Faith in the Public Square

The Season of Creation starts September 1, the Day of Prayer for Creation , and ends October 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology beloved by many Christian denominations. It is a time for the world’s 2.2 billion Christians to come together to care for our common home. Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I proclaimed September 1 as a day of prayer for creation for the Orthodox in 1989. Pope Francis made the Roman Catholic Church’s warm welcoming of the season official in 2015. The World Council of Churches was instrumental in making the special time a season, extending the celebration from September 1 until October 4.   This year’s theme is "Let Justice and Peace Flow." According to the organizers of this year’s event, “The prophet Amos cries out, ‘But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!’ (Amos 5: 24), and so we are called to join the river of justice and peace, to embrace climate and ecological justice, and to

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in partnership with the DHS Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Federal Emergency Management Agency and interagency partners, is offering a free webinar for the faith-based community to learn about  Six Steps to Enhance Security Against Targeted Violence (cisa.gov)  and much more.   The session will be on Tuesday, Aug 29 from 3 – 4:30 p.m. You can register here . After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.   Resources to protect places worship are available here .   For questions or additional information, contact:  partnerships@fema.dhs.gov . 

The 14 th  Annual Interfaith Panel Discussion sponsored by the Greenville Area Interfaith Council will explore the question “Can we control our own destiny?” on Sunday, August 27, from 4-5:30 p.m. at the Greenville Public Library, 11177 SR Route 32. Panelists are:    - Wayne Marquit, President, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Greenville Center;    - Imam Djafer Sebkhaoui, Muslim Community of Troy and Latham;    - Deacon Peter Sedlmeir, The Church of St. Clare Roman Catholic Church in Colonie;    - Lama Zopa Tarchin, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Monastery, Woodstock; and    - Rabbi Zoe B. Zak, Temple Israel of Catskill, Catskill.   A Zoom link will be available. Send an email to  petesed469@gmail.com . Please type your email address in the body of the email. On the “Subject” line, write Panel Discussion.

To mark the   sixtieth anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom , the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University is offering an on-line dialogue titled   Keeping the Dream Alive   on Monday, August 28 from  6 – 7 p.m. Although best remembered for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, the march was organized by leaders in the areas of civil rights, religion, and labor leaders to call for an end to segregation and racial discrimination, as well as advocating for fair wages and economic justice, voting rights, education, and long-overdue civil rights protections. John Carr, founder of the Initiative and former director of justice and peace efforts for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops , will moderate the discussion. Speakers include: Sr. Anita Baird, DHM is the founding director of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for Racial Justice and a past president of the National Black Sisters' Conference.

Earlier today, an international group of financial experts sent a letter to members of the New York State Legislature to support passage of the New York Taxpayer and International Debt Crises Protection Act (S4747, A2970), which we discussed in our last post .   They note:   As home to the world’s principal financial center, New York holds a unique role and responsibility in alleviating this crisis of unsustainable and unpayable debt. About half of all low- and middle- income countries’ public debt that is owed to private creditors is governed by New York laws, because of the depth of its financial market, the strength of its rule of law, and its rich jurisprudence.   But right now, New York’s laws do not prevent private creditors from free-riding on taxpayer-funded debt relief efforts to alleviate the desperate situation.   New York’s legislature can provide a critical missing piece in the international financial architecture by mandating that private creditors participate in debt rel

On Tuesday, May 2, representatives of various faiths will join charities and labor organizations for a rally at the Capitol in support of  a single bill that promises to address climate change, inflation, high food costs, and the reality that developing countries need debt relief as quickly as possible.  Sponsored by Assemblymenber Patricia Fahy, the New York Taxpayer and International Debt Crises Protection Act (S4747, A2970) is intended to “ promote effective and orderly sovereign debt restructuring for countries suffering from the pandemic, health, and economic crises, achieve equitable burden-sharing between public and private creditors, address economic and supply chain shocks, prevent financial system disruption, and protect NY taxpayers.”   The organization Debt Justice explains the climate change connection this way:   The economic shock of the pandemic has plunged many lower income countries further into a debt crisis that has been building for the last decade. Many of the sa