Genesis Leaders Sign Historic Joint Sanctuary Support Statement

by Ken Wachsberger

In an historic joint act of civil disobedience that was proclaimed loudly in a public ceremony, leaders of the two congregations that make up Genesis of Ann Arbor, Temple Beth Emeth (TBE) and St. Clare of Assisi Episcopal Church, signed a shared document declaring their support for the growing sanctuary movement in this country. The event took place on Wednesday June 13, 2018, at the building that the two congregations occupy together on Packard Road in Ann Arbor.

Genesis of Ann Arbor is the corporation that was set up between the two congregations in 1976 to operate and maintain the building. The creation of Genesis became the first known instance in the country of two congregations of different faiths co-owning and -operating the same building. At the event, they officially signed the first joint declaration of support for the sanctuary movement.

The resolution reads as follows (read the full resolution here):

St. Clare’s Episcopal Congregation and Temple Beth Emeth, together with Genesis of Ann Arbor, resolve as follows:

 

• We proudly declare our affiliation with the Washtenaw Congregation Sanctuary movement.
• We commit ourselves to taking an active role in educating our members and the broader community about the needs of immigrants and refugees and the threats facing them, and to providing an ongoing forum for discussion of these issues.
• We pledge to provide support – financial, personal, and logistical – for congregations and other organizations that provide housing and other services for immigrants, including those facing the threat of deportation.

  

The signing was witnessed by over one hundred supporters from the two congregations and members of the greater Sanctuary community. The event was co-sponsored by Genesis and Washtenaw Congregational Sanctuary (WCS), the umbrella organization of sanctuary congregations and individuals in Washtenaw County.

 

Mary Anne Perrone, a member of the leadership team of Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights (WICIR) and co-founder and steering committee member of WCS, acted as emcee. In her opening remarks, she explained that WCS was organized in February 2017 to “raise consciousness, educate, and mobilize” and to “stand together to resist [the] unjust immigration policies and practices” that are currently being implemented by our government. She noted that, with the addition of TBE and St. Clare, twelve congregations in Washtenaw County have declared themselves in support of the sanctuary movement.

Rabbi Josh Whinston, TBE, opened the ceremony by affirming that “tonight is an act of civil disobedience. Tonight, we declare … that the law is unjust, the treatment is unjust, the dehumanizing and political pawning is unjust. Yes, tonight is an act of civil disobedience.” But, he cautioned, civil disobedience is only good when it is not just for personal gain. This evening was not about personal gain. In his opening prayer he offered “the knowledge to know in what type of civil disobedience we are engaged, to act for the good of the less powerful, to work for greater justice. May our actions communicate our values, and may we live up to the values we profess.”

 

Carol Freedman–Doan, president of TBE, recalled being on the bima, the stage, when Lottie, the daughter of a congregant, gave her Bat Mitzvah speech on the theme of what it means to be a sanctuary, both Ann Arbor as a city and TBE as a congregation, and how it inspired her to promise Lottie that TBE would become a sanctuary congregation, despite legal limitations on what safety that declaration actually provides. Noting the challenges both congregations overcame to reach this historic moment, she concluded:  “This is a good day for us … that fulfills a promise to Adonai our God that we will not forget that once we were strangers in a strange land and that we welcome the stranger. A promise to our community that as a nation we are the ‘Mother of Exiles’ and must be a ‘beacon hand that glows worldwide welcome.’ And a promise to Lottie who represents our future and only asks that we make the world a place of comfort and safety to all who seek it.”

Murray Rosenthal, president of Genesis, titled his talk, “It is commonplace that the teacher learns more than the student.” To illustrate his point, he shared three stories that opened his eyes to the immigrant experience and enabled him to grow personally: teaching English to a Russian immigrant while learning about his life of oppression as a Jewish engineer in Russia; bonding with a survivor of the Chernobyl power plant breakdown from Ukraine over the death of her parents from cancer and his mother’s death from a car accident; and marveling at the bravery of a Kurdish translator from Iraq during the Iraq War. “Imagine if we had had a government that was xenophobic and did not allow those immigrants in our country. Just imagine how they enhanced my life, what a loss that would be.” Today, the company where he works supports diversity because it “gives us a competitive advantage.”

John Little, senior warden of St. Clare, recalled living with his wife in Virginia Beach in the early seventies when their church adopted a Vietnamese family. He shared how impressed he was with “the impact the children have on you” and his realization that there is no higher calling “than to create a sense of peace and security and safety for a family.” He expressed pride at how easily the call to sanctuary was introduced and passed at St. Clare, with “no dissension, only questions about what it meant.” He said he was “humbled to be a part of an organization that honors the human spirit the way we do,” even though “on the receiving end of that … unfortunately it’s an insecure place to be. What is clear about both of our congregations is that we care and we’re not afraid to show it, and we can do something about it because it matters.”

Rev. James C. Rhodenhiser, Jr., of St. Clare, noted how “all religions can become captive to the process of other-fying people” even though “there is not in the Holy One anybody who should be other-fied” as our government is doing today. He reminded everybody that, according to the New Testament, “we will be ultimately held responsible” for how we treat the needy, “particularly those we are most tempted to other-fy.” He gave thanks to the two congregations’ commitment “to the process of humanizing the world, making everybody a neighbor, and doing what it says in the Torah, to love our neighbor and love the stranger as our neighbor. This is not ambiguous; this is not optional.” In his closing prayer he called out to the Holy One to “open the eyes of this country. Help us throw off the temptation to exalt ourselves at the expense of another, to feel more secure because someone else is less secure, Show us the benefit of welcoming each person as a friend [and] offering each person security so that we will all be welcome in peace and mercy.”

The three lay leaders signed the document after they spoke.

Music began and ended the program, with the TBE-St. Clare Joint Choir singing two songs on the front end and St. Clare’s Judie Erb-Downward, playing piano, leading the congregation in singing “This Land Is Your Land” on the back end. A joyous reception, co-sponsored by both congregations, followed the program.

The historic event followed fifteen months of education, organizing, and community outreach led by the TBE-St. Clare Joint Sanctuary Committee.

According to Carolyn Sampselle, from St. Clare and a member of the Joint Sanctuary Committee: “The development of this resolution within our joint committee was a spiritual journey buoyed by the genuine love, respect, and trust that our two congregations share. This spirit has led us to work together for justice over many years.”

Added Shoshana Mandel-Warner, committee member from TBE: “Sanctuary is about being on the right side of justice. It is taking a position using our own house of worship to strengthen those who do not have a sacred home, and that generated difficult questions. The experience of bearing witness to these injustices is a privilege and responsibility, a gesture of love and commitment, a journey that elevated us all, and reminded us of how much work there is yet to be done.”

Several other congregations in the Ann Arbor area, including Beth Israel Congregation (Jewish) and the Church of the Incarnation (Episcopal) have agreed to be part of the sanctuary movement.

More than anything, what is necessary now is a change in the tone of discourse surrounding these issues.  We hope that this resolution, in conjunction with actions of many other congregations of all faiths around the nation, will contribute to a significant improvement in that tone.