On a conference call, hosted earlier today by the San Francisco Interfaith Council (SFIC), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi briefed a diverse array of religious leaders on COVID-19 (Coronavirus) legislative developments and Congress' ongoing response to put Families First. Throughout her remarks she invoked her own deep religious convictions and the need for prayer and hope at this critical time.  

Speaker Pelosi also heard from and responded to questions of faith leaders who shared firsthand pastoral experiences of the adverse impact the pandemic is having on their communities of faith, congregants and religious institutions.

Among the religious leaders participating on the call were Imam Abu Qadir Al Amin, Imam of the San Francisco Muslim Community Center, The Right Rev. Mark Handley Andrus, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Francisco, the Most Reverend Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, Father Paul Fitzgerald, S.J., President of the University of San Francisco, and Rabbi Beth Singer, Co-Senior Rabbi of Congregation Emanu-El.

The San Francisco Interfaith Council is grateful to Speaker Pelosi for her years of ongoing support and collaborative work with the SFIC on issues ranging from healthcare to immigration, homelessness to ensuring the rights of the marginalized and disenfranchised. By initiating today's call and seriously engaging our City's religious leaders on the gravity of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, she reaffirms the important need for a unified and wholistic community response to this crisis.