The Bryant community gathered Oct. 30 for a vigil to fight hatred, seek consolation and find community in the wake of the Oct. 27 shooting in a Pittsburgh, PA, synagogue.

“We must respond so that the hate-filled voices, which are still on the fringes of our society, do not grow unchecked,” Rabbi Steven Jablow, Bryant’s Jewish chaplain and Hillel leader, told those who gathered at the Machtley Interfaith Center. “Silence is complicity. We must not remain silent, even if we are not members of a specific target group of the haters.”

President Ronald K. Machtley, a Western Pennsylvania native, called the vigil an opportunity not only to condemn “bias-motivated violence,” but to also speak out against “biased attitudes and acts of bias.”

"This senseless act of hatred has failed in its attempt to give us fear,” said Father Robert Marciano, Bryant’s Catholic chaplain. “The message of love, the foundation of all faiths, will be spoken and felt during this time of great loss.”

The vigil was co-sponsored by Campus Ministry, the Machtley Interfaith Center, the PwC Center for Diversity and Inclusion, and Bryant Hillel.