Occupying Churches - Mark Tooley
Occupying Churches
By Mark Tooley
http://www.theird.org/page.aspx?pid=2203
December 16, 2011
The Very Reverend Jep Streit boasted his congregation's diversity likening it to the "United Nations." (Photo credit: Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts)
With fewer and fewer people attending the spiraling Episcopal Church, some prelates seem to see opening the doors to Wall Street Occupiers as a potential solution.
Since Occupiers lost their protest encampment at Boston's Dewey Square, the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts has hospitably opened the doors of its Cathedral Church of St. Paul to the Occupiers to perpetuate the "conversation" about social justice.
"The issues raised by the Occupy movement are important to be discussing in society, and so I'm happy to offer our cathedral to provide hospitality and a venue so those conversations can continue," enthusiastically chimed cathedral dean the Very Reverend Jep Streit. According the diocesan website, Occupation "general assemblies" would begin at the cathedral on December 13 and would continue three times a week.
Read the full story at www.VirtueOnline.org
By Mark Tooley
http://www.theird.org/page.aspx?pid=2203
December 16, 2011
The Very Reverend Jep Streit boasted his congregation's diversity likening it to the "United Nations." (Photo credit: Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts)With fewer and fewer people attending the spiraling Episcopal Church, some prelates seem to see opening the doors to Wall Street Occupiers as a potential solution.
Since Occupiers lost their protest encampment at Boston's Dewey Square, the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts has hospitably opened the doors of its Cathedral Church of St. Paul to the Occupiers to perpetuate the "conversation" about social justice.
"The issues raised by the Occupy movement are important to be discussing in society, and so I'm happy to offer our cathedral to provide hospitality and a venue so those conversations can continue," enthusiastically chimed cathedral dean the Very Reverend Jep Streit. According the diocesan website, Occupation "general assemblies" would begin at the cathedral on December 13 and would continue three times a week.
Read the full story at www.VirtueOnline.org
2 comments:
You don’t even need to be religious to understand -and embrace- the idea that "Whatsoever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." But many in the 1%, in blind greed and endless schemes, have forgotten this, and have closed their eyes to what the word "society" should really mean. But because of Occupy Wall Street, we are finally talking less about CUTS and more about BLEEDING. Instead of demanding m-o-r-e budget cuts -to be borne by the middle class and poor- we are FINALLY focusing on the shameful bleeding that the poor and middle class has endured for all too long. Instead of talking about even m-o-r-e cuts in the taxes of millionaires....we are now talking about fairness and justice - about an economy and a political system that is increasingly run for the rich, and by the rich. Instead of talking about LESS government, we are talking about a government that WORKS FOR ALL OF US, not just a favored few. Thank you OWS, for reminding us that people -ordinary working people- really DO matter, and for helping open our eyes to what’s really going on in this country. In a city where there is precious little public space that we can call our own, this is much more than a plea for sanctuary: It’s a hard-fought carving out of a protected space amid the repression, an expression of conscience and affirmation... continually reminding us, goading, prodding, annoying, illuminating and encouraging us..reminding us what of we’ve lost, of what we can do, and what we can be. They would pen us in, they would permit us to death, they would tell us to “ move on, move on, there’s nothing to see”.....don’t block the street, don’t trespass, don’t EXIST. You don’t belong, you don’t count, you don’t have a right to even be here.... A city where control-freaks would sweep us under the rug and out of the way...as they deny both us, our lives, and our futures. But OWS says loudly, both in word and in DEED: we BELONG, we STAND our ground, and we DO matter! This is OUR land, and we want it BACK! The word OCCUPY says it all! That’s why this space is important. Trinity Church should look deep into its collective soul, do the right thing, and help OWS. If Christ were physically among us today, as He was 2000 years ago, He would be among the FIRST to climb those fences, and occupy Trinity’s Duarte Square. Of this I am certain...
I don't recall Jesus climbing any fences or joining any protests. He did call Matthew and Zacchaeus out of tax-collecting, so I'm not sure that I understand your association of Jesus with the occupy movement.
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