Rev. Ann Kansfield. Photo via Greenpoint Reformed Church
If you think that all pastors are uptight, judgmental, straight laced, bores, that only shows you never met Reverend Ann Kansfield. I spoke with Ann for an hour and a half and the time seemed to whiz by. She is a great conversationalist with a disarming sense of humor, most of it self-deprecating.
I took careful notes on our conversation, but experienced writer’s block when trying to write about her. Suddenly, I had an aha moment, and realized why. Ann very rarely speaks in first person. She avoids the pronoun I, and invariably shifts from saying I to we. I realized that Ann is one of the least egotistical people I have ever met. Even though she was chosen as the New York Times person of the year in 2016, Ann is the personification of humility. As the old saying goes, “There is no I in team,” and Ann is the consummate team builder. Continue reading →
Just over 100 firefighters extinguished the Woops! Cafe fire last month. (Photo Credit Trevor Kapp)
Join your neighbors and the Mayor’s Community Affairs tonight at St. Stan’s Academy on 12 Newell Street for an informative fire safety meeting, and sign up to get free smoke detectors/CO2 alarms and installation!
In the wake of a recent string of fires in Greenpoint, including one at Woops! Cafe and another at a home on Diamond Street, fire safety should be a hot topic. After all, simple actions can prevent a devastating disaster.
According to statistics from the FDNY, “Seventy percent of fire deaths occur in homes with an inoperable smoke alarm or no smoke alarm present. The majority of the deaths are children and older adults.”
“Being aware of having working smoke detectors — checking your smoke detectors — is the number one thing people can do to save their life in a fire,” says FDNY Chaplain Ann Kansfield. “All of the other things pale in comparison.”
Other safety tips include obtaining substantial power adapters — and nixing those 99 cent store adapters. Be sure the equipment has the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Mark (see below).
For further tips, check out FDNY’s Top Seven Fire Safety Rules, because simple safety awareness is the first step in disaster prevention. And sign up for those free smoke detectors (and free installation!) tonight at 6:30pm at 12 Newel Street.
Take it from Kansfield: “I love my neighbors in Greenpoint and really, really hope they will make sure to have a working smoke alarm.”
Rev. Ann Kansfield with wife, Rev. Jennifer Aull, at the Greenpoint Reformed Church. Photo credit: Ian Spanier
Typically, when I walk down Manhattan Avenue, or through McCarren Park, or up Franklin, I’m thinking about myself — praying I look cool, contemplating the new bars, and eyeing the countless men who surround me. Things shifted, however, when I strolled these same streets with Reverend Ann Kansfield, the neighborhood’s beloved minister of Greenpoint Reformed Church, last week. For a few brief moments, I saw the streets through the eyes of a person who is sharply focused on the well-being of the inhabitants of Greenpoint.
It’s been a big year for Reverend Kansfield. In 2015, she was elected the first female and openly gay chaplain for the FDNY, while winning the The New York Times’ inaugural “New Yorker of the Year” title amongst big-name candidates like Donald Trump and the “Broad City” duo Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. Ann has a disarming way of making you feel like you’re her best friend — a “profound extrovert,” as she describes herself. It’s a no-brainer that she’s making such an impact on the city and the neighborhood. Continue reading →
Greenpointer and holder of many other titles Rev. Ann Kansfield. Photo: Kirsten Luce via The New York Times
Two Greenpoint Landing buildings have reached a construction milestone — a vertical one. Both 33 Eagle and 21 Commercial Street have topped out.
Greenpoint is on the map for hot sauce in New York City. Though the resident expert at The Heatonist cautioned that there’s “no face-melting sauce coming out of New York City right now,” Paulie Gees favorite Mike’s Hot Honey represents some of the best of the Big Apple’s Big Pepper Ambitions.
The next love story in our Valentine’s Day series is courtesy of Rev. Ann Kansfield and Rev. Jennifer Aull, who are co-pastors at Greenpoint Reformed Churchon Milton Street. Jen is also a licensed marriage and family therapist with a practice in North Brooklyn and midtown. Read on to hear more about how they met and established roots in Greenpoint. Continue reading →
I am very in love with my girlfriend of 3 years, but about a years ago her sexual energy plateaued and now I’m lucky if we have sex even once per month. Should I break up with her even though that is my only issue with her? Last time I mentioned her change it resulted in a large fight and her feeling getting upset.
Dear Only-Once-A-Month,
Before you break up with your girlfriend, here are some things to consider. First, it’s totally understandable that mentioning the change in your sex life resulted in a fight. She most likely has a myriad of feelings about the situation. Sex can be a barometer of the overall health of a relationship. But the good news is that with improved communication situations like this can definitely change. Continue reading →
Question: What do you do when you have very deep roots within a church that you love and sacrifice for, and then in comes a new honcho who stops ALL ACTIVITIES within the church and Parish. The Parish was finally in a good place, someplace it had not been in awhile and wham, torn to pieces again. Do you look for a new Parish or do you keep fighting those in charge?
Dear Displaced Disciple,
It sounds like you’re going through some difficult changes in your local church. Who knows, you could be describing my church. Over the time that I’ve served the Greenpoint Reformed Church, lots of changes have occurred. I’m sure that some of these were greeted with joy and others…well, I know that some folks aren’t so thrilled with the changes that have been made.
Houses of worship, especially in a city as vibrant as ours, are constantly changing. Continue reading →
You might know her as Pastor Ann Kansfield from Greenpoint Reformed Church but on Greenpointers she is known as “El Padre” and is ready to give her expert advice on life, love and God.
Anything goes, there is no question too weird or out there.
Still wetting the bed at thirty? Wondering if your girlfriend is gay? Is your dog an atheist? Do you have a real problem?
Sorry for this last minute update (I was in Florida for 2 weeks!), but tonight Thursday, 1/24 at 7pm at Greenpoint Reformed Church (136 Milton St) there will be an open forum, the first of many, to discuss the recently opened homeless respite at the church. All are welcome but I spoke to Pastor Ann and she wants to keep the meeting as constructive and positive.
So put down your pitch forks and bring you manners, people! See you there!
And if you miss it, don’t worry there will be more.
When I heard Lokal got a citation for serving Brunch on the sidewalk before noon on Sunday because it would prevent people from making it to church, I thought, “You gotta be kidding me!” Aetheism, laziness and in my experience hangovers are what stop people from attending. But let’s hear what my badass and hilarious preacher Ann Kansfield has to say:
Dear Members of Community Board 1:
This letter is in regard to sidewalk café seating, specifically the City prohibition against outdoor seating before noon on the Lord’s Day. The notion that sidewalk dining in some way restricts, inhibits or in any other way interferes with church attendance is utter hogwash. Consequently, I respectfully request that you not cite religious observance, specifically church attendance, as an argument against sidewalk dining. Unless a local clergyperson or other representative from a faith community actually complains about an issue, it is not an issue for us. To my knowledge, neither I, nor none of my clergy colleagues, have voiced any complaint about this issue.
Two observations might be additionally relevant. If there were so many church-going people in Greenpoint and Williamsburg that sidewalk seating would interfere with church attendance, all of our churches would be packed full of people. This is not the case.
Sunday morning worship at the Greenpoint Reformed Church is so exciting and my sermons are so riveting and life-changing that sidewalk seating in no way keeps our congregation from attending services here. We simply traverse along the empty portion of the sidewalk and are able to get to church.
Lastly, regarding the law itself. By only pertaining to Sundays, the law clearly discriminates against others who observe Sabbath on other days of the week. Therefore, it would be my hope that the community board would petition the City to eliminate the law all together.
