WHAT: Prayer vigil and delivery of prayer cards calling on Senator Joe Lieberman to support healthcare reform.

WHEN: Today – Tuesday, November 24:

Interfaith prayer vigil – 11:30 AM.

Delegation into Sen. Lieberman’s office – 12:00 PM.

WHERE: Sen. Joe Lieberman’s Hartford Senate office:

One Constitution Plaza, 7th Floor, Hartford.

DETAILS: Today, religious leaders representing multiple faiths will try to again deliver personal prayers from constituents of Senator Joe Lieberman (I) calling upon him to support healthcare reform. On Sunday, November 15, over five hundred people from across Connecticut gathered outside the senator’s Stamford home for a candlelight vigil organized by clergy and congregants from Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Unitarian Universalist congregations.

During the interfaith service, hundreds of people wrote personal prayers to the Senator urging his support for a public health care option and calling on him to give up his plans to filibuster reform legislation. However, when rabbis, priests, and imams attempted to deliver the completed cards, they were turned away on order of building security who had been directed not to accept any offerings.  And when a neighbor residing in Senator Lieberman’s building who attended the vigil tried to deliver the prayer cards, she was turned away as well.

Senator Lieberman has refused to listen to advocates, doctors, and small business leaders about their support for including a public option in any healthcare reform bill. He has refused to meet with faith leaders to discuss their belief in expanding access to quality, affordable medical coverage. He has turned his back on his constituents by threatening to join a filibuster when legislation with a public option is debated in the US Senate, effectively killing long overdue reform efforts that would benefit those most in need.

The Interfaith Fellowship for Universal Health Care is a multiracial, multicultural group of religious leaders of diverse faith traditions from across Connecticut. The organization has been a partner in the healthcare4every1 campaign to pass SustiNet — landmark legislation that creates a state public option in Connecticut and addresses insurance access, cost and quality.