St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold, will host an interfaith panel discussion on immigration April 10 at 7:15 p.m. in the church at 61 Georgia Road.
Led by members of the Freehold Clergy Association, the discussion topic will be “Welcoming the Stranger,” addressing the imminent need for people of faith to respond to undocumented immigrants charitably.
“It’s something we wanted to make sure we addressed; we were trying to pick topics we hadn’t done before or in a while, and also things that were right in the forefront – major issues that really needed to be explored,” said Jen Schlameuss-Perry, St. Robert Bellarmine pastoral associate and member of the Freehold Clergy Association.
“Up to 25 percent of Freehold is undocumented. We wanted to make sure people understood the commonality in our traditions, recognizing the humanization of the people we talk about,” Schlameuss-Perry continued.
Panelists, all members of the FCA, will be Fatima Jaffari, educator at the Imam-a-Zamana Foundation, Freehold; Msgr. Sam Sirianni, rector of St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral; Rabbi Melinda Panken of Temple ShaariEmeth, Manalapan, and Rev. Jonathan Elsensohn of the First Baptist Church, Freehold.
“[We are] a strong witness to the community of our brother/sister relationship we have with other people of faith,” Schlameuss-Perry said. “[Those who attend] will see that we all stand united in our commitment to defending the sanctity of the person and of human rights. God loves and cares for all people, regardless of their circumstances, and that is provided through our care – we can work together through that.”
The cooperation between different faiths is key, Schlameuss-Perry said, and the faith leaders exude this in their interactions.
“We all have genuine affection for each other – we work well together and appreciate one another, and are really committed to the mission,” she emphasized. “We want to make sure people understand the commonality in our traditions regarding these particular topics.”