CONCORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire Episcopal bishop is attracting national attention after warning his clergy to finalize their wills and get their affairs in order to prepare for a “new era of martyrdom,” invoking the nonviolent resistance of the civil rights era.
Bishop Rob Hirschfeld of the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire made his comments this month at a vigil honoring Renee Nicole Good, who was fatally shot on Jan. 7 behind the wheel of her vehicle by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
The Trump administration has defended the ICE officer’s actions, saying he fired in self-defense while standing near the front of Good’s vehicle as it began to move forward. That explanation has been panned by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and others based on videos of the confrontation, which show the officer shot Good several times.
Hirschfeld’s speech cited several historical clergy members who had risked their lives to protect others, including New Hampshire seminary student Jonathan Daniels, who was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy in Alabama while shielding a young Black civil rights activist in 1965.
“I have told the clergy of the Episcopal diocese of New Hampshire that we may be entering into that same witness,” Hirschfeld said. “And I’ve asked them to get their affairs in order, to make sure they have their wills written, 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.”
Hirschfeld said people of Christian faith should not fear death.
“Those of us who are ready to build a new world, we also have to be prepared,” he said. “If we truly want to live without fear, we cannot fear even death itself, my friends.”
Other religious leaders, including the Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, have also called on Christians to protect the vulnerable amid the rise in aggressive and sometimes violent immigration enforcement actions under the Trump administration.
“We keep resisting, advocating, bearing witness and repairing the breach,” Rowe said during a prayer last week. “We keep sheltering and caring for those among us who are immigrants and refugees because they are beloved by God, and without them, we cannot fully be the church.”
In Minnesota, the Right Rev. Craig Loya urged people not to meet “hatred with hatred” but instead focus on love in “a world obviously not fine.”
“We are going to make like our ancient ancestors, and turn the world upside down by mobilizing for love,” he said. “We are going to disrupt with Jesus’ hope. We are going to agitate with Jesus’ love.”
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