FCM’s mission requires love. As an organization dedicated to supporting, nurturing and empowering expansive ministries and faith communities, we must always center love, acceptance, and justice in our work. Guided by the principles imparted to us through our sacred texts, FCM stands in unwavering opposition to the ongoing ICE raids and the broader systems of violence targeting immigrant communities, specifically the actions which have taken place in my hometown of Los Angeles. These actions boldly betray Jesus’s Gospel and violate the most basic principles of human dignity.

As a member of the FCM community that is rooted in compassion, it is unimaginable that we are currently living in a society in which terror is inflicted upon our families, friends and our neighbors. Raids, detentions, and deportations do not keep communities safe, they destroy them.

This week, clergy and faith leaders from multiple traditions gathered in Los Angeles for a peaceful, interfaith vigil. The Clergy and faith leaders in attendance wore yarmulkes, collars, and vestments, outward signs of their devotion to love and God’s Creation. They walked together in prayer as living proof of The Divine’s promise of love conquering hatred and fear. On their way to their cars, before curfew, police charged them, split them apart, fired rubber bullets at the ground, and pointed guns at unarmed ministers (including a colleague of mine).

This act of aggression was not just against individuals, it was against the sacred work of community, protest, and prayer. It directly threatens FCM’s closely held value of belonging, which affirms that all people, regardless of immigration status, religion, race, sexuality, gender identity, or role, deserve safety and inclusion. This is a value that appears and is reified across time, space and faith tradition throughout our history.

Our mission calls us to empower those on the margins and to confront oppressive systems of power that maintain injustice and fail to respect human life. The criminalization of immigrants and the violent suppression of Clergy in peaceful witness are symptoms of a deeper disease, a society that puts policy and power above the dignity of a human person.

Through all of these recent events we continue to affirm equity as a spiritual imperative. Until all families are free from fear, none of us are truly free. Until all people are treated with dignity, the Gospel remains an aspiration rather than a reality. In a time of chaos, such as this, mindful living demands that we do not numb ourselves to suffering, but remain awake to it, and act. It requires both resistance and the wisdom to find rest to fuel the work of making The Kingdom a reality here on earth.

To our immigrant siblings: you are not alone.

To our fellow Clergy and people of faith: keep showing up.

To those in power: we are watching, and as generations of Clergy before us taught us, we will not be silent while carrying out our sacred Calling.

In solidarity & sacred resistance,

Rev. Madison Jones McAleese, Executive Director, FCM