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.
In an age of information overload and political polarization, how do we discern what truly serves the common good? CUNY Law professor and St. Bart’s parishioner Ally Coll explores the promises and pitfalls of both evidence-based and intuition-led decision making—in our public life and our personal faith. Please post your questions in the comments section on Facebook or YouTube, or email the Reverend Peter Thompson at
With Dr. Daisy Khan
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
Have you wondered why the lines for food have gotten so long? Patrick Bergquist, Interim Executive Director of Crossroads Community Services, discusses the increasing prevalence of food insecurity within our city.
The observance of Columbus Day is as controversial as ever. But who exactly was Christopher Columbus? Laurence Bergreen, author of Columbus: The Four Voyages, gives us a picture of the full, complex person and reflects on how we continue to...
When the current Pope chose his official papal name, he looked to Francis of Assisi, the medieval friar best known for his love of nature and steadfast commitment to poverty. Fordham University professor Patrick Hornbeck, a parishioner and...
Join us for our first live, in-person Forum in over 18 months! The Forum will also be livestreamed for those who prefer to tune in remotely. The Reverend Kenneth Brannon, Vice Rector, St. Michael and All Angels Church, Dallas, Texas, explores...
As we mark the 20th anniversary of September 11, 2001, and mourn the millions who have already died as part of the COVID-19 pandemic, psychologist and psychotherapist Dorothy P. Holinger, Ph.D. explains how grief works and offers suggestions on...
Come Labor On: Reflections on Labor Day On Labor Day weekend, the Reverend Richard Witt, Executive Director of Rural Migrant Ministry, reflects on the experience and needs of farmworkers in New York State and the importance of advocating for all...
Author Dr. Beth-Sarah Wright draws on her latest book Dignity: Seven Strategies for Creating Authentic Community to explore how our institutions, in the words of our Baptismal Covenant, can better “respect the dignity of every human...
The renowned English poet-priest Malcolm Guite reads poems from his latest collection, David’s Crown: Sounding the Psalms, and offers a meditation on how the Good News of Jesus can be found in King David’s songs.
Despite the perceived secularization of society during the twentieth century, it was actually an age of extraordinary revival for religiously based music. The New Yorker’s music critic Alex Ross shares thoughts on some favorite sacred works...
Writer Rainesford Stauffer reflects on the experience of young adults in contemporary society. How can they find satisfaction in the ordinary when they are constantly pressured to strive for something more?
Frank Collerius and Crystal Chen, co-hosts of the New York Public Library’s podcast The Librarian Is In, offer summer reading recommendations and address questions about reading, libraries, and books.
