EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
RICK HATHAWAY
RKH@CCFIU.ORG

Rick joined CCIU in late 2024. Prior to that time, he served as a Vice President for Habitat for Humanity International,

responsible for the overall success of Habitat’s affordable housing activities in dozens of countries throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Over a 35-year career in community development he has supported volunteer programming, fund raising, and leadership development across 50 countries globally collaborating across faith boundaries in carrying out this work. During this period Rick and family lived in New Zealand, Korea, Philippines, Thailand, and Slovakia.

Rick has served on the board of directors for various non-profit organizations in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe, and North America and has served as a leadership consultant for many others.

Rick holds has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, an M.S. in Urban and Environmental Management from Australia’s RMIT University in Melbourne, and M.B.A from Eastern University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a Doctor of Education from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts in 2024. Rick and his wife Wan Sook

currently live in East Hampton, Connecticut and have two children Christine and Justin.

Executive Director & Board

Board Members & Officers

(CCIU’s Board members represent nine religions)

Board Co-Chairs:

Rev. Dr. Alvan N. Johnson, Jr.

Terry Robinson

Secretary:

Anne Alleva

Treasurer:

Greg Dupuis

Karen Patrice Anderson

Subbarao Bollepalli, MD

Dilraj Chawla

Harpal Chawla

Rev. Dr. Michael Dolan

Malou Dusyn

Jim Friedman

Lance Goldberg

Anwar Hossain

Tasneem Hussain

Faquir Jain, Ph.D.

Aida Mansoor

Tamkanat Mohiuddin

Rita Miller

Radha Radhakrishnan

Dolly Parikh

Piyush Shah

Janine Thomas

Our Mission

Our Guiding Principles

CCIU mission is to promote public awareness, understanding about and respect for Connecticut's religious pluralism through an array of programs and initiatives. CCIU's principal focus is on educating adults and children about the world's religions, the values they share in common, and their differences and how they have contributed to our respective world views and identities.

Our Guiding Principles

We believe it is vitally important for us to learn about all religions, to understand them and to respect the fact that, depending upon the circumstances and place of one's birth, family and culture, we have come naturally to accept and embrace different views and practices.

We believe each of the world's religions, as well as thoughtful a

We believe each of the world's religions, as well as thoughtful and caring non-believers, espouse peace, understanding, compassion, love, respect for human dignity and the well-being of humanity.

We believe it is critical that we engage with open minds and hearts in the process of learning about all religions so that we can advance respect, understanding, compassion, and inter-group peace. We believe that ignorance leads to stereotyping which is destructive to and inconsistent with these values.

We believe it is especially important to educate our children in primary and secondary schools by teaching about religion from a nonsectarian perspective so that they will understand the world's religions and respect those whose religious practices differ from their own.

We value the importance of dialogue - vs. debate - with people of all religions, believing it is as important to listen and understand as it is to speak and be understood..

Show Less

Our history

Our Guiding Principles

Our history

The Connecticut Committee for Interreligious Understanding (CCIU) was founded in 1994 to organize a program and worship service in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. The Committee continued to exist because the participants at that event enthusiastically endorsed the idea of ongoing dialogue and cooperation to prov

Encouraged by a second successful conference in 1997 and another in 1998, the Committee continued to speak out and to provide resources and speakers to religious communities, schools, and community organizations.

The Committee was renamed the Connecticut Council for Interreligious Understanding in 2003, when it was incorporated and received a 501(c)(3) designation from the IRS.

Since then, CCIU has continued to expand its program offerings, reaching increasing numbers of people throughout Connecticut through a variety of activities, programs, and events.

Today, our work is more important than ever. In the face of growing prejudice, especially Islamophobia and antisemitism, we continue to build a community that fosters interreligious understanding and acts against ignorance, fear, hatred and violence.

Show Less

EXAMPLES OF WHAT WE DO

For more than five years, we trained public high school Social Studies teachers in the Greater Hartford School Districts on integrating the teaching of religions in educational subjects. This effort was underwritten by the Hartford Foundation for Public giving.

While collaborating with the Wadsworth Athenium, we have an annual interreligious film festival showing a variety of films that explore our nine religions from different perspectives. Each one is followed by discussions led by expert commentators.

We have produced over 100 both "Honest Conversations with Our Muslim Neighbors" and "Love Your Neighbor, Know Your Neighbor" pan discussions over the length and breadth of our state. This gives people a chance to ask a range of questions from the simple to the difficult, in a safe and open environment.

Our "House of Worship" visits to local religious institutions of many faith communities gives us increased understanding and provide first-hand experiences of each other's worship practices.

We have participated in seminars and lectures with the Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, formerly known as the Hartford Seminary.

We provide speakers to local schools, libraries, and faith organizations to provide insights from individuals of different religions.

In 2017 and 2018 CCIU conducted "An Interreligious Call to Love Thy Neighbor and Act for all Americans" events in partnership with the Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Archdiocese of Hartford at the Cathedral of St. Joseph, Hartford. These were "Come One and Come All Events", with a total of 1,500+ attendees for these two events.

We host events such as World Religion Day and Race Amity Day which bring together diverse peoples to celebrate Connecticut's racial, cultural and religious pluralism.