Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Cherry Hill Church in "Hate has no home in Cherry Hill"

In response to the recent bomb threats against the Katz Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Cherry Hill Township, NJ, and others across the nation, Mayor Chuck Cahn of Cherry Hill Township started an initiative to strengthen ties with the residents and organizations of Cherry Hill in a show of solidarity against hate crime.  On March 27th, 2017, Mayor Cahn released a video titled "Hate Has No Home in Cherry Hill" at a Township council meeting.  This short video of 2.5 minutes in length features various residents, civic groups, and houses of worship coming together in unity to take a stand against hate crime.

Father Paul Makar, pastor of St. Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Church, Cherry Hill, NJ, was approached by representatives of the Cherry Hill Police Department to be a part of this new initiative. In the interest of building ties and developing fruitful relationships among the various residents of the Cherry Hill community, Father Paul and St. Michael's Church was filmed and made part of Mayor Cahn's public service video that appeared in many South Jersey and Philadelphia news and media outlets.  We Ukrainian Catholics, at St. Michael's Cherry Hill, remember hate directed against our people (such as the Holodomor of recent memory, and the War in Ukraine) and know the fear, humiliation, and resentment that results from being hated without cause.  We believe that all men are created in the image and likeness of God, and that all people are deserving of dignity and respect.  We value our friendships with our diverse and various neighbors in Cherry Hill Township, and in a spirit of brotherhood, we, at St. Michael's Cherry Hill, too stand with our neighbors against hate crime.


You can watch the video on the blog for THE WAY, or at https://vimeo.com/210317123 .



Hate Has No Home in Cherry Hill from Cherry Hill Township on Vimeo.

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