HSU Religious Studies Department honors Fr Eric Freed with a Commemoration at the Plaza Grill celebrating the positive impact Fr. Eric still has in our lives

Last New Year's Day began with a tragedy and a personal loss in my life that words cannot express but out of that devastating loss, Fr. Eric is bringing people together now just as he did through his priesthood, teaching and friendship. I got to meet several people that have become friends and/or family. Fr. Eric's family, his colleagues at HSU. Sara Hart mentioned this idea to me when we gathered this New year's Eve to remember Fr. Eric at St. Bernard's Church.

Sara explained how this idea came about. I am sharing part of her email and a press release and hope to see many of you next Sunday.

Sara's email:

"Our intent here is to cultivate community. We spent a lot of last spring semester working on memorial programs to honor Fr Eric, and, while the circumstances were inconceivably horrible and the events emotionally difficult, one thing that was true about last spring is that we came together, as a community, more often than we had in a long time.

So, thinking about this, we decided as a department that if we're to take seriously the legacy of a beloved colleague and friend, we need to take that sense of community past the need to grieve and into our regular lives. We'd like to make a habit of it, and we are calling this event an "Eric Freed Commemoration," to honor the man whose life and memory has actually motivated us to host, but we're also thinking of it as an "HSU Alumni and Friends Social," to really underline the celebratory nature of the event."


Press Release:

On Sunday, March 1, from 2:00-5:00 p.m., Humboldt State University’s Religious Studies Department will host a celebrative commemoration of the life and legacy of Father Eric Freed at the Plaza Grill, at 780 7th Street in Arcata.

It has been a year since the tragic death of Father Eric Freed, and the HSU Religious Studies department has worked during this time to render this unfathomable loss into something positive for our students and community. Eric left us with a strong awareness of how important community is to our individual and collective well-being. It is in this spirit that we cordially invite alumni, friends, and the greater community to an afternoon in celebration of Eric's life and the ways that we can, and do, work together to foster peace and justice.

Father Freed taught courses for the HSU Religious Studies department for seven years, during which time he influenced countless students as they practiced engaged scholarship, learned deeply of the religious traditions of the world, and applied what they learned to projects, large and small, for human betterment. His positive impact continues to reverberate through our classrooms, congregations, community centers, and through myriad individual hearts and minds.

Students, alumni, friends of Eric, and the community at large are invited to celebrate his legacy of engaged scholarship, social justice, and human kindness through sharing reflections, food, and fellowship. Appetizers will be served alongside a no-host bar.

For more information please contact Sara Hart (sjh68@humboldt.edu) or call the Religious Studies Department: 707- 826- 4126.