Dear Friends
I am writing to share some important news.
Matt Weiner, Program Director of the Interfaith Center of New York has accepted the position of Associate Dean of Religious Life at Princeton University and will be leaving the Interfaith Center at the end of August. It is an extraordinary tribute to his more than a decade of work at The Interfaith Center of New York and to the innovative approach he has developed here, that Matt was selected out of a candidate pool of 250 applicants. Princeton is very eager to engage their students in the kind of programs Matt has helped develop at the Center and this is a very exciting prospect—both for him and for us moving forward.
NOTE: Matt has promised us he will be at this year’s 9/11 FLOATING LANTERN CEREMONY at Sundown on the 11th on Pier 40. If you haven’t had a chance to say good-bye and your congratulations to him before then, you can at that time! For more information on the ceremony, please see www.prepareny.com or https://interfaithcenter.org/archives/1062
Matt began working as an intern at the Interfaith Center of New York in 1997, the year of its inception. In the thirteen years that he has been on staff, he has more than anyone contributed to the evolving focus of the Interfaith Center on grassroots religious leaders working together with civic officials to address shared practical problems. Much of the core programming that ICNY has come to identify with its unique mission bears Matt’s signature. This includes the Courts Programs starting in 2005 and the Religious Diversity training for educators initiated that same year. He also helped start the religious diversity course for social workers in all the graduate social work programs in the city and has organized multiple interfaith press conferences and humanitarian interfaith services over the years. His numerous Op-Ed pieces, blogs, and help securing coverage in the New York Times and elsewhere have lifted our profile in the media as well.
Recently, Matt’s work has been in developing new and exciting initiatives like the Muslim-Roman Catholic Social Service Partnerships in the Bronx, Staten Island, and Manhattan. He has also contributed to the formation of ICNY and CONNECT’s Domestic Violence training for religious leaders around the city. More than anything, he has helped create one of the strongest program staffs within any interfaith organization in New York and, I might venture, the country.
On a personal note, I want to say how much I will miss having Matt as my colleague. Besides providing vital historical perspective on the workings of the ICNY when I first began in 2007, Matt has been an extraordinary and inspiring person to work with and will be hugely missed by all of us here at the Interfaith Center of New York. We look forward to Matt’s remaining involved with the Center as an advisor and to future collaboration with him at Princeton.
I know you all join me in expressing profound gratitude to Matt for all he has done for the Interfaith Center of New York, and wishing him the very best in his new chapter at Princeton University .
Sincerely,
The Rev. Chloe Breyer
Executive Director