Community at the Crossing

Monday, May 12, 2025
6:30pm - 8pm
Chapel of St James

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(Day-of student rush tickets upon presentation of a valid student ID)

The Cathedral will welcome three leaders in interreligious dialogue for a panel entitled From the Margins to the Center: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in Conversation.

The tragic events of October 7th and their aftermath have catapulted the engagement of Judaism and Islam into the center of dialogue with Christianity. Is it still possible to maintain good relations or are the three Abrahamic religions doomed to be locked in a widening gyre of enmity? Can the center hold?

The conversation promises to be a meaningful exploration of the intersection of tradition, contemporary challenges, and shared values in a world that increasingly calls for interfaith cooperation.

Rabbi Dr. Burton Visotzky is Appleman Professor Emeritus of Midrash and Interreligious Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he serves as director of the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue and as the Louis Stein Director of the Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies.

The Rev Eva Suarez joined the Cathedral clergy team in February of 2023, where she serves as Canon for Community Engagement. In that role, she focuses on the Cathedral’s relationship with the neighborhood, city, and the wider Episcopal Diocese of New York. She also supervises the work of the Cathedral’s Public Education and Visitors Services team, as well as the Cathedral’s outreach arm, Cathedral Community Cares (CCC). Originally from Washington, D.C., Canon Suarez completed her seminary studies at Union Theological Seminary, as well as earning a Masters in Social Work from the Silberman School at CUNY Hunter. Prior to joining the cathedral staff, she served as an Associate Rector at St. James’ Church in Manhattan. Canon Suarez is a contributing author for several anthologies, most recently Forward Movement’s A Journey Through Genesis, and When Kids Ask Hard Questions: Faith-Filled Answers for Tough Topics, from Chalice Press.

Emre Celik is the Executive Director at Peace Islands Institute New York and a Leadership Fellow at the Interfaith Center of New York. He arrived in Manhattan with more than 20 years experience in cross-cultural and interfaith engagement, having worked in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Washington DC. He was a member of the Religious Freedom Center’s Committee on Religious Liberty and the International Religious Freedom Roundtable on Capitol Hill. In 2024 he had an audience with Pope Francis and was awarded the Isaac Hecker Award by Paulists of Manhattan.

The Far Side of Revenge: What Can the Church Do When Division Reigns?

Monday, March 24, 2025

Sr. Estelle Sogbou and Dr. Aaron Hollander will offer interchurch, international, and intercultural perspectives on how faith and dialogue can address the urgent demands of our divided societies. In a time marked by factionalism and malicious misinformation, this discussion will examine whether the ecumenical movement’s century-long pursuit of unity and reconciliation holds practical relevance beyond theological circles. Can ecumenical relationships be a model for social integrity beyond Christian circles? Together, our speakers will explore what resources out of the history of inter-church and intra-church peacemaking can illuminate pathways to reconciliation in our divided world.

Dr. Aaron T. Hollander is Executive Director of Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute, Editor of Ecumenical Trends, and Adjunct Faculty in Theology at Fordham University. He serves on the steering committee of the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network and on the faculty of the Summer Course in Ecumenism at the Centro Pro Unione in Rome; from 2022-2024 he was President of the North American Academy of Ecumenists. He is a scholar of ecumenical theology and lived religion, with his PhD from the University of Chicago (2018). His first book, forthcoming from Fordham University Press (2025), is entitled Saint George Liberator: Hagiography and Resistance in the Modern Mediterranean.

Sr. Estelle Sogbou, CCN, Ph D. Candidate in dogmatic theology at Les Facultés Loyola Paris and trainer at Institut de Théologie des Dombes in France, an Institute which is in partnership with the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Lyon, and with the Protestant Faculty of Theology in Strasbourg. She is a member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians.

Watch the full event on YouTube

How the Good News Goes Bad: Christian Biblical Interpretation and Antisemitism

Sunday, January 26, 2025

Prof. Amy-Jill Levine, world-renowned scholar of biblical studies and Jewish-Christian relations, will join cathedral Dean Patrick Malloy for a conversation on How the Good News Goes Bad: Christian Biblical Interpretation and Antisemitism. They will discuss what constitutes antisemitic biblical interpretation, the typical errors Christians make about the Jewish context of Jesus and Paul, why mistakes continue to be made, and what can be done to correct them.

Dr. Amy-Jill Levine is Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University. She is also University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita, Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies Emerita at Vanderbilt. She received the 2023 Hubert Walter Award for Interfaith Cooperation from the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Discipleship and Politics: How does one inform the other?

Monday, October 28, 2024

Sr. Ruth Lautt, O.P., Esq and Fr. Scott Gunn will discuss the connection between discipleship and politics. How ought our beliefs as followers of Jesus lead us to take part in the public political landscape? Clearly, there is wide disagreement among Christians on this as some advocate a complete separation of the church from politics, while others advocate a theocratic nation. Both of our panelists will offer possible paths or a middle way between these extremes. So come join what is sure to be a vibrant and thought provoking conversation to see where Sr. Ruth and Fr. Scott find common ground and where they diverge as we consider our vocations as both Christians and as members of the body politic. This topic matters greatly as we consider our upcoming elections, foreign policy, involvement with local political issues, and more.

The Rev. Scott Gunn is executive director of Forward Movement. An Episcopal priest, he has served parishes in Rhode Island and Ohio. Sr. Ruth Lautt, O.P., Esq. is a practicing attorney and the Founder and Director of the St. Fidelis RC Church Street Outreach in College Point, Queens.

Watch the recording of the evening on YouTube

A Love That is Holy and True

Monday, May 20, 2024

As faithful witnesses to the word of God in the Torah, the Qur'an and the Gospel, members of different religions share a desire to live a life of love and justice, worthy of God’s promises. Join local scholars of Judaism, Islam and Christianity as they engage in dialogue on the pursuit of what is holy and true.

Dr. Burton Visotzky, Jewish Theological Seminary
Dr. Celia Deutsch, Barnard College
Dr. Hussein Rashid, Harvard Divinity School
The Very Rev. Patrick Malloy, Dean

Watch the recording of the evening on YouTube

Monday, February 5, 2024

The Rev. Sarah Coakley will lead a discussion on how ‘desire’ in the Bible, and in classic theological and monastic Christian literature, cuts across and challenges the presumptions of the ’sexualization’ of desire in contemporary Western culture.

Professor Sarah Coakley is Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity emerita, the University of Cambridge, and a priest in both the Anglican and Episcopal Church.

Watch the recording of the evening on YouTube

Monday, January 15, 2024

Amy-Jill will discuss with us how the Parable of the Good Samaritan raises necessary questions about neighbors and strangers, stereotypes and prejudice, complacency and challenge, even questions about history, colonialism, and liberation.

A world-renowned scholar, Amy-Jill Levine is currently the Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace. She is also University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita, Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies Emerita, and Professor of New Testament Studies Emerita at Vanderbilt University.

Monday, October 9, 2023

Join the Community at the Crossing for a panel discussion with David Ford, author of “The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary.” He will be joined in conversation by Canon Sarah Snyder, founder and director of the Rose Castle Foundation, an inter-Faith peace-building organization, and Micheal O’Siadhail, distinguished Irish poet.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.

David Frank Ford, OBE is an Anglican public theologian. He was the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge beginning in 1991.