Monroeville Interfaith Ministerium promotes goodwill, helping others

Although only a few people required treatment at the scene of a March 14 fire in Monroeville, dozens suddenly were without a home.

In response to the blaze that gutted the Cambridge Square Apartments, a long-established partnership of local faith leaders contributed substantially toward helping residents of the complex recover.

The Monroeville Interfaith Ministerium’s mission-oriented Community Network joined other entities in coordinating an effort to provide victims with essentials, from clothing, appliances and furniture to replacement driver’s licenses.

Among those also lending assistance were representatives of Gateway School District, Pitcairn Borough and the Municipality of Monroeville, according to the Rev. Lindsay White, pastor of Cross Roads Presbyterian Church and a participant in the ministerium. She also acknowledged the generosity of community members in general on behalf of their neighbors.

Monroeville is home to an especially rich variety of religious traditions, offering mosques, temples, synagogues and churches representing Christian, Muslim, Judaism, Hindu Jain, Baha’i and Sikh faiths. The ministerium works toward encouraging fellowship and dialogue about different beliefs while advocating for compassion and justice.

Toward that goal, the group organizes community-oriented programming, with some upcoming activities discussed during a recent ministerium meeting hosted by Deacon Mike Kelly at Christ the Divine Shepherd Parish.

For example, Marianne Jew, adult religious educator at East Suburban Unitarian Universalist Church, looks to offer events focusing on the five-part series “An American Story: Race Amity and the Other Tradition.”

The primary purpose of the documentary project is to highlight collaboration and equity with regard to the public discourse on race, according to producer and distributor WHS Media Productions LLC, which promotes cross-cultural understanding.

One of the episodes features the friendship of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt with Mary McLeod Bethune, a daughter of formerly enslaved parents who became a leading civil and women’s rights advocate, eventually serving as an adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt. As an educator, she opened a school for girls in 1904, an institution that evolved into what now is Bethune-Cookman University.

Another possible Monroeville Interfaith Ministerium activity involves participation in Violins of Hope Greater Pittsburgh, as proposed by Rabbi Barbara Symons of Temple David.

Violins of Hope is scheduled as an exhibit from Oct. 7 through Nov. 21 at Carnegie Mellon University’s Posner Center, showcasing instruments played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust.

In conjunction with the exhibit, programming is planned throughout the region “designed to reach a broad audience to reinforce the valuable lessons of diversity, equity and inclusion,” according to Violins of Hope, and ministerium members discussed potential venues for a a related event in Monroeville.

The Monroeville Interfaith Ministerium meets monthly on a rotating basis at various local places of worship. For more information, visit www.mimcares.org.