The Newtown Interfaith Council (NIC) reunited on Tuesday, October 1, after adjourning for the summer, and discussed ways they could bring the community together during the holidays.

The meeting at Trinity Episcopal Church was led by Dr John Woodall, Love Has a Home Here Founder Bill Donaldson, and Newtown Congregational Church Lead Pastor Matt Crebbin, who all agreed it is time to start planning for the council's annual fall gatherings.

NIC hosts an annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Gathering and the 12/14 Anniversary Gathering, with both being longstanding ways for the group to support the community.

“I had a preaching professor, and his comment was that Sundays always come with maddening regularity, but it seems like it’s the seasons that come quickly, too. It’ll be November before we know it, so now is the time to get ready,” Crebbin said.

Donaldson took the initiative and proposed to host this year’s Interfaith Thanksgiving Gathering at Sticks and Stones Farm. He said that the interfaith services for Thanksgiving have been traditionally small and that holding it at the farm would offer “a little different change of scenery.”

“It’ll certainly have a different vibe than the others,” Donaldson said. “We can make it more of a conversation instead of us just preaching to a group. If we could bring it into a circle and see if we can get more inclusivity and participation … We can really communicate with the community better in that format.”

Inspired by Donaldson’s proposal, Woodall said hosting the Thanksgiving gathering at Sticks and Stones could serve as a jumping off point for launching conversations in the community.

This would build off the group’s “Communities of Compassion” initiative that they kicked off earlier this year, which was designed to bring unity and connection to the community through discussions, exercises, and food.

There have not been any “Communities of Compassion” sessions beyond the first one held in February, however. Woodall, who is the main driving force for the project, said he needed to refocus on it.

“It felt like the community was asking us something, and it was on my plate because I’m the one who said ‘Let’s have these community conversations.’ We had the thing at Sticks and Stones, but between [various personal reasons], I dropped that ball,” Woodall explained.

He continued, saying the community is asking individual religious communities for support, and so they — the town's leaders of faith — need to listen.

“You know, we’re being asked something. And so maybe this invitation by Bill is like a way to rethink things again; rethink this idea of community conversations,” Woodall said.

Woodall also said that if the group wants to be relevant, the council needss to start showing up as a collective where there is pain in town. He emphasized that NIC is in a unique position to address things in town, whether through discussions on race or supporting the Islamic community, and that the group should do something.

“I mean, all of our churches are [showing up as much as they can], but if this body is going to be something, I think we have to figure out a way to show up, too,” Woodall said.

Bouncing off what Woodall said, Donaldson noted that maybe they could use Thanksgiving gathering as an opportunity for people to get together and potentially have a conversation about one of the pain points in the community.

“Bringing the town together, bringing people together, I think we are uniquely poised to help with that,” Donaldson said.

From there, discussion continued about the Thanksgiving gathering, with finding ways to create unity as an anchoring theme for the event.

Donaldson suggested they could try to invite a few people who might be interested in talking about unity. Meanwhile, Crebbin said that unity is partially a shared commitment to the well-being of the community and that they have to find ways to bridge the division and get people to come together.

Woodall noted that bridging that gap and crafting success can be a slow process, but that confidence is built over time. He said the Thanksgiving gathering would again be a safe, non judgemental gathering that could give everyone the opportunity to talk with one another.

It is in this way, Woodall said, that Thanksgiving is the perfect step to a larger, ongoing conversation and in generating more hope in the community.

“You only need one hope, one conversation where things [that] are chasms are bridged, and where respect is given back and forth. That’s a hope generator,” Woodall said. “It creates motivation for more, if you can create it. So if we just create it, then word will spread, and then more people will come. I really think that this town needs it, especially today.”

The Interfaith Thanksgiving Gathering is tentatively planned for Sunday, November 24. The group was in the process of drafting a theme for the event, but collectively seemed to like the idea of “giving thanks for who we are and who we can become.” Confirmed details will be shared when available.

Woodall was also interested, he said, in reaching out to any local teenagers who might be interested in the NIC’s mission to either run a parallel version of the group with them or potentially integrate them into what the interfaith council is already doing. This would be an endeavor for after the holiday season, it was agreed, as the NIC wants to first focus on their holiday gatherings and events.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.