Shem Center for Interfaith Spirituality
Joseph Kilikevice, Director Emeritus
Steven G. Miller, Acting Director

Joseph Kilikevice O.P.
Director Emeritus
Shem Center for Interfaith Spirituality
Pope Leo XIV — His message comes from the heart.

Friends, here are some thoughtful words from the newly elected Pope Leo XIV.
Br. Joseph Kilikevice, OP
BREAKING: May 11, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Brothers, sisters…
I speak to you, especially to those who no longer believe, no longer hope, no longer pray, because they think God has left.
To those who are fed up with scandals, with misused power, with the silence of a Church that sometimes seems more like a palace than a home.
I, too, was angry with God. I, too, saw good people die, children suffer, grandparents cry without medicine. And yes… there were days when I prayed and only felt an echo.
But then I discovered something: God doesn't shout. God whispers. And sometimes He whispers from the mud, from pain, from a grandmother who feeds you without having anything.
I don't come to offer you perfect faith. I come to tell you that faith is a walk with stones, puddles, and unexpected hugs.
I'm not asking you to believe in everything. I'm asking you not to close the door. Give a chance to the God who waits for you without judgment.
I'm just a priest who saw God in the smile of a woman who lost her son... and yet she cooked for others.
That changed me.
So if you're broken, if you don't believe, if you're tired of the lies... come anyway. With your anger, your doubt, your dirty backpack. No one here will ask you for a VIP card.
Because this Church, as long as I breathe, will be a home for the homeless, and a rest for the weary.
God doesn't need soldiers. He needs brothers.
And you, yes, you... are one of them.
— Pope Leo XIV
From the Director Archive
Letter From Ukraine, February 20, 2024
As many of you know, I belong to an international religious order of men and women, vowed religious and laypeople whose mission is to provide for the spiritual needs of people in virtually all parts of the world. We call ourselves The Dominican Family working to bring the good news of God’s love for us to all peoples everywhere no matter their religious beliefs.
News of my Dominican family in Ukraine come to me by way of a Dominican friar who serves in a leadership position there.
Read MoreAnother Christmas Message, 2023
“Offer your dry, hypocritical, agnostic prayer to God, for God in his mercy accepts bad coin.”— Jalal al-Din Rumi In the midst of grief over thousands of deaths among both Jews and Palestinians, the children of Gaza are still capable of smiles after weeks of waiting while bargaining to exchange hostages for prisoners bring hope to…
Read MoreAdvent/Christmas, 2023
“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”― Dietrich Bonhoeffer A holiday message that ignores the injustice and pain of today’s world is difficult to put into words. The “good news” of the birth of Jesus, the one we call, “Savior,” is stifled by the…
Read MoreShem Center for Interfaith Spirituality
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Photo Credits: Emory Mead, Stephen B. Starr, Joseph Kilikevice
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