Archbishop Elpidophoros to Address Democratic National Convention

The Democratic National Committee has released the names of all the religious figures who will speak during the party’s national convention, which will be staged in a completely different way this year, using live streaming of speeches, due to the coronavirus.

The convention, which will be broadcast totally online, will feature prayers by a score of ministers, priests and rabbis representing all the major faiths of the United States, including the head of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, His Eminence Elpidophoros.

Other  figures who will be addressing the Convention include Sister Simone Campbell, the Executive Director of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice; Rabbi Lauren Berkun, a Vice President of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America; the Reverend James Martin, SJ, a Jesuit priest and Imam Dr. Al-Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid, a Muslim faith-based social justice activist who is the imam at the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem.

The Archbishop, who took over the reins of the largest denomination of Eastern Orthodox believers in the United States in June of 2019, has been known for his wide outreach to the public, marching with Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Queens recently.

Of course, he will be only one of the many religious leaders in attendance at the convention; the organizers always invite multiple faith leaders to speak and offer prayers at each such event for both major parties.

The Archbishop will offer his benediction to the convention attendees on August 19; all the convention’s speeches and other activities will be streamed live from the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, the city hosting the event this year.