Dear Friends,
On Wednesday, August 5th, ICNY will be joining other organizations and houses of worship to honor the 70th Anniversary of the atomic bomb explosions over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The role of faith leaders and interfaith networks of peacemakers remains critical in fighting both interpersonal violence and violence on a mass scale. Thank you to ICNY Vice Chair TK Nakagaki for helping to organize this Interfaith Peace Gathering and for the New York Society for Ethical Culture for hosting. Click here for more info.
On other fronts, last Fall we learned from experts at ICNY’s Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer Retreat on “Harnessing Spirituality and Religion in End-of-Life Care” the importance of ensuring that human dignity is honored in end-of-life medical treatment. Diverse religious leaders often play a key role in providing spiritual care and they look forward to working with clinicians in helping ill persons and their families make informed care decisions.
To this end the Interfaith Center of New York applauds the Obama Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid for taking the necessary steps to establish funding codes that would reimburse physicians and other qualified health care professionals to conduct voluntary conversations with critically ill people and their families regarding their care goals and treatment preferences. For our full statement click here.
There is good news to share. ICNY is delighted to announce that in partnership with Union Theological Seminary we have once again been selected to hold a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute. In July 2016, Dr. Henry Goldschmidt will be leading a multi-week workshop for public, private and parochial school educators called “Religious Worlds of New York: Teaching the Everyday Life of American Religious Diversity.”
Video clips of last Spring’s 13th Annual James Parks Morton Interfaith Awards gala held on June 6 are available on ICNY’s YouTube channel. The evening, hosted by Dean Obeidallah, began with a “Promise for the Future” award being awarded by Vanity Fair editor Paul Goldberger to James Venturi, urban planner heading the ReThink NYC campaign. William F. Baker, President Emeritus of Educational Broadcasting Corporation, then presented the James Parks Morton Interfaith Award to Bob Abernethy of PBS/THIRTEEN’s Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. Towards the end of the evening, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. accepted his James Parks Morton Interfaith Award in a pre-recorded message. The musical entertainment was provided by Alive! 55+ and Kickin’, and closing blessings were offered by Rabbi Joe Potasnik and The Ven. William C. Parnell.
As a final note, September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows launched an ad campaign in Boston calling on neighbors to combat Islamophobia, hate language, and hate crimes. The ads ran on MBTA bus shelters in the Boston, Quincy, Chelsea and Everett area July 13 through July 27. You can view the ads on their Facebook page here.
And ICNY’s entire e-bulletin for August is available here.
Best Wishes,
Rev. Chloe Breyer
Executive Director
The Interfaith Center of New York
