The Brooklyn Heights Interfaith Clergy Association (BHICA) is composed of neighborhood imams, ministers, pastors, priests and rabbis who have gathered once a month for decades to represent thousands of faithful neighbors at the table. As a multi-faith group we affirm that every person is made in the divine image and possesses inherent dignity and worth. The recent death of George Floyd as a result of police brutality manifests the evils of white supremacy and systemic racism. We condemn these and all forms of racial violence.

White supremacy mars the image of God that is reflected in all of us and corrupts God’s intention for society. Systemic racism is insidious: it permeates our public, private and spiritual lives in ways we often fail to comprehend or acknowledge. As people of faith we join others of good will in striving to dismantle systemic racism. We affirm that black lives matter and stand in solidarity with all those who suffer from the scourge of racism. We lament our complicity in racist systems and commit to personal and corporate self examination.

In the spirit of respect and love we commit to the sacred struggle for racial and social justice as we celebrate the possibility of transcendent change.

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Nancy Black, Brooklyn Monthly Meeting

The Reverend Michael J. Callaghan, c.o., Oratory Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Reverend Erica Cooper, Plymouth Church

The Reverend Canon John Denaro, St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church and Pro-Cathedral

The Reverend Mark Genszler, Christ Church Cobble Hill 

Pastor Klaus Dieter Gress, Zion German Evangelical Lutheran Church

Dr. Ahmad Jaber, Dawood Masjid

Rabbi Molly G. Kane, Brooklyn Heights Synagogue

The Reverend Alan Christopher Lee, Grace Church 

Rabbi Hanniel Levenson, Congregation Mount Sinai

Rabbi Serge Lippe, Brooklyn Heights Synagogue 

The Reverend Erika K. Meyer, Grace Church

Pastor Clint Padgitt, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Cantor Ayelet Porzecanski, Brooklyn Heights Synagogue

The Reverend Dr. Allen F. Robinson, Grace Church

The Reverend Katherine Salisbury, St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church and Pro-Cathedral

Pastor Julie Sløk, The Danish Seamen’s Church in New York 

The Reverend Marie A. Tatro, The Episcopal Diocese of Long Island

The Reverend Adriene Thorne, First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn

The Reverend Dr. Craig D. Townsend, St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church and Pro-Cathedral

The Reverend Dr. Brett Younger, Plymouth Church