Amid ICE clashes, New Hampshire bishop urges clergy to prepare their wills

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Amid ICE clashes, New Hampshire bishop urges clergy to prepare their wills

NPR
By Tovia Smith
Published January 18, 2026 at 3:00 AM MST


Elena Eberwein/NHPR
Bishop Rob Hirschfeld in the chapel at the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire in Concord on Jan. 13, 2026.

A New Hampshire Episcopal bishop's stark warning to his clergy is resonating across the nation, drawing fervent praise from some and rebukes from others.

Bishop Rob Hirschfeld was one of several community and faith leaders gathered in Concord, N.H., for a vigil for Renee Macklin Good just days after she was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis.

Hirschfeld called out the "cruelty, the injustice and the horror … unleashed in Minneapolis," and warned his clergy to prepare for "a new era of martyrdom."

"I've asked them to get their affairs in order to make sure they have their wills written," he said, "because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us with our bodies to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable."

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Tovia Smith
Tovia Smith is an award-winning NPR National Correspondent based in Boston, who's spent more than three decades covering news around New England and beyond.
See stories by Tovia Smith

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