On Dec. 2, 100 or so seventh- and eighth-graders gathered in the gym at Chatham’s Corpus Christi Church for two hours of hockey, soccer, Frisbee, volleyball, basketball, ping-pong, and every other sport they could think of.

It was, to crib a phrase from the children’s magazine Highlights, fun with a purpose: The event, which included children from the church and from Congregation Beth Hatikvah, was sponsored by the town’s Youth Interfaith Council, established with the aim to promote tolerance and understanding in a town that once had a reputation for lacking both.

The council was founded about 14 years ago as part of the Community Interfaith Council of the Chathams. Although the CIC has since dissolved, its youth offshoot continues through the efforts of both professionals and volunteers from each congregation.

The goal of the council is to “bring about an understanding of different faiths,” according to Mary Anne “Psomi” Psomas-Jackloski, a Corpus Christi member who has been helping to coordinate the series of monthly events at houses of worship throughout the historic Morris County town. “We want to start at a level of tolerance and come to a level of understanding.”

Added Cindy Wetter of Beth Hatikvah: “It’s not about blending religious traditions, but rather coming together from different congregations to do things together.”

There is no central address or governing body for the IYC. According to the Episcopal Church of St. Paul Web site, six of 13 local congregations participate. That Web site, however, describes it mainly as a social group: “The Youth Interfaith Council is a group of youth leaders and ministers from six local churches that meet once a month to plan joint youth group activities.” Most of the time, the event is a dance; the recent open gym night was a marked break from that.

Yet while the adults involved in the council agree on its goals, they don’t always agree on its methods, especially whether social events are the best way to promote interfaith understanding among children.

The council dances occur at a time when Jewish professionals around the country are wringing their hands about issues of intermarriage and are encouraging rabbis and Jewish leaders to create opportunities for teens to socialize with other Jewish teens and help solidify their Jewish identities.

Rabbi Amy Small of Beth Hatikvah supports the council as an effort at mutual understanding. Like many in the town, she recalls the 1992 incident when members of the Chatham High School Pep Club hung a banner full of anti-Semitic slurs before a soccer match against Millburn High School. That incident, which happened shortly before the formation of Beth Hatikvah, led the congregation, at least in part, to its decision to locate in the town and establish a Jewish presence there.

“Given the anti-Semitic incident that happened in the high school, the place kids can really learn tolerance is through participating in the religious community,” said Small. “YIC was started with that purpose.

“We had the feeling that if we did not sit with each other and learn to do things together, we would not fix the situation.”

Small also praised the council for moving the dances from Friday nights, when they were originally scheduled, to Saturday nights, in order to accommodate the youth from Beth Hatikvah.

And yet, she acknowledged, she would prefer programs that focus more on dialogue and social action programming and less on social events.

“It’s my hope, although as yet not fully realized, that the goal would be to have the primary focus on mutual understanding and the shared goal of social action,” said Small.

She added, “There are better ways to foster diversity” than through dances, but, she pointed out, “we don’t always get to make the choices.”

Small’s discomfort was apparent as she pointed out that the synagogue cosponsors events only every couple of years.

“We do discourage people from participating” in the dances, and, she added, Beth Hatikvah does not generally promote the dances. The congregation did agree to cosponsor the sports event, and it was advertised in the synagogue bulletin.

Still, those chaperoning the event focused on the interfaith understanding goal and said the town has made great strides in the years since the incident. Wetter, who moved to Chatham three years ago, said she is not concerned by the social nature of the programs. “The kids go to school together, and it’s nice for them to have a social outlet,” she said.