent to God. I was completely surprised by how much the
movement seemed to relate exactly to what I was feeling. I found myself getting
emotional because I felt so connected to the two in the middle; I felt my worries
leave my body, run through the individuals’ bodies in the center of the circle, and
then rise up to God. This exercise made me aware of my emotions that I have
been trying to suppress. I did not expect this experience to reach this sort of deep
personal level.

+
Fr. Prashant’s lectures on India and the experience of the workshop itself will
help us realize the importance and benefits of forming partnerships with people
in need and nourishing our own solidarity and compassion. The InterPlay
demonstration was a very transporting experience.

+
During Fr. Prashant’s presentation, my eyes were opened to the despair and

17


poverty of people. I always thought of movement as expressive, but I did not
realize that it could have such a dramatic effect on the lives of people who were
not previously exposed to it, or who had not made some intentional choice to
seek movement out. But when the experience came to them, they so fully
embraced and benefited from it! When I learned that his work can be for the
benefit of abused women, the disabled, sex workers and marginalized groups, I
began to see how healing this InterPlay could be.

+
It is touching to think that Fr. Prashant has dedicated his time to helping, for
example, the disabled rediscover movement in their bodies. It makes me happy to
know that there are wonderful people like him selflessly devoting their time to
helping and improving the lives of others around the world. One person can’t
change everything on their own, but Fr. Prashant and others like him are getting
off to a good start.

+
Solidarity can be as simple, and as complex, as standing next to someone.

+
The work made us realize how connected we are. When we show compassion
toward others, we are greeted with compassion. You see it and feel it and
understand it totally when you are being guided like this.

+
Through understanding one another beyond ‘speech’ we developed an energetic
connection that was really awesome. The experience was something of a bonding
activity for our group. It is really easy to imagine how people who are in different
societal groups do grow closer to each other through this experience. Certainly
stripping down all judgement and prejudice allows solidarity to shine through.

+
In this atmosphere free of judgement, you begin to refrain from judging other
people and put all of your attention towards compassion instead.

+
It was an unexpected experience, but I am so very glad to have gotten a chance to
participate and experience this JAI program with Fr. Olalekar. It was such a
joyous and opening experience.

+
I loved the honesty of it. I cannot explain my gratitude for the activities – they
were very helpful for everyone. In the future I plan to travel, and would like to
participate in InterPlay India someday. Prashant’s teachings are priceless, and I
will value his lessons for a long time to come.

18


Conclusion
“Wherever in the Church, even in the most difficult and exposed fields, in the
crossroads of ideologies, in the social trenches, there has been or is confrontation
between the burning exigencies of humanity and the perennial message of the
Gospel, there have been and are the Jesuits.”
-Pope Paul VI

While at SCU, Fr. Olalekar impressed us with his generous sharing of self, gracious
facilitation of workshops and lectures that were mindful of different disciplinary
frameworks, and co-celebration of various Masses and liturgies. All were impressed by
his ability to connect disparate communities that others might find difficult to reach in
meaningful ways. One could also say he works with communities of people that many
find easy to ignore. That the arts might be the medium in which this dialogue and
interaction takes root is no surprise to the affiliates of the Justice and the Arts Initiative
at Santa Clara University.

This report is written from the standpoint of how visionary the work that we witnessed
during Fr. Olalekar’s residency at Santa Clara University could be for the creative spirit
of the Catholic Church and for Catholic and Jesuit institutions globally in the 21st
century. If further research could be conducted in order to shed more light on the
benefits of Fr. Olalekar’s approach to making ministry more expansive, inclusive and
welcoming through workshops in embodied spirituality developed out of processes like
InterPlay, then his work might eventually be iterated in thoughtful and meaningful ways
within the context of the Catholic church’s many pastoral concerns. In the case of Fr.
Olalekar’s specific ministry which has inspired so many strong collaborations and relies
on the entirety of the human spirit to accomplish, we see no limits to the benefits it
might have for people of any faith commitment, socio-economic background, ability level
or caste.

Pope Benedict XVI, in his address to the delegates at the thirty-fifth general congregation
of the Society of Jesus, stresses the pressing issues of diversity, globalization,
marginalization, and all of the changes that “call us to the frontiers of culture and of
religion.” [n. 2] The delegates responded to the Pope’s address by confirming the need to
strengthen and support those Jesuits and collaborators actively involved in the fourfold
dialogue recommended by the Church, to listen carefully to all, and to build bridges
linking individuals and communities of good will. (GC 35, D. 3, 22) It is hoped that this
report helps initiate the kind of dialogue envisaged by the general congregation; one that
supports the work of Jesuits who make the holiness of the poor and marginalized
apparent to all. Through the simple but profound actions of moving, thinking, feeling
and praying together as groups of diversely formed individuals, we rediscover something
in our connection to God, to the humanity in the other, and to our own propensity for
faith, hope and trust, and the imagination in its flourishing state, without which, no
social or spiritual gains can be made.

Kristin Kusanovich
Co-Director Justice & the Arts Initiative
Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Theatre & Dance
Santa Clara University
Dec. 31, 2011

19

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