Pleasantville Pastors Forge Interfaith Partnership to Build Bridges

August 6, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In Pleasantville, New York, three pastors from different Protestant denominations—Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Episcopal—are quietly building a model of interfaith partnership that runs against the grain of both religious territorialism and national polarization. The pastors, all queer and new to their congregations since early 2024, did not inherit a ready-made alliance. Instead, they discovered one already in motion: shared Lenten soup suppers, a joint youth group, and collective prayer services that had been planned before two of them even arrived. What emerged from the conversation is less a grand strategy and more a set of grounded, practical practices for how religious leaders can build trust across difference in a hyperlocal community.

Why the partnership works: shared practice over shared doctrine

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What you'll learn

1 (00:30) **Introducing Three New Pleasantville Pastors** - Guest host Jill Grossman sets up the episode: three religious leaders from Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Episcopal churches forging a unique interfaith partnership.
2 (01:29) **How Each Pastor Found Their Calling** - Each leader shares their personal journey into ministry, revealing formative experiences that shape their current work.
3 (06:35) **Why Interfaith Work Matters Now** - The pastors explain the urgent need for their partnership in a time of deep division and polarization.
4 (13:39) **The Partnership in Action: Shared Prayer and Youth Group** - Two concrete pillars of the interfaith work are revealed: a joint Lenten practice and a shared youth director.
5 (18:20) **Youth Director Ika: A Model of Inclusive Leadership** - The pastors discuss how their shared youth director's identity is a powerful draw for young people.
6 (20:37) **Leading as Queer Pastors in Pleasantville** - Each pastor identifies as queer, and they discuss how this identity informs their leadership and their congregations' journeys.
7 (26:14) **Beyond the Church Walls: Pride and Community Presence** - The pastors describe how their work extends into the broader Pleasantville community.

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Show Notes

In this episode, guest host Jill Grossman interviews the pastors of the Lutheran, Episcopalian, and Presbyterian churches in Pleasantville about their work to create safe spaces and better meet the needs of all community members. Reverend Kevin O’Hara of the Emanuel Lutheran Church, Reverend Katrina Zezza of the Pleasantville Presbyterian Church, and The Reverend Julia Macy Offinger of St. John’s Episcopal Church share their personal stories and how their backgrounds shape the way they lead their congregations. They explore what it means to lead their churches in this moment and how they are meeting issues from gender and sexual identity to immigration to poverty head on. And they share how they are creating safe, welcoming, pressure-free spaces for community members of all ages across and beyond their houses of worship.