Faith & Resistance: A Fireside Chat

Faith without justice is incomplete. And faith in action can change the world.   

That was the thread that bound the Faith and Resistance Fireside Chat together Tuesday night with four passionate and compassionate social justice faith leaders: Rabbi James Greene, Father Steve Josoma from St. Susanna Parish, Muslim immigration attorney Mevlude Akay Alp of the International Refugee Assistance Project, and Catholic activist and organizer Sarah Hansman from the Season of Faithful Witness initiative.  

Together with host and A Faith That Does Justice President and Executive Director Tom Dwyer, they explored how faith traditions inspire action in the face of cruelty, injustice, and rising authoritarianism, especially toward immigrants and refugees. 

Faith in Action, Not Abstraction 

They began from a place of honesty: many people of faith feel overwhelmed, even hopeless, in the current climate of oppression of others. Yet, each speaker, though acknowledging the darkness of the hour, nonetheless was able to find ways to respond with optimism.  

Rabbi James Greene described how his agency, Jewish Family Services of Western Massachusetts, recognizing the gravity of the moment, decided to take an action unprecedented for it.  It filed its first ever lawsuit against a Department of Homeland Security policy that would create what Tom called a Catch-22 moment, making it impossible for refugees to obtain a green card in a timely manner and therefore subjecting them to detention and deportation.  Suing the federal government, Rabbi James said, was not a political stunt, but a sacred obligation to “stand in the breach” beside those they serve. His message: faith calls us to protect human dignity, especially in the face of unjust power wielded without respect for human dignity.

Mevlude Akay Alp, a Muslim immigration attorney with the International Refugee Assistance Project, zoomed out to show the broader pattern of shifting, punitive immigration policies and how the law is being increasingly used by the current Federal Administration without regard for morality, constitutional and statutory legal precedent, and basic human rights.  She grounds her resistance not only in her understanding of the law but also in her own Islamic tradition.  Movingly, she told the story of the “helpers” (Ansar) welcoming the Prophet Muhammad and fellow refugees into Medina, Saudi Arabia, in 663 CE.  The Ansar housed, fed, and treated the Prophet and his followers as family. For her, this is not simply history; it is a living mandate, rooted in her from her childhood when she heard the story and sang songs commemorating this tradition.

Father Steve Josoma, the 25-year pastor of a parish Tom praised and called unusual in its steadfast commitment to social justice, given its demographics, shared his view on how this came to be.  His predominantly white, suburban parish, he said, has embraced a “gospel-driven” identity that refuses to keep faith locked inside the church. This means choosing not to live in fear or let fear drive decisions but instead stepping outside one’s comfort zone to see a neighbor’s need and respond. Father explained that when he preaches, he always strives to keep “one foot in the Gospel and the other foot in the present-day world.”   

The Parish’s outdoor Christmas crèche made national headlines when they replaced the Holy Family with a sign reading “ICE was here—the family is safe in the sanctuary of the church. The sign also directed viewers to resources for immigrants at risk, including what to do if ICE was spotted. The display and the parish’s ongoing interfaith refugee ministry with other area church denominations were powerful symbols that faith must speak publicly and courageously when human lives are threatened.

Sarah Hansman, a Catholic activist shaped by Ignatian spirituality and a doctoral student in theological ethics at Boston College, spoke about her work with the Season of Faithful Witness, a grassroots, national, faith-based campaign that resists violent policies and defends the dignity of immigrants.  For her, the central discernment is, “What is mine to do?” As a lay Catholic, she has claimed her own authority—and responsibility—to act from Catholic social teaching, rather than waiting for instructions.”  Beyond her studies, she serves as a hospital chaplain and in active prison ministry, all of which informs her outlook of tolerance, respect, and commitment to those on the margins.

An Interfaith Lens on Resistance

Drawing from their different traditions and experiences, the panelists converged on several shared convictions: 

• • Faith belongs in the public square as a counter-witness to hatred, racism, and xenophobia and as a force to drive politics to find the “common good.”
  • Neighbor is a moral term, not a geographic one. The question is not “Who is like me?” but “Whose dignity is under threat, and how will I respond?”
  • Justice is not a one-time event, but a habit. Whether through lawsuits, parish displays, mutual aid networks, or public prayer, faith communities are called to constant and persevering action on behalf of the marginalized.
  • Fear, though understandable, cannot be allowed to stifle action and resistance.  In this sense, “Faith and Resistance” is refusing to let religion be hijacked in the service of cruelty—from crusade rhetoric to open xenophobia and “othering.”