Our Mission is “To guide, nurture and enhance spiritual and religious life within the Stanford University community.” Whoever you are, wherever you are on your journey, we are here for you!
What We Believe
• Welcoming and Inclusive: Fostering space where all feel welcomed, included, and represented.
• Care and Compassion: Nurturing communities that offer support, care, and guidance from a place of unconditional positive regard.
• Diversity and Equity: Ensuring our programs, events, and communities are both diverse and equitable, not simply in demographics but in systemic structures.
• Purposeful Living: Cultivating communities in which people can flourish and develop lives of meaning, purpose, and belonging.
• Student Centered: Giving primary focus and attention to student development, student needs, student gifts, and student interests.
• Collaborative: Working across campus to integrate the work of spiritual life into all aspects of University life.
ORSL Statement on the Bombing in Peshawar
The Office for Religious and Spiritual Life extends its condolences to the Muslim community on campus and around the world for the 64 lives lost in the mosque bombing in Peshawar. The limited coverage is especially painful in the continued marginalization of the Muslim community.
Talk with a Chaplain
Note - Summer 2022: Talk With A Chaplain ends Wednesday, June 8th. The program will resume on the first day of the fall quarter of 2022. If you need spiritual care please reach out to stanfordorsl@stanford.edu or an ORSL Associate Dean or Chaplain Affiliate using their contact information listed on our website.
Spiritual (Pastoral) care is a type of care and counseling provided by spiritual leaders. It involves nonjudgmental and compassionate listening that allows people to share their joys, concerns, and hopes in the context of their full humanity, and for many, their spirituality or philosophy. It has the goal of fostering a person’s spiritual and existential wellbeing, and, if desired, it can include spiritual guidance, scripture study, and prayer or meditation. It can provide an opportunity for confidential conversation in the context of a holistic network of support.
Resources for Our Communities
Student Affairs offers our communities support and we are continually seeking ways in which we can provide resources to those who may need it, whether on or off campus.