Please join Episcopal Divinity School at Union, in partnership with Everytown for Gun Safety, Bishops United Against Gun Violence, and the Episcopal Peace Fellowship for an Interfaith Vigil Against Gun Violence on October 3rd, the one-year anniversary of the largest mass shooting in the United States.

This vigil will include a screening of the short film “We Are All Newtown,” and feature speakers from the Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish and Christian traditions, as well as gun violence survivor Rev. Sharon Risher (bio below) and advocacy voices from organizations such as Everytown for Gun Safety and Bishops United Against Gun Violence.

In addition to the vigil, EDS at Union will release a podcast (subscribe here) featuring a conversation with Bishops United Against Gun Violence and will send out a selection of church-wide resources on what congregations can do.

Rev. Sharon Risher (NC) Sharon’s mother, Ethel Lance, and cousins, Susie Jackson and Tywanza Sanders, were shot and killed on June 17, 2015, at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. The shooter was able to purchase the weapon because his background check was not completed after three days, even though his criminal history should have prohibited him from buying a firearm.

Sharon was ordained in the Presbyterian Church. At the time of her mother’s murder, she was a trauma chaplain at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas.