Each week, guest speakers from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines join the Reverend Peter Thompson and other St. Bart's clergy for deep and insightful conversations about topics that matter to our lives as responsible citizens and people of faith. Speakers in recent years have included winners of the Tony Award, the Emmy Award, the MacArthur Fellowship, and the Pulitzer Prize, professors from prominent universities like Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia, and journalists from New York, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic.
Acclaimed designer and artist Jon Key, author of Black, Queer, & Untold, brings to light the lives and legacies of Black and Queer creatives from the 1800s to the present.
Please post your questions in the comments section on Facebook or YouTube, or email the Reverend Zack Nyein at
William Stell, Faculty Fellow at New York University and author of the upcoming book Born Again Queer, uncovers the hidden history of gay evangelicals and the opposition they faced within the evangelical movement.
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
The Reverend Canon Leyla King, a Palestinian American priest and the author of the forthcoming memoir Daughters of Palestine, provides a way in to the conversation about the current realities in the Holy Land through the lens of her...
Patrick Bergquist, Chief Program Officer of Episcopal Charities and former staff member of St. Bart’s, returns to talk with The Reverend Zack Nyein about the ways in which the Episcopal Diocese of New York is currently supporting those in...
Wellville: The Long-Term Quest to Achieve Sustainable Equity and Wellbeing Philanthropist and investor Esther Dyson, reflects on her work as founder/volunteer for Wellville, a 10-year, non-profit project that is helping five small US...
The Reverned Natosha Reid Rice joins in conversation about how we can foster prophetic imagination amidst a city that never sleeps. An ordained minister and lawyer who currently serves as Minister for Public Life at All Saints' Atlanta; and...
Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough President, offers his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities currently being faced by our island home.
St. Bart’s parishioner and accessibility consultant Janina Sajka reflects on how the Church can become a more welcoming place for people with disabilities.
Hospital chaplain Zachary Fletcher shares new and liberative ways of understanding autism and neurodiversity, including through the lens of Christian spirituality. Please post your questions for our speaker in the comments section...
New York magazine senior writer Sarah Jones chronicles the transition some conservative Christians make from pro-life to pro-choice. Jones has recently authored several relevant articles about moral approaches to abortion: Anti-Abortion...
As we celebrate our country on this Independence Day weekend, Stephen Lean, Director of The American Family Immigration History Center on Ellis Island, discusses the ways in which immigration has enhanced the nation’s life. Join us in...
Beloved actress Jane Lynch, currently starring in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl, visits St. Bart’s to reflect on her life as an openly lesbian public figure and share stories from her long and acclaimed career.
In 2021, Juneteenth became America’s 11th national holiday, a day to commemorate slavery and emancipation. Emily Blanck, Associate Professor of History at Rowan University, an overview of the process through which Juneteenth...
