"A new era of martyrdom"
The Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire told priests protesting ICE to get their wills and affairs in order. Some praise the bishop, while oth
Hirschfeld...warned his clergy to prepare for "a new era of martyrdom."
"I've asked them to get their affairs in order to make sure they have their wills written," he said, "because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us with our bodies to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable."
...Wells, a community organizer who regularly prays outside ICE offices, said he and many others took it as a great relief – and a validation of sorts – to hear the bishop speaking openly about the mounting anxiety felt by faith leaders around the nation who've been stepping up their public prayers and protests against ICE, and getting pelted with pepper rounds, roughed up and arrested.
"What I said to the clergy (was) 'I'm just asking you to live your life without fear of death. Be prepared. I'm not asking you to go look for that bullet,'" [Hirschfeld] said. "I'm simply saying be ready, have your affairs in order, have your soul ready, in case you find yourself in trouble."
That, Hirschfeld said, is the Episcopal tradition. At the vigil where he made his initial remarks, he listed several church activists who became martyrs, including Jonathan Daniels, a New Hampshire native and seminary student who travelled to Alabama in 1965 to help integrate public places and register Black voters. He took a bullet to protect a black teenager [the 17-year-old Ruby Sales] he accompanied.
"Not everyone can be a Jonathan Daniels," Hirschfeld said, but "we're increasingly called to go into places that feel dangerous."
