Forum Photos by Michael V. Cusenza
By Michael V. Cusenza
Hundreds of south Queens community leaders, members of the clergy, and police officers on Tuesday evening gathered at the Sikh Cultural Society in Richmond Hill for the City Police Department’s Interfaith Prayer Service.
Originally titled “Together as One NYC,” the event was organized by the NYPD’s Patrol Borough Queens South and the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit and featured nearly a dozen ministers from different denominations reflecting on a fractured country and discussing how to heal from the ground up, together. All attendees were asked to adhere to traditional Sikh garb customs: remove all shoes and sneakers, and wear an orange headwrap that was handed out near the entrance.
“It is a great pleasure to have you all here as one community,” said Bhai Gurdev Kang, of the Sikh Cultural Society, during the ceremony’s introduction. “People of all walks of life have come together under one roof.”
Kang said that though “things haven’t always gone smoothly,” we must unite and face issues “as one.”
“Only by healing our relationships on a local level can we have true, lasting public safety,” he added.
The Rev. Francis Colamaria, of St. Helen Roman Catholic Church in Howard Beach, delivered inspired remarks that celebrated the large and diverse turnout as a symbol of strength.
“We are here in testimony of our great nation’s motto, “E pluribus unum” – out of many one,” he said on Tuesday. “All of us gathered here today are witnesses to the Light – the Light that can never be extinguished.”
