Congregation releases joint statement on January 6, 2021, violence

Note: The following is a joint statement from our Congregation and the InterFaith Council of the Wabash Valley.

The InterFaith Council of the Wabash Valley – we of diverse religious faiths and humanitarian belief systems – join with the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, and so many others in our country in condemning Wednesday’s display of hate and violence against people and property as well as our democratic institutions and processes. We hope and pray that our country will return to a politics guided by wisdom, facts and truths.

We of the interfaith community believe strongly in the right to protest to support beliefs, positions and values but abhor any use of violence in order to achieve the ends of an organization or belief system. We pray for those who lost their lives or sustained injury because of the violence perpetrated during the Capitol incident. May we work untiringly to acknowledge our own complicity in those attitudes, actions and words which perpetuate violence.

We urge all faith communities to unite in support of others who follow different faith and belief systems based in tolerance and respect, with the hope that followers of all faiths will stay true to their founding principles of love, acceptance, compassion, charity, mercy and hope. Let us renew our commitment to stand together to risk speaking and acting for the common good of all and work tirelessly to contribute to the change we wish to see.

Signed,

The Executive Committee of the InterFaith Council of the Wabash Valley and the Sisters of Providence