Chicago's blend of religious and ethnic diversity, creative ministry initiatives and faith-based service organizations is vibrant and unique. The city provides a superior environment in which to learn the theory and skills of ministry, whether in the classroom or in the community.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago (www.archchicago.org), currently under the leadership of Cardinal Francis George, OMI, was established in 1843 and made an Archdiocese in 1880. It has been the center of Catholic innovation and creativity for more than a century, comprising 1,400 square miles in Cook and Lake Counties, with a Catholic population of almost 2.5 million people (40% of the area's total population). There are 375 parishes, with diverse populations, including almost one million Latino/Hispanic people and about 100,000 each of African-American and Asian Catholics. The Archdiocese has the largest Catholic school system in the United States, with 242 elementary schools and 41 secondary schools. 800,000 people are served annually by the Archdiocese's Catholic Charities. Its 21 Catholic hospitals serve more than two million people annually.

The Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions (www.cpwr.org) is headquartered in Chicago at 70 E. Lake Street, Suite 205, Chicago, IL 60601. CPWR started in 1988 when two monks from the Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Chicago suggested organizing a centennial celebration of the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago in conjunction with the Columbian Exposition. The 1893 Parliament marked the first formal gathering of representatives of Eastern and Western spiritual traditions. Today, it is recognized as the occasion of the birth of formal interreligious dialogue worldwide. In 1993, the Parliament of the World's Religions was convened in Chicago, with 8,000 people from all over the world coming together to celebrate diversity and harmony, and to explore religious and spiritual responses to the critical issues which confront us all. Here in Chicago, the Council seeks to nurture and broaden interreligious dialogue through a wide variety of programs and activities that bring together people from diverse religious traditions.

The Gamaliel Foundation (www.gamaliel.org), a powerful national network of grassroots, interracial, multi-issue organizations working together to create a more just and democratic society, is located at 203 N. Wabash Avenue, Suite 808, Chicago, IL 60601; phone: 312-357-2639.

The Industrial Areas Foundation (www.industrialareasfoundation.org), builds a political base within society's rich and complex third sector of voluntary institutions that includes religious congregations, labor locals, homeowner groups, recovery groups, parents associations, settlement houses, immigrant societies, schools, seminaries, orders of men and women religious, and others. It is located at 220 West Kinzie Street, Chicago, IL 60610; phone: 312-245-9211.

Other faith-based non-profits committed to service and justice, include the 8th Day Center for Justice, Night Ministry, Interfaith House and many others.