‘This is the antidote’: Amid rising divisions, local clerics reviving an interfaith alliance

Members of First Parish in Acton joined congregants of Kerem Shalom for Shabbat services in late January. 

It’s been a tradition for many years, according to Rabbi Darby Leigh — and, he said, one of the few partnerships that endured as interfaith collaboration waned in Acton. 

“By the time I arrived, for whatever reason, the collaboration was dwindling, I think, to a lack of energy and engagement,” he said. “There wasn’t leadership, and there wasn’t energy for it, and it essentially died out.”

But that energy is growing again, he said — and he pointed to a special January service held at Holy Family Parish as proof.

Inside a sanctuary framed by stained glass, pews, and a pulpit, faith leaders from different traditions found common ground.

Christian, Jewish, and Baha’i speakers called on a crowd of nearly 200 to “love our neighbor and welcome the stranger,” saying the message felt deeply necessary given recent local and national events. 

The gathering came partly in response to rising concern in Acton over alleged antisemitic incidents, including a federal civil rights complaint accusing Acton-Carlisle schools of failing to protect Jewish students from pervasive harassment and hateful conduct. Also at play: the trickledown of national strife over divisive issues ranging from ICE detentions to the effects of federal government shutdowns.

The January service was intended as a test by local faith leaders to gauge whether there is renewed interest in reviving regular interfaith gatherings.

Father David O’Leary of the Acton-Carlisle Catholic Collaborative said it was a success because “we had a church full of people praying and singing in harmony together.”

 ‘Belonging and healing’

The Rev. Jennifer Johnson of First Parish, along with O’Leary, led the interfaith service. They and other Acton clergy have been meeting semi-regularly to share resources but hadn’t come together for a large-scale shared service since Covid all but precluded such gatherings. 

Johnson said the past interfaith services, which were held on Thanksgiving every year, were already ebbing due to clergy turnover. With new leaders in the church, former bonds weren’t as strong. The pandemic only added to that. 

Now, she said, the religious community is collaborating because “there was a sense that we needed ways of coming together that were more responsive to what’s happening in the world.” 

People “said they really wanted to hear from the interfaith community, and we decided to create a coalition that could be responsive to those needs and help foster belonging and healing,” Johnson told The Acton Bridge. 

After the federal civil rights complaint, Leigh of Kerem Shalom said many Concordians were faced with the realization that hate could happen here.

“Too many people, I think, were saying, ‘Oh, this is just kids, and kids will be kids,’” he said. “The Jewish community stood up and said, ‘Actually, it’s not. It’s actually much more insidious than that.’”

Leigh said many in the Jewish community have felt isolated. 

“We have been asking questions of how welcome are we in the town of Acton, really?” he said. “Like how deep does the talk of welcoming community really run, and how true really is that?”

After the interfaith service on January 11, Sue Tunnicliffe was waiting for her friends to say their goodbyes before heading out. She and her friends, each from different congregations in town, came because, to them, it was the perfect way to meet the moment. 

“This is lovely. We need more of this. This is the antidote,” she said. She later added that it was important to come together because it helped people feel less alone. 

Dreams for the future

Leigh said that these combined services show there is connective tissue in the wants of Acton’s faith communities. 

“All of these smaller efforts created what now seems to be a larger effort,” he said. “We will continue to build the relationship with the folks that we share the town with and hope that it only grows from here.”

Johnson said that although the collaboration is still in its beginning stages, there are big dreams for the future. She said she is excited about the prospect of building community spaces where people can “learn from each other, share music, and break bread together.”

“In a time when there’s so much divisiveness and emphasis on what divides us, that sense of genuinely being together and connecting is what felt most powerful,” she said. “We’re viewing it as something broader than just clergy, something that is open to anyone in the community who’s interested in the spiritual life of Acton.”