Special Coverage of the Interfaith Vigil for Justice in Coral Gables
By Philip Cardella 13 January 2026
Coral Gables, Florida
When others thought of how to bring protests to South Florida during the Indivisible phone call in response to the murder of Renee Nicole Good on Thursday, January 8, that saw over 35,000 people listen in, Cindy Lerner thought of a church in Coral Gables.
Lerner, the former Mayor of the Village of Pinecrest here in Miami-Dade County and co-founder of Indivisible Action Team Miami-Dade, turned to the pastor of Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ, after the call and asked if the church would like to hold a prayer vigil.
Never one to decline an opportunity to bring hope to South Florida and to fight for justice, the Rev. Laurie Hafner responded that the church would be happy to host the event and that she would be happy to call on her friends across the faith communities in Miami-Dade County to help.
By Monday, just four days later, Rev. Hafner had assembled an array of religious leaders to lead a packed house of people seeking justice for Renee Nicole Good and the other victims of ICE in South Florida and beyond.
Responding to Rev. Hafner's call were faith leaders from the Christian, Jewish, Universalist and Hare Krishna faith communities as well as a quickly assembled chorus that went by the moniker "The Protest Choir" and professional folk duo Jennings and Keller.
At least as impressive as the lineup Ms. Lerner and Rev. Hafner assembled on short notice was the full house of people who crammed into Coral Gables first and oldest commercial building, the 100 year old church founded by the city's founder himself, George Merrick.
Between 350 to 400 people showed up on the short notice event, filling the sanctuary to the sort of capacity normally seen on the highest holy days of the Christian faith like Christmas and Easter.
Answering the calls for peace and demands for justice from the speakers, the audience engaged with the speakers and the musicians of the almost impromptu event.
While South Florida saw several protests over the weekend inspired by the mass phone call that motivated Lerner, this event stood out with its deliberative, reflective nature.
WLRN News Staff
The first speaker after Rev. Hafner welcomed the interfaith gathering was one of the members of her church, Cuban immigrant and American citizen Raul Hernandez who offered his story of captivity in Cuba as a political prisoner, rescue from his sinking boat by the US Coast Guard while trying to immigrate to the United States, and the joy of his citizenship in the United States.
"I thought my days of political repression and persecution had finally ended," Hernandez said.
"In my home country anyone with a uniform can demand to see your papers, and detain you and disappear you because under a totalitarian regime that is governed by executive order there is no due process. Sadly, 45 years later I find myself carrying a copy of my US passport in my wallet because in today's America due process is in life support."
While Hernandez's message was ultimately about fighting for justice so that he could "be at peace" the way John Lewis told him he was at peace a few years back, Hernandez's opening testimony matched the tone for the evening.
With The Protest Choir singing a beautiful rendition of Roberta Slavitt's Freedom is a Constant Struggle, to prayers from several faith leaders, the evening was somber but hopeful.
The following italicized section was added after I initially published this piece and emailed it to subscribers. I added the part afterwards because I realized it added necessary and relevant context that I had omitted initially in err.
It is worth noting that I attend Rev. Hafner's church most Sundays and am an active member there. On Monday she opened the evening with sharper elbows directed at the Trump Administration than I've seen before. This is in contrast to her positions for the last several years that I've been there. For context, Rev. Hafner is a minister trained by the legendary Henri Nouwen, a Dutch-born theologian Henri Nouwen, whose work centered on social justice: Rev. Dr. Laurie Hafner doesn't pull punches and is a champion of social justice. When I say her elbows were a bit sharper than I've seen before it is saying something, though that isn't to say it wasn't couched in love and hope.
Another that stood out to me was Lerner's presentation at the end, which was billed in the evening's program as a "Call to Action." While the other presenters that evening were certainly anti-ICE and pro-social justice, Lerner's Call to Action seemed as much a call to join the Democratic Party (though, admittedly, she didn't mention them by name, "In 2018, we took back Congress...we took back the Presidency in 2020," are examples of invoking the Democratic Party without using its name), as it was anything else. It seemed less about standing with the communities being targeted by the Trump Administration and more about promoting Indivisible and the Democratic Party, and this stood out, both as her speech was the longest of the evening and, arguably, the most partisan, in the party politics sense.
Still, the prayer vigil on Monday was Lerner's idea and I'm not sure it would have happened without her. Lerner wanted Rev. Laurie Hafner to take point on it and thus while her tone was different than the rest of the evening, the rest of the evening was as much her doing as anyone's and there's nothing wrong with standing out, especially in a call to action.
Perhaps at some point the local or national press will cover the Interfaith Vigil for Justice: Remember the Life of Renee Good and All Who Have Suffered at the Hands of ICE that was held yesterday in Coral Gables.
So far, they have not, with one editor telling me that their outfit did cover the protests over the weekend. This, however, was not a protest nor was it over the weekend.
It was something else. Something quieter yet as powerful as a protest.
I think it merits your attention.
Here is a video of the entire event.
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