The Dalai Lama will come to St. Thomas for a private religious ceremony Saturday, May 7.

The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. He will be on campus for an invitation-only religious ceremony for members of the Tibetan community, said Doug Hennes, vice president for university and government relations.

“They contacted us to see if they could lease some space for their event,” Hennes said. “We worked out an arrangement with them, and they’ll be using the field house Saturday for a religious ceremony.”

The Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex will be closed from midnight Friday until 6 p.m. Saturday to accommodate the Dalai Lama and the rest of the group, Hennes said. The field house will reopen Sunday morning because ROTC has to use it for an event Saturday night, he said.

Hennes said St. Thomas is not participating in the event but is helping with logistics and setting up. It’s similar to how St. Thomas rents the chapel for weddings but is not involved with the ceremony itself, Hennes said.

“They’re not touring the campus,” he said. “They’ll come in and be in the field house for a good chunk of the day.”

The Dalai Lama is visiting the University of Minnesota Sunday, May 8. The visit is part of the “One Heart, One Mind, One Universe” trip sponsored by the Center for Spirituality and Healing at the U of M and the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota. It is the Dalai Lama’s first trip to Minnesota since 2001, according to the U of M’s website.

Katie Broadwell can be reached at klbroadwell@stthomas.edu.