Collegeville Institute

Bearings Online

  • Home
  • About
  • Events
  • Podcasts
  • News
  • Giving
  • Comprehensive Campaign

Title of the document Make A Gift Now

Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Bearings Online
  • Calling Initiatives
  • Fellows Program
  • Giving
  • News
  • Podcasts
  • Comprehensive Campaign
  • Residency Programs
      • Scholars, clergy, church leaders, thinkers, artists, and writers who are seeking to discern and communicate the meaning of Christian identity and unity in a religiously and culturally diverse world are invited to apply for our residency programs.
      • Get Practical Information »
      • Apply for a Fellowship »
      • View 2024-25 Scholars »
      • Resident Scholars Program

        for those looking to stay a semester or a full academic year

      • Program Details
      • Work and Scholarship
      • Housing and Facilities
      • Application Process
      • Former Resident Scholars
      • Short term Residencies

        for those looking to stay for a shorter period of time

      • Program Details
      • Living and Working
      • Application Process
      • Former Short Term Scholars
      • Learn More »
    • Close
  • Writing Programs
      • Each year, the Collegeville Institute opens its doors to writers of faith for intensive writing workshops. In addition, the Collegeville Institute partners with other institutes, seminaries, or churches to coordinate regional off-site workshops.
      • Apply Now »
      • 2025 Workshops

      • Pop-Up Writers Workshops
        • Pop-Up Writing Workshop, March 22, 2025 (Colorado Springs, CO)
        • Pop-Up Writing Workshop, March 29, 2025 (Birmingham-Vestavia Hills, AL)
        • Pop-Up Writing Workshop, April 5, 2025 (Asheville, NC)
      • Flesh and Blood: Crafting a Communal Constructive Theological Anthropology, May 27-30, 2025
      • Apart, and Yet A Part, June 9-18, 2025
      • A Sparked Imagination, June 23-27, 2025
      • Deep and Wide: Longform Prose Revision, July 9-18, 2025
      • The Release:  How Writing in an Economy of Gifts Liberates Writers, September 29, 2025
      • Fifty Pairs of Eyes: Creating Characters in Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry, October 27-November 1, 2025
      • Waiting for Words: An Advent Writing Workshop with Lauren Winner – 2025, December 2-6, 2025
      • 2026 Workshops

      • Writing in the Wilderness: reflecting on the immigration stories that have shaped our lives, led by Isaac Villegas, March 2-7, 2026
      • Reading and Writing with Joan Didion (a workshop with Alissa Wilkinson), March 16-22, 2026
      • Writing in the Wilderness: reflecting on the immigration stories that have shaped our lives, led by Isaac Villegas, May 15-19, 2026
    • Close
  • Calling Initiatives
      • The Communities of Calling Initiative invites congregations into a 5-year project on vocation.
        The Called to Lives of Meaning and Purpose Initiative, coordinated by the Collegeville Institute, funds 13 innovation hubs from across North America.
      • Calling Initiatives Overview »
      • Research Seminars on Vocation »
    • Resources on Vocation:

      • BridgeIntroducing Calling & Discernment – language of calling, models of discernment, and calling across the lifespan
      • gabriel-brito-80atz53Th9o-unsplash-2Prayer & Worship – prayers, hymns, sermons, spiritual practices, and liturgical year resources
      • Vis-Group-2Small Group Series – adult education and faith formation guides for congregational use
      • FrancoisVideos & Interviews – video storytelling projects on vocation from Christian and interfaith perspectives
    • Close
  • Fellows Program
    • Bringing together an ecumenical group of gifted Minnesota faith leaders, the Collegeville Institute Fellows Program focuses on leadership development with the goal of strengthening religious leaders’ sense of themselves as civic leaders.
    • Fellows Program Overview
    • Rural Minnesota Fellows Program
    • Multi-Religious Fellows Program
    • Close
  • Participant Publications
  • Search
You are here: Home / Podcasts / Religion and the Next Generation

Religion and the Next Generation

April 22, 2020 By Collegeville Institute Leave a Comment

In this episode, hear a Hindu-Christian dialog about faith formation in the next generation.

In these days when young people are leaving organized religion in droves, how do our faith communities form, educate, and empower youth? And how can we build healthy, multi-religious relationships when, let’s face it, they can be hard and uncomfortable?

Listen to an unlikely conversation between Pooja Bastodkar and Andrea Roske-Metcalfe as they discuss youth spiritual engagement in their respective Hindu and Christian communities. Pooja and Andrea are Twin Cities religious leaders in the Collegeville Institute’s Multi-Religious Fellows program who model friendship across religious boundaries in a society that makes it easy to stay in our own bubbles.

Topics discussed in this episode: ​ ​

  • The joys and headaches of crossing religious boundaries
  • How Pooja and Andrea are engaging young people in their communities
  • What they hope to pass on to youth from their religious traditions

Resources mentioned in this episode: ​

  • Find the Hindu Temple Society of Minnesota on Facebook or their website
  • The Pray-Ground at Grace Lutheran Church in Apple Valley, MN is a space for young children in the front of the sanctuary
  • Learn about the Hindu Temple Society of Minnesota’s religious education resources

Bios: ​ ​

Pooja Bastodkar serves as the Executive Committee President at the Hindu Society of Minnesota (HSMN). Her interests include engaging and maintaining the interest in Hinduism among second-generation Hindu Americans through religious education and social cultural events. Originally from Toronto, Canada, she holds a master’s degree in Kinesiology from the University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology from the University of Waterloo. She lives in the Twin Cities with her husband and two children.

Roske-MetcalfeAndrea Roske-Metcalfe recently accepted a call to the ELCA’s Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program in Nepal. Previously, Andrea served as the associate pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in Apple Valley, MN. She holds an MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in New York, where she worked as a community organizer for the Poverty Initiative. She’s passionate about writing, storytelling (she won the 2017 Twin Cities Moth GrandSLAM), and making soup (blended ones, especially). She currently lives in the Twin Cities with her husband and two children.

Ellie Roscher is a writer, theology teacher, and host of the Unlikely Conversations podcast. She is a board member at the Collegeville Institute and the author of 12 Tiny Things, Play Like a Girl, and How Coffee Saved My Life. Ellie holds an MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and an MA in Theology from Luther Seminary. She lives in Minneapolis with her spouse and sons. Find out more about Ellie on her website and follow her on social media at @ellieroscher [Twitter, Instagram, Facebook].

Matthew Ian Fleming edited the audio for this podcast. You can find Matthew on Instagram at @matthewianfleming and his other podcasts at www.alterguild.org.

Next Steps

  • Follow the work of the Collegeville Institute on social media at @collegevilleins [Twitter, Instagram, Facebook] and subscribe to our email newsletter
  • Use the following discussion questions with your small group for further conversation

Discussion Questions

  • If you grew up in a faith tradition, what were the important things that you internalized from your community?
  • What from your faith tradition do you hope to pass on to the next generation?
  • What will we miss out on if young people decide to find community elsewhere?
  • What shifts can you and your community make to truly see and treat young people as full, contributing members?
  • After listening to Pooja and Andrea, what are you curious to learn more about?

Like this post? Subscribe to have new posts sent to you by email the same day they are posted.

More from my site

  • Transmitting Tradition to ChildrenTransmitting Tradition to Children
  • Reid Locklin on Hindu MissionariesReid Locklin on Hindu Missionaries
  • Called as Youth and Young AdultsCalled as Youth and Young Adults
  • The Politics of Taking Religious OffenseThe Politics of Taking Religious Offense
  • Multi-Religious Fellows Program Kicks OffMulti-Religious Fellows Program Kicks Off

Filed Under: Podcasts Tagged: Andrea Roske-Metcalfe, Ellie Roscher, faith, Hindu, Hinduism, Multi-Religious Fellows, podcast, Pooja Bastodkar, unlikely conversation partners, Young adults, youth

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Collegeville Institute Tour

Check out our virtual 360-degree tour experience and see our beautiful campus with its many amenities!

CI 360 Tour

Unlikely Conversations

Unlikely Conversations is a podcast from the Collegeville Institute that features unique and dynamic interviews with writers, thinkers, scholars and artists affiliated with our programs. In its second season, each episode of the podcast centered on the subject of writing, faith, and justice with alumni guests from our writing workshops.

Subscribe to the Podcast

Subscribe to the Unlikely Conversations podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts, so you never miss an episode.

 

 

    

Latest News

Dr. Aizaiah Yong appointed as new Executive Director of Collegeville Institute 

April 14, 2025

Collegeville Institute welcomes Andrew McNeil as its new Director of Communications.

March 11, 2025

Meet a Resident Scholar

March 11, 2025

Subscribe

Sign up for our email newsletter today, and keep up to date with what's going on at the Collegeville Institute.

Sign Up Today

Get Involved

Give online

Check out our writing workshops and our residential programs.

Contact Us

2475 Ecumenical Drive
PO Box 8000
Collegeville, MN 56321

Phone: 320-363-3366
Email: staff@collegevilleinstitute.org

Map/Directions

Copyright © 2025 Collegeville Institute. Read our Privacy Policy.