St. Patrick was a missionary. He came to spread faith and goodness, and he did so in an incredible way. He planted the seeds of faith, and we are seeing those seeds still alive and flourishing today. He is not only a saint of the past, but a living presence in our hearts—and that's what we're celebrating today.
Then came Minneapolis. The massive ICE crackdown there - with its stories of federal law enforcement shooting U.S. citizens, separating families and deporting undocumented people, even those trying to go through legal channels - led Leigh to feel called in a new way, to go to Minnesota and join the opposition. He didn't end up doing it. But some of his congregants began pushing: What are we doing? How are we defending democratic norms?
Born in Brooklyn, his life followed a path that blended scholarship, service and spiritual calling. He earned a bachelor's degree in history from Southern Connecticut State University. First, he felt drawn to ministry at the age of 19, according to his biography on the Brown Memorial Baptist Church website. That calling deepened his studies at Yale University, where he trained for the ministry and went on to graduate from divinity school in 1994.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
On a sunlit June Friday in Srinagar's Old City, the Jamia Masjid stands as it always has, ornate and imposing. Its 14th-century wooden pillars have been witnesses to centuries of sermons and struggle. Inside, about 4,000 worshippers sit in silence. When Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the spiritual leader of Kashmir's Muslims, rises to speak, he does so with grace but caution. Draped in his customary golden-bordered white thobe and crowned with a brown Karakuli hat, he delivers a sermon laced with quiet prayers.