From the Diocese of Newark:
On Sunday, March 17, Church of the Redeemer in Morristown hosted a vigil in the wake of the March 15 shooting at two mosques in New Zealand that killed 50 people and wounded dozens.
Flanked by Imam Saffet Catovic, Muslim chaplain at Drew University, and Rabbi Ellie Miller, President of the Morristown Clergy Council, the Rev. Cynthia L. Black, Redeemer’s Rector, told the gathering, “We stand outside today for a particular reason, and that is to say, ‘We are here. See, this is what love looks like.’”
During the vigil, Imam Catovic stood on Redeemer’s front steps facing Mecca and chanted the Muslim prayer for the dead.
Later, Black told the local news site Morristown Green, “We at Redeemer, sadly, have developed a kind of tradition and opened our doors at these times, so we did it again, except this time I was determined that we be outside so that the imam’s words bless the city of Morristown.”
Further coverage by Morristown Green
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
