January 2014 Interfaith Center of New York E-Announcements
Dear Friends,
Greetings and Happy New Year from the Interfaith Center of New York.
Last month we held the 29th Marshall Meyer Retreat, “Child Welfare and Foster Care,” held Dec. 4, 2013 in NYC. New York City Administration for Children’s Services Commissioner Ronald Richter presented the opening address, introduced by his colleague Benita Miller. Morning panels helped “Demystify” the ACS and informed us about ACS Community Partnerships. Def Dance Jam Workshop performed an excerpt from “Fostering Faith.” One afternoon panel examined how the Casey Faith Based Initiative connects ACS with faith communities. The final panel addressed the need for Cultural Responsiveness when dealing with families and children in crisis. Throughout the day, leaders from numerous religions offered insightful reflections on child welfare from the perspective of their faiths, among them Rabbi Wolf Weiser, Manmeet Kaur, Imam Samer Alraey, Anindita Chaterjee Bhaumik, Venerable T.K. Nakagaki and Rev. Dr. Emma Jordon Simpson.
As many attendees observed, the Marshall Meyer Retreats help meet the critical need to connect government services with people in need across New York City. Virtually all of the retreat was filmed and is available online.
In December, the Catholic-Muslim Partnership successfully completed joint service activities in Staten Island and the Bronx. In Staten Island, youth from the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center and Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish teamed up to cook for the Project Hospitality soup kitchen serving the homeless. We are happy to share two news articles that covered this event from the Staten Island Advance and Catholic New York. In the Highbridge section of the Bronx, Muslim and Catholic volunteers staffed a free Christmas day luncheon that was organized by Highbridge Community Life Center and supported by the Muslim Women’s Institute (see photos below). The lunch drew 200 community members, including seniors and neighborhood shelter residents and distributed free gloves, scarves, socks and ear muffs to each person who attended .
Here we list programs offered by The Interfaith Center of New York in December. We also list additional upcoming events that may be of interest to religious leaders in New York. A listing does not imply endorsement.
