Activities
June 26th, a Public Witness & Interfaith Service
MNYRCAT marked the U.N. International Day for the Survivors and Victims of Torture with a public witness at Union Square that was followed by a procession to the Friends Meeting House for our Interfaith Service of Prayer. At our public witness, we collected signatures on petitions calling for a Commission of Inquiry to ensure U.S.-sponsored torture never happens.
2.30 p.m. Public Witness at the Gandhi Statue at Union Square
3.30 – 4.30 p.m. Interfaith Service at the 15th Street Friends Meeting House (15 Rutherford Place, East 15th between 2nd & 3rd Ave.)
Click here for a flyer of the event. For more information on June 26th service, contact Rev. Mark C. Hallinan, S.J. at hallinan[at]nysj.org or 212-774-5500.
For ideas on what you or your group can do to support a Commission of Inquiry or mark Torture Awareness Month (June), click here for the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
Click here for reflections of a torture survivor on Torture: Is It Possible to Forgive?
Click here for excerpts of remarks by Sarah Sayeed, Interfaith Center of NY
Click here for a post on YouTube of the procession & service.
Click here for pics.
Prayer Service on the Anniversary of the Arrival of the First Detainees at Guantanamo
January 11th, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Community Church (40 East 35th Street)
Please join us for this event as we pray together that our new President will act swiftly to declare an end to U.S. involvement in torture.
If you, your congregation or group would like to endorse Declaration of Principles for an Executive Order Banning Torture, go to:
Click here for a flyer of the event. For more information on Jan. 11th service, contact Rev. Mark C. Hallinan, S.J. at hallinan[at]nysj.org or 212-774-5500.
MNYRCAT Interfaith Vigil on June 26th,
UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture
6 p.m.
Interfaith Press Conference at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (Dag Hammarskjold Plaza is at 47th and 1st Ave)
Denominational Leaders will Announce Their Denomination’s Opposition to Torture followed by a procession to:
7 p.m.
U.N. Chapel
Interfaith Prayer Service in Remembrance of the Victims & Survivors of Torture.
(U.N. Chapel is at 1st Ave and 44th St at the U.N. Church Center)
Leaders at press conference and service include:
• Nancy Black, Friends NY Quartlerly Meeting
• Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster, Rabbis for Human Rights NA
• Rev. David M. Bryce, UU Metropolitan District of NY
• Dr. Syed Z. Sayeed, Chaplain, Columbia University, NYC
• Rev. Michael Caine, UCC NY Conference
• George Horton, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York
• Rev. Bob Coleman, The Riverside Church
Click here to view pics from the service, courtesy of Rev. James Bridges.
On Mon, 7/7/08, Hallinan, Rev. Mark, S.J. wrote:
“We had a very successful Interfaith Service on June 26th, 2008 to mark the U.N. International Day in Remembrance of the Survivors and Victims of Torture. An important part of that service was the testimony of a Chilean Torture Survivor. That testimony is attached. It is a remarkable story of the depths of human depravity, but also of the resiliency of the human spirit.” Read the testimony of a Chilean Torture Survivor
MNYRCAT Anti-Torture Workshop
For Clergy and Religious Leaders
April 30, 6 to 9 PM
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
Featured Speakers
• Professor Baher Azmy, Seton Hall Law School, Attorney for former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Murat Kurnaz
• Gabor Rona, International Legal Director, Human Rights First
• Father Mark C. Hallinan, Social Ministries, Society of Jesus, N.Y. Province
Download talk by Father Hallinan (pdf format)
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Prayer Vigil To End Torture In Law and In Fact
Friday, January 11
To Commemorate The 6th Anniversary of boys and men being brought to Guantánamo Prison
Juma Interfaith Prayers 12:30pm, Vigil 1:00 to 2:00pm
Foley Square, NYC Pearl & Centre Streets
Juma led by Imam Talib Abdur Rashid
Statement by Dr. Andrew D. Saperstein, Associate Director, Reconciliation Program, Yale Center for Faith and Culture (will open as a .pdf document)
Speakers included:
• Rev. Donna Schaper, Judson Memorial Church, moderator
• Andrew Saperstein, Evangelicals for Human Rights
• Hassan El Menyawi, Visiting Professor at Davidson College, International Human Rights Law, speaking as a Torture Survivor
• Imam Talib, The Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem
• Sensei T.K. Nakagaki, New York Buddhist Temple
• Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Rabbis for Human Rights (NYC)
• Rev. Bob Coleman, The Riverside Church
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Spotlight on Torture, October & June 2007
Showings in New York City, October 21-28, 2007
“Ghosts of Abu Ghraib” is being shown at various locations.
Showings in New York City, June 2007
• The Church of the Holy Trinity, June 10th
• Muslim Consultative Network and Jews for Economic and Racial Justice, June 11th
• King of Glory, June 13th
• The Riverside Church, June 14th
• Congregation Ansche Chesed, June 14th
• Muslim Women’s Institute for Research and Development, June 15th
• Christ Church, Bronx, June 15th
• Muslim Bar Association of New York and Alwan for the Arts, June 18th
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International Day in Support of Victims and Survivors of Torture
June 26th, 2007
Action to Repeal the Military Commissions Act And End Torture Now!
Prayerful Reflection Detainee Suicides at Guantánamo Led by Father Dan Berrigan, S.J.
Interfaith Service
March to Senators Schumer and Clinton’s Office
Vigil & Press Conference in front of Senator Clinton’s Office
Short Video of Press Conference
Sponsored by Metro New York Religious Campaign Against Torture,
Witness Against Torture and St. Bartholomew’s Church
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Anti-torture Vigil at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, March 30, 2007
Speakers included Rev. J. L’Heureux, Executive Director of the Queens Federation of Churches. Click to read Rev. J. L’Heureux’s speech.
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International Day to Shut Down Guantánamo
Interfaith vigil at Foley Square, January 11, 2007
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Houses of Worship Pray for the Victims of Torture on International Human Rights Day, December 10th, 2006
• Ascension Episcopal Church
• Brooklyn Friends Meeting
• Chinese UMC
• Christ Episcopal Church
• Church of St. Aloysius
• Church of the Holy Trinity
• Columbia University Chapel, NYC
• First United Methodist Church of Jamaica
• Fordham University, Lincoln Center
• Grace Church, NYC
• Grace United Methodist Church
• Vanderveer Park UMC
• Hanson Place Central UMC
• John Wesley UMC
• Judson Memorial
• King of Glory, Bronx
• MANA (Muslim Alliance in North America, NYC
• Morningside Friends Meeting
• Park Avenue UMC
• Park Slope UMC
• St. Mary’s Manhattanville
• St. Nicholas-on-the-Hudson
• St. Paul & St. Andrew
• St. Paul’s, Spring Valley
• St. Vincent’s Ferrer
• The Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood
• The Riverside Church
Inspired by Bonnie’s banner project in Texas, houses of worship in New York City are taking turns displaying the banner pictured above. Below is a list of the faith houses are commemorating Human Rights Day by hanging hanging a banner proclaiming ”Honor God: Say No to Torture”
• St. Aloysius Church, Harlem
• Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood
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Torture Awareness from the Pulpit
Weekend, October 6-8,
With Lobby Day on October 11, 2006
October 8, 2006
‘Talking God’s Justice’: A Discussion on Torture
Sponsored by the Education Commission and the Global Justice and Peace Ministry of the Riverside Church
• Biblical Study led by Karyn Carlo, Systematic Theologian
Short presentations by
• Carol A. Prendergast, Belluvue’s Torture Survivors Program·
• Amanda Daloisio, member of Witness Against Torture, which following in the non-violent tradition of Dorothy Day, visited Guantanamo Bay in December 2005 as an act of mercy
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Panel Discussion: Torture: How to Stop It
Sept. 24, 2006
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Manhattanville
Speakers
• Prof. Rev. George Hunsinger, Princeton Theological Seminary & Founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture
• Jennifer Harbury, human rights lawyer, author of “Truth, Torture, And The American Way”; widow of Comandante Everardo, leader of Guatemalan resistance forces in the 80s who was assassinated by the Guatemalan military
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June 2006, Torture Awareness Month
Sunday, June 18th – Torture, and the Religious Response
1-3 p.m., Panel discussion at The Riverside Church
Moderated by:
• Rev. Chick Straut, Social Special Asst. for Mission and Social Justice Ministries, The Riverside Church
• Priti Patel, Human Rights First
• Mark Denbeaux, author of Profile of 517 Guantanamo Detainees
• Jeanne E. Herrick-Stare, National Religious Campaign Against
• Torture, American Friends Service Society
• Michael Feinberg, Rabbis for Human Rights
• Representative from Islamic Society of North America
June 25th – Shut Down Guantanamo and Stop Torture: Raise Awareness
6 p.m., Judson Memorial Assembly Room
Moderated by:
• Edget Betru, Organizer, Guantánamo Global Justice Initiative, Center for Constitutional Rights
• Sara Havens, attorney with Allen & Overy, represents fourteen Yemeni prisoners at Guantanamo
• George Hunsinger, Director, National Religious Network Against Torture
• Performance piece by Michael Cates and Pierce Woodward
• Matt Kennis, Amnesty International NA
June 26th – Shut Down Guantanamo and Stop Torture
Take Action – Procession to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations to call on Ambassador John Bolton to join the International Consensus Against Torture.