“It’s a great day of learning and a great day of sharing opportunities,” said Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as he concluded a series of meetings with faith leaders in New York City on Friday, August 21, 2026.

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“It was beautiful to see the relationship established between different communities and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” Elder Soares said.

“The most important thing to me was to recognize the connection we have with them, that they trust in our ability to support them, and also the capacity that we have to contribute to good initiatives in this area,” he added.

As part of his duties as an Apostle, Elder Soares oversees the Church’s Northeast area of the United States, including New York City, the country’s largest metropolitan area and a global hub for religious diversity.

Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference.
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He was joined by Elder Robert M. Daines, a General Authority Seventy and President of the United States Northeast Area, and Elder David R. Marriott, an Area Seventy, who arranged the visits to strengthen ties with the Christian and Jewish communities.

The senior Church leaders traveled to four different locations in the city to meet with the Rev. A. R. Bernard, founder and CEO of the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn; Rabbi Joseph Potasnik and Rabbi Diana Gerson of the New York Board of Rabbis; J. Antonio Fernandez, executive director of Catholic Charities of the New York Archdiocese; and the Rev. Nicolas Kazarian of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference.
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The first stop was at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, a nondenominational church which serves tens of thousands of followers.

“Meeting Elder Soares was a pleasure,” said Bernard, who established the center with his wife in 1978. “He gets it. He understands the importance of partnering and collaboration. He understands what it means to find common ground so that we can work together. So, I look forward to working with him in the future.”

Bernard said the Church of Jesus Christ has helped his center expand its efforts to feed thousands of families in need with food donations that began during the pandemic. The Christian Cultural Center went from feeding 25,000 families a year through its pantry to 130,000 families annually.

Now we’re looking to expand that even more,” he said.

Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference.
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The Apostle finalized his New York meetings with a tour of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine in Lower Manhattan, near the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.

“There are so many spaces where we can collaborate, and the first space is really about establishing a strong relationship. We are very grateful to Elder Soares to sit down and take time to address some of the issues and priorities that are dear to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese [and] get to know the people,” said Kazarian.

“We do this because we love God, and we love our neighbors, and our expression to love our neighbor and to love God is to work with this diverse community,” Elder Soares concluded.