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JAN 11, 2020 - LGBTQ Working Group Retreat in Wantagh

12/29/2019

Dear friends and colleagues,

Our one-day retreat sponsored by the LGBTQ Working Group of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island is rapidly approaching! Please register at this link:

http://www.dioceseli.org/LGBTQRetreat

We will meet on January 11, 2020, from 10:00 AM to 3 PM, at St. Jude’s Church in Wantagh, located at 3606 Lufberry Ave, Wantagh, NY 11793. Lunch will be served.

For EDLI clergy: Please announce this retreat at your upcoming services. It will soon be appearing in your bulletin insert from our Communications Department.

Please note that this gathering is open to ALL: both clergy and laity, for LGBTQ as well as our straight allies, and people of all faiths.

The main purpose of the retreat is for us to discern our mission: what this ministry in our Diocese will/should/can be. We will explore our queer identities and our gifts and talents as queer Christians in the context of our faith, our denomination, and our Diocese in particular.

Further, we recognize there there is a great deal of “faith diversity” in our community: both within the Episcopal Church, and in the larger community of friends who are receiving this email invitation. Again, I want to stress that all are welcome, but also to let you know that our conversation — which will be facilitated by a queer Christian theologian — will be a process of discernment through our Christian lens. While we bring that lens to the table, we welcome non-Christians to join us if they feel comfortable doing so.

Our facilitator is the Reverend Elizabeth M. Edman. A brief bio is below.

Please remember to register at the link above so that we can have the space and the food prepared for you.

Happy Holidays to all of you, and a blessed beginning to the New Year!

Peace,
Marie+
Vicar for Community Justice Ministry
Episcopal Diocese of Long Island

***

The Reverend Elizabeth M. Edman is an Episcopal priest and political strategist who has been igniting people's understanding of Christianity and queer life for more than 25 years.

She has lived and worked on the front lines of some of the most salient contemporary issues where religion meets sexuality, serving as an inner city hospital chaplain to people with HIV/AIDS from 1989 to 1995. She helped to craft political and communications strategies for marriage equality efforts, and persevered for almost two decades to become an openly queer priest in the Episcopal Church.

Liz's writing has appeared in Salon.com, The Advocate, Bilerico/LGBTQ Nation, and Religion News Service. She is the author of Queer Virtue: What LGBTQ People Know about Life and Love and how it Can Revitalize Christianity. [Beacon Press, 2016]. http://www.queervirtue.com/

Liz lives in New York City with her two sons, and is canonically resident in the Diocese of Newark.

Court Rules Lawsuit Against Trump Administration’s Illegal ICE Policies Will Proceed

12/19/2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 19, 2019

Attorney General’s Press Office
212-416-8060 nyag.pressoffice@ag.ny.gov

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez released the following statements after Judge Jed Rakoff, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, today ruled that a lawsuit by the New York Attorney General’s Office and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office could move forward against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The lawsuit challenges the Trump Administration’s practice of making civil immigration arrests outside of state courthouses in a manner that interferes with the state’s administration of justice.

“Today’s ruling ensures we will get our day in court to make the case that ICE’s policies are nothing more than illegal maneuvers that harm our state’s ability to provide justice through the court system,” Attorney General James said. “Our state courts cannot function with ICE attempting to arrest parties, witnesses, and victims who rely on our courts for relief. While the president and his Administration continuously look for new ways to intimidate immigrants and punish New York’s sovereign status, we will continue fighting to ensure justice and public safety for all New Yorkers.”

Brooklyn District Attorney Gonzalez added, “I am grateful that the Court recognized the merits of this lawsuit and allowed it to proceed, finding that ICE’s incursions in and around our courthouses violate long-standing laws and practices. This policy has a chilling effect in immigrant communities and discourages cooperation with law enforcement — thus jeopardizing public safety. I look forward to continuing litigation of this case, so this misguided practice by the federal government is halted once and for all.”

In September, Attorney General James and DA Gonzalez filed a lawsuit against ICE, challenging the legality of arresting undocumented immigrants in or around state courthouses. President Trump and his Administration immediately filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit outright. But in his ruling today, denying the president’s motion, Judge Rakoff said, “Courts cannot be expected to function properly if third parties (not least the executive branch of the government) feel free to disrupt the proceedings and intimidate the parties and witnesses by staging arrests for unrelated civil violations in the courthouse, on court property, or while the witnesses or parties are in transit to or from their court proceedings.”

The lawsuit, which will now move forward, makes the case that ICE arrests in and around courthouses impede the administration of justice and adversely affect public safety. The suit seeks to halt a two-year pattern of civil immigration arrests by federal ICE agents in and around state courts — arrests that have caused a major disruption to state court operations. By targeting parties, witnesses, and victims for arrests, ICE has impeded criminal prosecutions and deterred noncitizens and immigrants from assisting in state and local law enforcement efforts or protecting their own rights in court. As a result, valid prosecutions have been abandoned, or never pursued, making communities less safe.

Additionally, a second lawsuit, filed by The Legal Aid Society and Clearly Gottlieb on the same day as Attorney General James and DA Gonzalez’s lawsuit, seeks a permanent injunction ordering the halt of ICE courthouse enforcement on behalf of an individual plaintiff — a noncitizen domestic violence survivor who needed to appear in court for an order of protection but feared the risk of an ICE arrest coming to a courthouse. Other plaintiffs include Make the Road New York, Urban Justice Center, Sanctuary for Families, The Door, and the New York Immigration Coalition.

# # #

Despite disappointing results of UN climate conference, The Episcopal Church is ‘still in’ for climate justice

12/17/2019

ENS Photo

News Article By Egan Millard

[Episcopal News Service] The United Nations Climate Change Conference known as COP 25 went into overtime, running two days later than scheduled, but ended on Dec. 16 without taking the actions scientists say are necessary to avoid a catastrophic future. The United States and other wealthy, high-emitting countries refused to implement carbon pricing or address the losses and damages that smaller, poorer states are suffering.

But while political leaders fell short of those goals, the delegation from The Episcopal Church and its interfaith allies showed the international community at COP 25 (the 25th Conference of the Parties) in Madrid, Spain, that the church remains committed to a swift and just transition away from fossil fuels and will continue pressing those in power to act.

“COP 25, meant by the [United Nations] to be a ‘COP of action,’ turned out to be a ‘COP of inaction,’ … in the sense of protracted disagreement on many of the major issues related to carbon markets and how to reduce carbon emissions authentically and honestly,” said Lynnaia Main, The Episcopal Church’s representative to the U.N.

The conference had been seen by many as the last chance to amend current insufficient emissions commitments to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, beyond which humanity runs the risk of inflicting “increasingly severe and expensive impacts” on itself, according to the U.N.

But with crucial action points in the implementation of the 2015 Paris accord delayed until next year’s COP, “the point of no return is no longer over the horizon,” U.N. Secretary General António Guterres warned as the conference drew to a close. “It is in sight and hurtling towards us.”

“This is the biggest disconnect between this process and what’s going on in the real world that I’ve seen,” Alden Meyer, the director of strategy and policy for the Union of Concerned Scientists who has been attending climate talks since 1991, told The Washington Post. “You have the science crystal [clear] on where we need to go. … It’s like we’re in a sealed vacuum chamber in here, and no one is perceiving what is happening out there — what the science says and what people are demanding.”

And what the science says is so dire it demands an urgent response, Main told Episcopal News Service.

“One stunning statistic I heard from [ex-U.N. Secretary General] Ban Ki-Moon’s former speechwriter on the subject was that the decisions we make over the next 30 years will determine the outcome for the next 10,000 years,” Main said.

Despite the political inaction, the delegation representing Presiding Bishop Michael Curry offered a unique perspective at the conference, grounded in The Episcopal Church’s commitment to social justice and creation care – a perspective that is increasingly valued at these summits.

“We heard time and again, from U.N. officials and from other faith-based partners, that increasingly there is a recognition that climate change is a symptom not just of what is happening to the physical world, but of overconsumption, selfishness and apathy,” Main said. “U.N. officials are increasingly recognizing that at least part of the solution lies with faith leaders who can mobilize their communities through the teachings and actions required to generate this change.”

The delegation made a powerful impression, Main said, through its activities during the two-week summit, which included partnering with other faith groups for discussions and prayer services, hosting a booth to educate attendees about the links between climate justice and faith and meeting with negotiators.

WITNESS AT TORNILLO screening, Sat., Jan. 4, 2020 at 3 pm at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity, Brooklyn Heights

12/11/2019

Dear friends and colleagues,

I know that most, if not all, of you have seen the reports over the past couple of years about the detention centers along the southern border that have been warehousing thousands of migrant children.

Please join us on Saturday, January 4th. See details below. The Q&A will be with Margaret Seiler, who I met years ago at Grace Church-Brooklyn Heights. Margaret’s dad was an Episcopal priest and taught her well about justice work in the faith community!

She has worked closely with the people in the film, and with many other immigrants’ rights groups. If you have any questions, you can reply to me, write to Margaret mcgseiler@gmail.com or write to dontseparatefamilies@gmail.com.

For those of you on Long Island, you can take the LIRR to either Penn Station or Atlantic Terminal, and easily catch a subway to downtown Brooklyn. If you want to drive, parking is a little tough, but there are metered spots as well as parking garages in the neighborhood. Please publicize this event in your houses of worship and throughout your communities!

Peace,
Marie+
The Rev. Marie A. Tatro
Vicar for Community Justice Ministry

_______________________________________________
Witness at Tornillo
2019 (NR), 62 min.
Carbon Trace Productions

Witness at Tornillo is about the act of individual protest by “witnessing” the cruelty of family separation and the imprisoning of migrant children. The film traces Brooklynite Josh Rubin's unlikely quest in 2018 to force the shut down of the infamous Tornillo, Texas “tent city” detention center, followed with the for-profit child prison in Homestead, Florida in 2019. Both facilities no longer hold children.

"Josh Rubin has earned a place in the immigration debate in this country. His relentless documentation of the detained migrant children will be an essential part of immigration reform and the need to establish a set of laws governing separated migrant children detained in facilities all across the US."--Judge Kathleen H. Olivares, retired Texas district court judge

Q&A after the film with Margaret Seiler, local activist who works with Rubin and others in the Brooklyn group Don't Separate Families.

For more information, write to:
dontseparatefamilies@gmail.com

Don't Separate Families is a working group in Brooklyn, NY promoting humane immigration policies

"Long Island Divided" - racial discrimination in housing

12/11/2019

Newsday: Undercover investigation reveals evidence of unequal treatment by real estate agents
We sent white, black, Hispanic and Asian testers undercover to see if they would be treated equally by LI real estate agents. Many were not.
Pictured left to rigjht: Elaine Gross of ERASE Racism, and Newsday journalists Olivia Winslow and Keith Herbert.

Maggie breaks it down for the crowd, and reiterates the AG’s commitment to fight these discriminatory practices.

Dear friends and colleagues,

I attended a really interesting Town Hall in Melville last night, led by ERASE Racism. Included was a panel with the Newsday journalists who recently wrote this important article on the persistence of blatant racial discrimination in housing, which I’m sure some of you have seen.

Their project took about 3 years, and involved using “testers” and many other forms of investigation. It was incredibly thorough. As a representative of the NYS AG’s office, my beloved, Maggie, attended as well, and got up to say a few words.

This piece might be another helpful tool in discussing racial justice in the context of your ministries.

Marie+
The Rev. Marie A. Tatro
Vicar for Community Justice Ministry
Episcopal Diocese of Long Island

Here’s the link to “Long Island Divided:”
https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/real-estate-agents-investigation/

Witness & Protest - Jan. 12, 2020 - at Brownsville, TX / Matamoros, MX

12/11/2019

WHERE: Brownsville TX/Matamoros MX
WHEN: On January 12, 2020, we begin a sustained presence
WHY: Remain in Mexico (MPP)

“MPP (Migrant Protection Protocols) are a sham and just one component in the well oiled machine overtly trying to end asylum in this country.” --RAICES (Refugee & Immigrant Center for Education & Legal Services)

PLEASE JOIN US at the Texas-Mexico border beginning on January 12, 2020, to highlight the growing humanitarian crisis among refugees and asylum seekers, caused by US immigration policy.

Activists will gather in Brownsville TX to protest the Justice Dept’s "tent courts." We hope to support the ACLU in their efforts towards legal transparency and fairness.

Activists with passports may also cross the bridge into Matamoros MX to bear witness to the life-threatening living conditions of migrants who have been pushed back into Mexico.

Join us on the ground to bring broad public attention to "MPP," the Migrant Protection Protocols. MPP has forced children and families back into very dangerous conditions in Mexico. The protest will continue as long as citizens of conscience appear.

“Josh Rubin, a witness and organizer of the protest], exemplifies the kind of vision, courage and commitment that is needed to turn back the tide against the cruelties that are inherent in the immigration policies promoted by the Trump administration.” --Camilo Perez Bustillo, Hope Border Institute, TX, and Stanford University, CA

Fill out the Witness: MPP sign up sheet for travel info and coordination.

For more info, write to: witnessmpp@gmail.com

#EndMPP * Follow Witness: Tornillo
Target: MPP on Facebook * #EndMPP

Tuesday, December 10 - "Long Island Jobs with Justice" Annual Human Rights Day Interfaith Luncheon

12/5/2019

Good afternoon friends and colleagues,

A reminder:

If you can get to Wyandanch at Noon next Tuesday, Dec. 10th, "Long Island Jobs with Justice" will be hosting it’s annual Human Rights Luncheon. As many of you know, I serve on the AMOS Committee of LIJwJ, which coordinates their advocacy and organizing.

Our honorees this year are:

Lisa Votino, Community Organizer

Michele Caldera-Kopf, Senior Staff Attorney, Safe Passage

Our keynote address will be delivered by Valerie Wattenberg, attorney and consultant on international human rights and youth (juvenile) justice, who will speak about the social costs of criminalization based on her work and experiences in post-Soviet Russia and the US. Valerie is also an active member of All Saints, Park Slope, one of our parishes in Brooklyn.

The link to register and purchase a ticket is:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/human-rights-day-interfaith-luncheon-tickets-80231148525

Peace,

Marie

Each year in December, Long Island Jobs with Justice commemorates the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by honoring a champion of human rights right here on Long Island.

To learn more about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36CUlaqmFi4.

This year we will honor the remarkable work of those who fight for and stand with refugees, in honor of Mary Dewar, Board Member of Long Island Jobs with Justice, but also a visionary who has acted as a public health nurse and advocate for over 5 decades.

NASA: 2018 Was The Fourth Warmest Year in Continued Warming Trend

12/5/2019

Earth’s long-term warming trend can be seen in this visualization of NASA’s global temperature record, which shows how the planet’s temperatures are changing over time, compared to a baseline average from 1951 to 1980. The record is shown as a running five-year average. Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio/Kathryn Mersmann.

The impacts of long-term global warming are already being felt — in coastal flooding, heat waves, intense precipitation and ecosystem change

At UN climate conference, Episcopal delegation urges nations to act swiftly and justly

12/4/2019

By Egan Millard

[Episcopal News Service] As the impacts of the climate crisis become more dire with each passing year and the catastrophic future scientists predicted decades ago inches closer to reality, governments have still not taken the actions necessary to protect humanity. Instead of declining, emissions of greenhouse gases have been increasing. And while nations are being warned that the commitments they have already made – such as the Paris Accord – are not enough to ensure a livable future and must do more, the Trump administration has chosen to abandon that agreement.

It is a bleak backdrop for the United Nations Climate Conference, known as COP 25, being held Dec. 2-13 in Madrid, Spain. But a delegation of Episcopalians representing Presiding Bishop Michael Curry is bringing a Christian perspective to the summit, grounded in hope yet committed to substantive action. They are in Spain to share the church’s views on the sanctity of creation and humanity’s moral duty to care for it, as well as the dangers facing the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.

The delegation’s objective is “to build relationships – and to do lots of listening, praying, and meeting with global leaders because of our commitment to God’s justice and sustained vision for the earth,” said the Rev. Melanie Mullen, the church’s director of reconciliation, justice and creation care. “We are not alone as religious bodies in this forum – along with ecumenical partners, Episcopalians are expressing our commitment to living a public faith and witness in the world.”

COP 25, or the 25th Conference of the Parties, is critically important because it is seen by many as the last chance to amend the current insufficient emissions commitments to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The U.N. has established that benchmark as the recommended limit, beyond which humanity runs the risk of inflicting “increasingly severe and expensive impacts” on itself. Based on today’s commitments, emissions will be twice what they should be by 2030, missing the 1.5-degree target. Because so little action has been taken, emissions must now drop 7.6 percent every year between 2020 and 2030 in order to reach the target, which the U.N. says is “ambitious but still possible.”

“The overarching theme, which continues to remain uppermost on the agenda, is the need to ramp up ambition significantly, not only by member states but by all parties, including private sector, civil society and individuals,” Lynnaia Main, the church’s representative to the United Nations, told Episcopal News Service.

The presiding bishop has sent a delegation to each COP conference since COP 21 in 2015. This year, the delegation is headed by California Bishop Marc Andrus, an outspoken climate action advocate. Andrus suffered a stroke in October and is participating remotely from California. The team in Madrid consists of Main, Mullen and Jack Cobb, senior policy adviser in The Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations.

So far, the delegation has been busy forging new partnerships, Main told ENS, especially with ACT Alliance – a coalition of 156 churches and adjacent organizations working on humanitarian goals around the world.

“The Episcopal Church delegation has spent the past few days focusing on developing new partnerships and advocacy strategies with Anglican Alliance partners who are here – Archbishop Julio Murray and Dr. Elizabeth Perry – and for the first time has joined up with ACT Alliance’s ecumenical delegation which also includes the World Council of Churches and Lutheran World Federation. The Anglican Alliance also has been working with us on this partnership,” Main said by email.

“As a delegation, we are advocating for several priorities that link to our 2018 General Convention resolutions. Among these are accelerating ambition, increasing support for loss and damage, protecting human rights in addressing adaptation and mitigation and boosting financial resources and mechanisms. These priorities connect to our overarching goal of ensuring climate justice for the most vulnerable. After all, Jesus calls us most especially to care for the marginalized, and in U.N. terms there is a parallel principle at work: We speak of ‘leaving no one behind’ and ‘reaching the furthest behind first.’”

The delegation is not only urging political leaders to strengthen their policies. It is sharing the ways that The Episcopal Church has already acted to reduce its impact.

“We continue to be surprised and encouraged as national delegations at COP look to faith bodies as the place civil society nurtures hope and progress,” Mullen told ENS. “The Episcopal Church is already doing many kinds of important local climate work. For instance, the General Convention mandates funding creation care ministries are exactly what government negotiators mean when they talk about local-level ‘ambition’ and climate ‘mitigation efforts.’”

And joining forces with other faith organizations has strengthened the impact of The Episcopal Church’s efforts. On Dec. 2, the delegation and its ecumenical allies held a prayer service on the theme of "Praying For Climate Justice."

Partnerships like these, Mullen said, magnify the powerful message The Episcopal Church has to offer: that “a life-giving, liberating and loving vision for the world matters in addressing climate change.”

– Egan Millard is an assistant editor and reporter for the Episcopal News Service. He can be reached at emillard@episcopalchurch.org.

JAN 11, 2020 - LGBTQ Working Group Retreat in Wantagh

Court Rules Lawsuit Against Trump Administration’s Illegal ICE Policies Will Proceed

Despite disappointing results of UN climate conference, The Episcopal Church is ‘still in’ for climate justice

WITNESS AT TORNILLO screening, Sat., Jan. 4, 2020 at 3 pm at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity, Brooklyn Heights

"Long Island Divided" - racial discrimination in housing

Witness & Protest - Jan. 12, 2020 - at Brownsville, TX / Matamoros, MX

Tuesday, December 10 - "Long Island Jobs with Justice" Annual Human Rights Day Interfaith Luncheon

NASA: 2018 Was The Fourth Warmest Year in Continued Warming Trend

At UN climate conference, Episcopal delegation urges nations to act swiftly and justly

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