Monday, June 3rd, 2019 The Most Reverend Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, Bishop of Brooklyn Diocesan Office 310 Prospect Park West Brooklyn, NY 11215 Phone: 718-399-5900, 718-965-7300 Your Excellency Bishop DiMarzio​, We are writing to you today as Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, and non-religious community members to express our concern over the fraying of interfaith dialogue within the neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Borough Park. The rise of religious hatred and anti-Semitism in our current climate is of deep concern to all of us, and recent attacks on churches, synagogues, mosques and religious houses of worship throughout Brooklyn signal that the Church’s role in intervening and alleviating these pressures is more important now than ever. We recently learned that the Polish parish of Saint Stanisław Kostka church in Greenpoint, and Saint Frances de Chantal church in Borough Park, will be hosting far-right anti-Semitic historian Ewa Kurek, to speak in their church halls on June 7th and 8th, 2019 at 6PM. We feel that such an invitation will bring unnecessary mounting pressure to an already combustible atmosphere, and reflects poorly on the entire Church, of which many of us are a part. In addition to this, we believe the highly controversial political views of Mrs. Kurek make this an inappropriate step beyond the separation of Church and State. In her writings, Mrs. Kurek has alleged that, “Jews forged a separate peace with the Nazis during the occupation of Poland and had happily confined themselves to ghettos, while accusing Poland’s urbanized and assimilated Jews of being Nazi collaborators during the Holocaust.” Such historical distortions do not foster a healthy relationship with our interfaith neighbors, and go against the teachings of the Church, Vatican II and the work of Pope John Paul II. Last year, this same author headed a speaking tour in which she expressed her revisionist Holocaust perspectives to a wide Polish audience, and her events received negative press throughout the United States. She has been denounced by many prominent Polish American organizations, and rejected from receiving the Jan Karski award when her most recent writings were uncovered. As your Excellency was the recipient of this prestigious award this year, it would seem contradictory to allow this revisionist historian to poison its message of Polish Jewish respect and understanding within your own diocese. It is clear that the fringes of society still embrace Mrs. Kurek, but we believe the Church should stand up for the common good, working towards a more loving and cohesive society while remaining neutral within such mired politics. We humbly petition that you ask these parishes to remove Mrs. Kurek’s event from their venue, as any association with her will bring harm to the Church and its congregation’s good name. If these events are allowed to proceed, the negative press and protests that she brings will inevitably evolve beyond our control. Respectfully Yours, Julia Salazar State Senator District 18 Stephen Levin City Councilmember District 33 Victoria Cambranes Polish American Greenpoint activist Candidate for City Council District 33 Nick Rizzo Male Democratic District Leader, 50th Assembly District Molly Crabapple Artist and Author, NY, NY Rev. John T. Pawlikowski, OSM, Ph.D Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics Catholic Theological Union, Chicago Sr. Celia Deutsch, n.d.s. Sister of Our Lady of Sion, Professor, Barnard College Dr. Eugene J. Fisher Former Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Miriam Gonczarska Orthodox Jewish Maharat, Journalist Fr. Patrick L. Gilger, S.J. Professor of Sociology at The New School, Co-founder of The Jesuit Post Fr. Dan Corrou S.J. Pastor, St. Francis Xavier Parish, NY Rabbi Maurice Appelbaum Rabbi of Congregation Ahavas Israel of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY Rebecca Appelbaum New York, NY Rabbi Eliyahu Raskin Chabad of Brooklyn Heights, NY Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz Founder & President, Uri L'Tzedek: Orthodox Social Justice Dr. Mary C. Boys, SNJM Vice-President of Academic Affairs and Dean, Skinner & McAlpin Professor of Practical Theology, Union Theological Seminary in the City of NY Ruth Langer Professor of Jewish Studies, Boston College Associate Director, Center for Christian-Jewish Learning Rabbi Dr. Alan Brill Cooperman/Ross Endowed Professor in honor of Sister Rose Thering Seton Hall University, NJ Rabbi Elisha Ancselovits, Yadin Yadin, PhD Dean of Beit Midrash Hukkim Hakhamim Rabbi Tyson Herberger Previous Chief Rabbi of Wroclaw and Lower Silesia Rabbi Avram Mlotek Co-Founder of Base Hillel & Rabbi of Base MNHTN Bohdan W. Oppenheim, Ph.D. Professor, Loyola Marymount University Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein Educator, Interfaith activist, MC/poet Fay Rosenfeld Vice President of Public Programs at The New York Public Library Rabbi Adam Gindea Rabbi of Base MIAMI Rabbi Dina Najman Marta d'Atra, The Kehilah Rabyaah Althaibani Community Activist and Co-Founder of the Arab Women’s Voice David Galarza Santa Community Activist Rabbi Daniel Goodman Doctoral Candidate at The Jewish Theological Seminary Agnieszka Barbasiewicz Polish American, NY, NY Ewelina Alvarado-Baczewska Polish American, Brooklyn, NY Rabbi Aaron Potek Rabbi at Gather D.C. in Washington, D.C. Eleanor Reissa Tony-Nominated Broadway Director, Actor and Yiddish Performer Dr. Ahmad Jaber Board Chair, Arab American Association of New York (AAANY), Brooklyn, New York Izabela J, Barry, MA, MLIS Senior Librarian, Brooklyn Public Library, Journalist Michael A. Barry, PhD Scientist, Jewish-American Jerome Krase Emeritus and Murray Koppelman Professor, Brooklyn College CUNY John Guzlowski, PhD Poet, novelist, essayist, Polish American, WW2 refugee Sarah Ellen Zarrow Assistant Professor of History, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA Rabbi Scott Perlo New York, New York Pawel Długosz Polish American, Oakland, CA Irena Grudzińska Gross Scholar and author Alex Storożynski Author and Journalist Sławomir Grünberg Documentary Filmmaker Barbara Grünberg Cultural Manager Rabbi Michael Stein Limudei Qodesh Faculty, Abraham Joshua Heschel High School New York, NY Dorothy Lafontaine Polish American, Bronx, NY Morris E. Jacobs Middleburg, Virginia Natasha Lennard Author Mitchell Verter Author Alexa Slomski Brooklyn, NY John Ehrenberg Chair, Political Science Department, LIU Brooklyn Patrick Hilsman Journalist Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg American scholar, author Dr. Michelle Friedman, M.D. Founder, Sharon and Steven Lieberman Chair of Pastoral Counseling Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Maria Zofia Milewski Jacksonville, FL Robert Interewicz, M.D. New York Robert Tutak Professor, Brooklyn College, CUNY Natasza Quelvennec Polish French activist, Bordeaux, France Magdalena Wrobel Polish American, Queens, NY Weronika Kwiatkowska Journalist, Queens, NY Magda Gacyk Polish Media Correspondent in USA, San Francisco Zach D Roberts. Journalist and Catholic Dr Idrees Ahmed Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Sterling, Scotland Elizabeth Valleau Global Creative Strategist, Instagram Katarzyna Kornacka-Sarelo Professor, Adam Mickiewicz​ U ​ niversity in Poznan, Poland John Kiriakou Former Chief Investigator, US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Mitchell Verter Author, Immigration activist Zach D Roberts Catholic and Journalist Alfred Petrucci Stamford, CT Zeg Norsworthy Lawyer, St. Francis Xavier Parishioner Kinga Marszal-Norsworthy Journalist, St. Francis Xavier Parishioner Dorothy Sohail Polish American, Carteret, NJ James Edward Polish American, Linden, NJ Alicja Magdalena Molenda Founder of Femini Berlin Polska, Berlin, Germany Jerzy Paetzhold Activist of Mitte 21 Verein zur Forderung der Volkerstandingung und der Demokratie Berlin Germany Agnieszka Grudzinska President of Association Défense de la Démocratie en Pologne ADDP, Paris, France Bartosz Hlebowicz Journalist, Florence, Italy Wojciech Pytkowski Activist of Association Défense de la Démocratie en Pologne ADDP, Paris, France Victor Holen Boulder, Colorado Jolanta Kruszka Polish activist, Florence, Italy Anna Maria Patané Activist of Mitte 21 Verein zur Forderung der Volkerstandingung und der Demokratie Berlin Germany Tomasz Holuj Artist and Polish activist, Stockholm, Sweden Joanna Gos Polish activist, London UK Krystyna Kierebinski Historian, Stockholm, Sweden Katarzyna Weintraub Journalist, Berlin, Germany Damian Wutke Secretary of the Management Board, Open Republic - Association against Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia, Warsaw, Poland Paula Sawicka Chairwoman of the Programme Council of the Open Republic Association against Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia, Warsaw Józef Lorski Member of the Management Board of the Open Republic – Association against Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia, Warsaw Piotr Jakub Piotrowski Member of the Management Board of the Open Republic – Association against Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia, Warsaw Helena Datner Member of the Programme Council of the Open Republic – Association against Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia, Warsaw Prof. Barbara Weigl Member of the Programme Council of the Open Republic – Association against Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia, Warsaw Prof. Mirosława Marody Member of the Programme Council of the Open Republic – Association against Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia, Warsaw Red. Cezary Gawryś Member of the Programme Council of the Open Republic – Association against Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia, Warsaw Prof. Krzysztof Kiciński Member of the Programme Council of the Open Republic – Association against Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia, Warsaw Małgorzata Burek Marienheide, Germany Karolina Lukasiewicz Researcher and Lecturer, New York University Bogumil Pacak-Gamalski Canada Bogdan Białek Chairman Jan Karski Society, Kielce