A Guide to Transforming your Outlook Calendar into your Interfaith Calendar

Prof.SarahPessinEmilandEvaHechtChairinJudaicStudies

(aninterfaithrela:onship-buildingappointment)ProfessorofPhilosophy&JudaicStudies

UniversityofDenverSeptember2016

*Note:Youmightfinditeasiertopurchaseanappthatimportsholidaydatesdirectlyintoyourcalendar(check“holidays”inyourappreview)….Besuretheappworkswithyouropera:ngsystemandwithyourOutlookcalendar,andthatitgivesyoutheop:onofchoosingreligiousholidaysasopposedtohundredsofna:onalholidays

AStep-by-StepGuidetoTransformingyourDaily-UseOutlookWorkCalendarintoyourInterfaithCalendar*(i.e.:Pleasedon’tpretendyou’llregularlybecheckingaseparateinterfaithcalendar!)

Downloadableversionat:hWp://www.du.edu/ahss/cjs

Transformingyouractualonlineworkcalendarintoyourinterfaithcalendar…

Goal:Tointegrate8religious/culturalcalendarsintoyourregular,dailyOutlookcalendar.

Tobesure,thisisnotidealastherearemorethan8religions/cultures.Weare,however,star:ngwiththese8becausemakingastartisbeWerthandoingnothing,andthese8calendarsaretheeasiesttoaddtoOutlookbasedonOutlook’scurrent(2016)formatwhich1)  has5‘internal’religiouscalendars,and2)  requiresthatanyotheruploadedreligious/

culturalcalendarbeintheformatofan‘.ics’file;currently,Iwasonlyabletofind3addi:onalreligiouscalendarsin‘.ics’format.

Basedontheseparameters,andfullyawarethatthesitua:onisnotideal,wewillstartbyaddingthese8calendarstoyourdailyworkcalendar.

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Togetstarted,clickon‘AddCalendar’atthetopofthepage…

Next,clickon‘HolidayCalendar’inthepull-downmenu…

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A‘HolidayCalendars’listwillappearontheright-hand-sideofyourscreen.Thisincludesna:onalcalendarsfromaroundtheworld,aswellas5holidaycalendars;clickonthe5holidaycalendars(theyareinalphabe:calorder)

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A‘HolidayCalendars’listwillappearontheright-hand-sideofyourscreen.Thisincludesna:onalcalendarsfromaroundtheworld,aswellas5holidaycalendars;clickonthe5holidaycalendars(theyareinalphabe:calorder)

•Chris:anReligiousHolidays

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A‘HolidayCalendars’listwillappearontheright-hand-sideofyourscreen.Thisincludesna:onalcalendarsfromaroundtheworld,aswellas5holidaycalendars;clickonthe5holidaycalendars(theyareinalphabe:calorder)

•Chris:anReligiousHolidays•HolySee(Va:canCity)

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A‘HolidayCalendars’listwillappearontheright-hand-sideofyourscreen.Thisincludesna:onalcalendarsfromaroundtheworld,aswellas5holidaycalendars;clickonthe5holidaycalendars(theyareinalphabe:calorder)

•Chris:anReligiousHolidays•HolySee(Va:canCity)•Islamic(Shia)ReligiousHolidays•Islamic(Sunni)ReligiousHolidays•JewishReligiousHolidays

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Akeryouselectall5,hit“Save”atthetopofthebox.

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Wearenowdoneaddingthe5“built-in”Outlookreligiousholidaycalendarsintoyourcalendar.Theholidaysassociatedwithall5ofthesereligions/cultureswillnowautoma:callypopulateyourmaincalendar(ascanbeseenonthescreen-thedifferentdatesarecolor-codedtothedifferentreligiouscalendars…)

Wearenowreadytoimport3morereligiouscalendarsintoOutlook…

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GotoCalendarLabs.comandclicktotheiCalCalendar,ReligiousCalendarpage.Thedirectlinkis:www.calendarlabs.com/ical-calendar-holidays.phpAtthetopofthepage,thereareanumberofna:onalcalendarsforcountriesaroundtheglobe;thisisnotwhatwewillbeusing…

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Scrolldowntothelowerpartofthepagetofindthe6ReligiousHolidayCalendars…

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Becausewealready‘have’theChris:an,Islamic,andJewishcalendarsfromourearlierOutlookstep,let’sjustdownloadthefilesforBuddhistFesLvals,HinduFesLvals,andSikhFesLvals…ClickDownloadandthe.icsfilewillgotoyourdesktop.(DuringthedownloaditmightaskyouifyouwanttoaddthecalendartoyouriCalendarorothercomputercalendar;choose‘yes’or‘no’-forourpurposesitdoesn’tmaWerasthemaingoalistogetthefilesontoyourdesktoptouploadintoOultook).

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Nowthatthesethree.icsfilesareonyourdesktop,returntoOutlookandcreate3addi:onalcalendarsunder“Othercalendars”onthelek-hand-side.

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Clickonthe“+”sign,andtypeinaboxcalled‘Buddhist’(itwillgiveyouaboxtofillin);whendone,hitEnter.

Nowthatthesethree.icsfilesareonyourdesktop,returntoOutlookandcreate3addi:onalcalendarsunder“Othercalendars”onthelek-hand-side.

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Next,clickonthe“+”signagain,andtypeinaboxcalled‘Sikh’(itwillgiveyouaboxtofillin);whendone,hitEnter.

Nowthatthesethree.icsfilesareonyourdesktop,returntoOutlookandcreate3addi:onalcalendarsunder“Othercalendars”onthelek-hand-side.

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Next,clickonthe“+”signagain,andtypeinaboxcalled‘Hindu’(itwillgiveyouaboxtofillin);whendone,hitEnter.

Nowthatthesethree.icsfilesareonyourdesktop,returntoOutlookandcreate3addi:onalcalendarsunder“Othercalendars”onthelek-hand-side.

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Pulldownthe“AddCalendar”menuagain;this:mechoose“FromFile”…

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•  Anewwindowwillopencalled“ImportCalendar.”•  Nextto“choosean.icsfile”click“BROWSE”…

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•  Fromyourdesktop,choosethe‘Buddhist-Holidays.ics’file

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•  Next,fromthe‘Calendar’scrolldownmenu,select“Buddhist”.

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•  Then,hit‘SAVE.’•  TheBuddhistcalendarisnowpartofyourOutlook

calendar.

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ThenrepeatthesesamestepsfortheHinduandSikhfilesonyourdesktop,ineachcasechoosingan.icsfilefromyourdesktop(Sikh,thenHindu),andmatchingittothecalendar:tle(SikhthenHindu).

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CongratulaLons!YourOutlookcalendaristransformed!YourOutlookcalendarshouldnowbepopulated(automa:cally)withthereligiousholidaysfrom8religions/cultures.Yournextstepistofigureouthowtousethisinterfaithinforma:onwhenyouplaneventsandmee:ngs.Thinkaboutyourofficeflow,andcomeupwithadecisivewaytoensurethattheinterfaithcalendarisbeingconsultedBEFOREyoufinalizeyourupcomingeventormee:ng.Simplyhavingaccesstothesereligiousdatesdoesnotonitsownhelpunlessyouintegratethatdataintoyourworkflow![Oneideamightbetocreateaneventschedulingchecklistforeachevent,andtohavetherelevantofficememberaddtheirsignatureanddatetotheformoncethe‘interfaithcalendarcheck’stepiscompletedfortheeventinques:on;and:ifyourofficealreadyhasaneventcheck-list,pleaseconsideradding‘CheckInterfaithCalendar’tothecheck-list].

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Q:IsitpreferabletoavoidschedulingmyeventormeeLngonanyreligiousholiday?A:Notnecessarily.Pleaseconsidertwomainfactors:1)  Ifnooneinyourgroupcelebratescertainreligiousholidays,thenthere’slikelynoreasonnot

toscheduleyourmee:ngonthatreligiousholiday.2)  Keepinmindthatnotallreligiousholidayswouldpreventpeoplefromthatreligionfrom

aWendingamee:ngorevent.Forexample,inthecaseofJudaism,manyJews(includingobservantandnon-observantJews)wouldbeunabletoaWendamee:ngoreventsonthetwodaysofthe‘RoshHashanah’holiday,butnosimilarissuewouldcomeupfortheholidayofHanukkah.

But:HowwillIknowwhichholidayiswhich?...

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Howtoknowwhichholidayiswhich:VisittheDU“Religious&SpiritualLife”pageforalistofholidays;itlistsmoreholidaysthantheoneswehavesuccessfullyenteredintoyourOutlook,andthelistsincludedescrip:onsofwhetheraholidaydoesordoesnothavea“SpecialWorship”elementora“restricLon”ofsomesort.Iftheholidayhasa“specialworship”or“restric:on,”it’smorelikelytobethekindofholidaythatwillpreventatleastsomemembersofagivenreligious/culturalcommunityfromaWendingeventsormee:ngsonthedayinques:on.Butthat’snotalwaystrue,soapproacheachholidayonacasebycasebasis.

hWp://www.du.edu/studentlife/religiouslife/events-ac:vi:es/calendar.html

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Q:WhathappensifinspiteofallbesteffortsmyofficeneedstoscheduleameeLngoreventonthekindofreligiousholidaythatwilllikelyexcludemembersoftheDUcommunityfromaYending?A:Lifeisnotperfect,andschedulingisnoexcep:on.Workmindfullyandwithcaretotrytoavoidcaseslikethis(includinghavingarobustsetofbestprac:cesforcheckingtheinterfaithcalendarbeforefinalizingdatesforeventsandmee:ngs).However,ifcircumstancesleadyourofficetoneedingtoscheduleaneventonareligiousholidaythatwillexcludemembersoftheDUcommunityfromaWending,considerovertlymen:oningandacknowledgingtheless-than-idealsitua:oninyourmarke:ngfortheevent.Perhapssomelanguageofthefollowingsort:“WeapologizetothosewhomightbeunabletoaYendoureventdueto[nameofholiday];schedulingandotherfactorsledustoselectthisdate,andwehopetoavoidsimilaroutcomesinthefuture.Inclusivity—includingreligiousinclusivity—isavalueweworkhardtouphold.”Thereisnoidealwaytoaddresssitua:onslikethis,butacknowledgement+apologyisbeWerthanjustignoringthatyourofficeisresponsibleforcrea:ngareligiousholidayconflict.Addinglanguagelikethelanguageabovetoyourmarke:ngandwebsite(incaseswhereyoureventconflictswiththekindofreligiousholidaythatmightpreventmembersoftheDUcommunityfrompar:cipa:ng)atleasthelpsshowthatyourofficeis(a)inthehabitofconsul:nganinterfaithcalendar,(b)awarethattheeventdatemightexcludesomemembersoftheDUcommunity,and(c)apologe:cfortheoutcome.Thishelpsmakeforamoreinclusivecommunity,evenwhenwecan’thaveidealoutcomes. 26