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In Miami, A Sermon For Orlando And A Call To Action

Nadege Green
/
WLRN
Pastor Willie of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Coconut Grove asked parishioners to commit to something they can do in the aftermath of the Orlando shootings.";

Pastor WilifredAllen-Faiella looked out into the congregation from the pulpit.

Everyone calls her Pastor Willie.

Her sermon was, in part, about modern-day demons.

“Demons of homophobia,” she preached.  “Demons of seeing anything other as a threat.”

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Coconut Grove has a reputation for being gay-friendly.

Pastor Willie has officiated and blessed many gay marriages here. Some of those couples are sitting in the pews.

And one week after the Orlando massacre, she knew that she had to talk about what happened. She didn’t want to pray about it. This sermon would be a call to action.

“Enough thoughts and prayers,” she said.

On the altar a crucified Jesus was hanging in the middle.

On either side of him, a slideshow projected the faces of the 49 victims killed at Pulse nightclub.

One by one, parishioners called out the name of each victim.

Edward Sotomayor Jr.

Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo

Kimberly Morris

Peter Gonzalez Cruz’s name was recited by Keith Cantine.

He got the name before Sunday’s service and he wanted to know more about this young man who had lost his life.

“I had to look him up,” said Cantine. “Found out he worked for UPS, 22 years old. His friends called him Ommie.”

Cantine attended mass with his husband Chris Steinmetz

Steinmetz said as gay man, as a Christian, he needed this moment in church.

“This was a way to personally grieve for my brothers and sisters,” he said.  

Pastor Wiille invited Mustafa  Yucekaya to offers a prayer in Arabic and English.

Yucekaya is Muslim and the executive director of a nonprofit that promotes interfaith dialogue.

Pastor Willie said she wanted to create a space to acknowledge that this horror happened, and to combat negativity and stereotypes.

As much as she knows her parishioners are hurting, she said they also have a responsibility.

“ As I said in my sermon, you can find verses in the Bible like you can find verses in the Quran that you can twist and make be about hate,” she said. “To me, the radical Islamist, the ISIS people, they are to Islam what the KKK and the Westboro Baptist Church are to Christianity.”

Before Mass ended, Pastor Willie asked parishioners to pull out a note card from their programs.

She implored everyone to write and commit to taking action.

“This was a call to action. This was about a time of mourning and looking in the mirror and saying we can’t just let this keep  going on,” said Pastor Willie.

Anna Neil attended Mass as she usually does with her wife. Neil pinned her note card onto a clothesline running along the church’s wall.

“I wrote that I would stand up to hate or  for those who are the subject of hate,” she said. “This horrible violence against LGBT people, certainly if there's something to blame it’s not another religion…it’s hate.

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