The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Clergy offering help for immigrants
CHESTER >> Over brownbag lunches, 18 area faith leaders offer mutual support monthly while forging friendships as part of the Valley Shore Clergy Association.
In a recently issued public statement, the group also affirmed personal values to support refugees, immigrants and asylumseekers. The letter was signed by a spectrum of area faith leaders, said the Rev. Jan Gregory-Charpentier, a spokesman for the association and pastor of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Essex.
Their message offered as a single voice against “bigotry, bullying and an atmosphere of intolerance, as part of what the church calls us to be,” said Rabbi Marci Bellows, of Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek in Chester. “It’s a great way to model — in an interfaith way — a way of doing and being in what we believe.”
As part of the New Haven Jewish Federation, Congregation Beth Shalom serves residents from more than 30 local communities.
“In our area, we are the only synagogue, so people come from all different streams (of Judaism),” said Bellows. “As reformed Jews, social justice (is) a big part of our focus, We have a voice we can use for good.”
In addition to support for immigrants and refugees, the clergy recently issued a public statement in support of water protectors of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota protesting construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
“It’s challenging sometimes to stand with the diverse views that people hold and continue to serve them in love, to keep dialog open, and to continue to understand each other,” said the Rev. Laura Fitzpatrick-Nager, pastor of First Church in East Haddam. “There’s a lot of anxiety and fear out there.”
All the congregations involved do share a clear sense of social justice, said Fitzpatrick-Nager. “Every tradition has a unique treasures they bring,” she added.
Speaking to, and standing up for, shared values without alienating other congregants who may “come at (issues) from a different perspective” can be tricky, said Gregory-Charpentier. “We walk this line to speak truth to power without alienating others.”
Gregory-Charpentier said there has never before been a time when “being clear about what we stand for has ever been more important.”
“We needed to more publicly-articulate the values that are the bedrock of our traditions,” said Gregory-Charpentier. “We feel like this executive order (on immigration), among other actions, are in opposition to the values.”
The clergy’s professed solidarity with immigrants and refugees represents individual views, and not the views of their respective congregations, the faith leaders said.
During the 19th century, the First Congregational Church of Westbrook “split up over slavery,” she said. Though both sides tried to negotiate a settlement, 13 people left the church to found a second congregation, said Gregory Charpentier In the church history published for the 250th anniversary 40 years ago, details revealed that in 1846, nine church members submitted a letter of dismission due to the split perspectives over slavery within the congregation. “Some owned slaves, some abhorred the practice,” said Gregory-Charpentier. .
Within 10 years, the members worked out their differences and parishioners were readmitted to the original church before the end of the Civil War, she said.
So, today, when society begins to talk about “refugees, and how we relate to strangers, even our enemies, we are talking about the dignity of human beings,” said Gregory-Charpentier. “Now, you are talking about faith.”
“There is real uncertainty of what is to come, real concern over how we are treating each other,” said the Rev. Joy Perkett, of First Baptist Church of Essex. “As a Baptist, I see there is a lot of work to do. I’ve never seen more people be more caring in the community, on any level before.”
The real challenge is to “keep the conversation around the values of our faith,” said Gregory-Charpentier. “Those values do have a directionality.”