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.
Sunday, July 20, 2025 Fake News: The Most Famous Quotes the Saints Never Said
The Reverend Peter Thompson fact checks quotations purported to derive from famous Christian figures, including St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa of Avila, Martin Luther, and John Wesley. Please post your questions in the comments section on Facebook or YouTube, or email the Reverend Peter Thompson at
Upcoming Speakers at The Forum
July 27 Mama: A Queer Black Woman’s Story of a Family Lost and Found
Author Nikkya Hargrove discusses her memoir about her unconventional journey to motherhood.
August 3 Expunge: Restoration after a Criminal Record
Attorney Jeffrey Grant, founder of White Collar Support Group, explains how expunging criminal records can benefit those who have already served their sentences and the society-at-large.
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
The Great Organ of St. Bartholomew’sDays before a St. Bart’s Conservancy gala concert featuring our celebrated Great Organ, Dr. Paolo Bordignon, Organist and Choirmaster, outlines the history and characteristics of the instrument and...
Course Resources
The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast
Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed on Discovery+
Database of Megachurches in the United States (Hartford Seminary)
Megachurch 2020: The Changing Reality in America's Largest Churches by...
Moving Up and Graduation Sunday is May 8, 2022 (Mothers' Day). This year we will recognize graduating seniors with a special blessing and a gift from St. Bart's, in addition to highlighting them in the worship leaflet. Please complete the...
Funeral Planning for Invincible People (Who Have No Time to Die)
Amy Cunningham, Owner of Fitting Tribute Funeral Services, helps us think about a topic we often avoid--our own deaths--and guides us in the important work of preparing...
Values, Vision, and Belonging: How to Reckon with the Climate Emergency
Karenna Gore, the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary, returns to St. Bart's to discuss the ongoing climate...
4/3 A Rabbi and A Priest in Conversation
As Easter and Passover both approach, The Reverend Meredith Ward speaks with Rabbi Sarah Berman, Director of Adult Education at Central Synagogue, about the connections between Christianity and Judaism...
Donald Romanik, St. Bart's parishioner, President of The Episcopal Church Foundation and author of Money Legacies, calls us to recognize and reconsider the ways in which we were taught to think about money as children...
Whether secular or spiritual, simple or spectacular, remixed or traditional, rituals are powerful tools for deepening the experience of life. And yet they’re widely misunderstood and vastly underutilized, even in our religious institutions...
3/8 Special Edition of The Forum
Tuesday, March 8, 6:00 PM
War in Ukraine: Understanding the Religious Dimension
Aristotle Papanikolaou and George Demacopoulos, Co-Directors of the Orthodox Studies Center at Fordham University, discuss the...