STORMY WEATHER
Trinity-Wall Street Episcopal Church’s current controversy with Occupy Wall Street in which the Occupiers are demanding to be able to move on to some church-owned land, something Trinity has refused to allow, seems to have opened up a considerable rift on the Episcopal left. Mark Sisk, the Episcopal Bishop of New York, has issued a statement supporting Trinity’s position:
As many of you know, Trinity Wall Street is being challenged to provide a small parcel of parish-owned land, Duarte Square, to the Occupy Wall Street movement for encampment or other undefined use.
Trinity has clearly shown its support for the wider goals of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and has aided protesters directly through pastoral care and extensive use of parish facilities. They have said “yes” to requests for meeting space, bathroom facilities, private conference rooms, housing referrals, and pastoral care, and continue to look for ways to provide direct support to those who identify with the movement in Lower Manhattan. Providing private land without facilities for indeterminate usage, however, poses significant health and safety concerns, and is beyond the scope of Trinity’s mission. To this, the parish has reasonably said, “no.”
In and of itself, a request for use of a parish space by an outside group would not necessitate a bishop’s involvement. But alarmingly, some clergy and protesters have attempted to “take” or “liberate” the space without Trinity’s consent, and have clearly indicated their intent to engage in other attempts to do so in the coming days.
While many tactics of the Occupy movement have proven effective and creative, I feel it necessary now to reiterate our Church-wide commitment to non-violence. The movement should not be used to justify breaking the law, nor is it necessary to break into property for the movement to continue.
Together, let us pray for peaceful articulation, in word and deed, of the issues of justice and fairness that have brought the Occupy movement into the national conversation.
As has Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.
Trinity Church, Wall Street, has provided extensive practical and pastoral support to the Occupy Wall Street movement. The Trinity congregation has decided that the property known as Duarte Park is not appropriate for use by the Occupy movement, and that property remains closed. Other facilities of Trinity continue to be open to support the Occupy movement, for which I give great thanks. It is regrettable that Occupy members feel it necessary to provoke potential legal and police action by attempting to trespass on other parish property. Seekers after justice have more often achieved success through non-violent action, rather than acts of force or arms. I would urge all concerned to stand down and seek justice in ways that do not further alienate potential allies.
If Jim Naughton’s site is a reliable indicator, many TEC liberals are outraged at the Sisk and Schori statements and that’s putting it mildly. These reactions are typical.
Well, now we hear from the bishops. I can’t say they make me proud. That Bishop Sisk and Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori encourage non-violence is absolutely right and proper. They ask it of the Occupiers, and now perhaps they might use the moral force of their words to ask the police to use restraint. The great majority of incidents of violence that I’ve heard about and seen on videl were from unnecessary use of force by the police.
Does any of this mean anything? Probably not. Insofar as one Episcopal priest after another has gone out of his or her way to express support for the hippies, next year’s General Convention may be considerably more heated than it was originally going to be. And particularly leftist clergy may not defer to the bishops, at least for a while. But I think this controversy will eventually blow over.
As many of you know, Trinity Wall Street is being challenged to provide a small parcel of parish-owned land, Duarte Square, to the Occupy Wall Street movement for encampment or other undefined use.
Trinity has clearly shown its support for the wider goals of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and has aided protesters directly through pastoral care and extensive use of parish facilities. They have said “yes” to requests for meeting space, bathroom facilities, private conference rooms, housing referrals, and pastoral care, and continue to look for ways to provide direct support to those who identify with the movement in Lower Manhattan. Providing private land without facilities for indeterminate usage, however, poses significant health and safety concerns, and is beyond the scope of Trinity’s mission. To this, the parish has reasonably said, “no.”
In and of itself, a request for use of a parish space by an outside group would not necessitate a bishop’s involvement. But alarmingly, some clergy and protesters have attempted to “take” or “liberate” the space without Trinity’s consent, and have clearly indicated their intent to engage in other attempts to do so in the coming days.
While many tactics of the Occupy movement have proven effective and creative, I feel it necessary now to reiterate our Church-wide commitment to non-violence. The movement should not be used to justify breaking the law, nor is it necessary to break into property for the movement to continue.
Together, let us pray for peaceful articulation, in word and deed, of the issues of justice and fairness that have brought the Occupy movement into the national conversation.
As has Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.
Trinity Church, Wall Street, has provided extensive practical and pastoral support to the Occupy Wall Street movement. The Trinity congregation has decided that the property known as Duarte Park is not appropriate for use by the Occupy movement, and that property remains closed. Other facilities of Trinity continue to be open to support the Occupy movement, for which I give great thanks. It is regrettable that Occupy members feel it necessary to provoke potential legal and police action by attempting to trespass on other parish property. Seekers after justice have more often achieved success through non-violent action, rather than acts of force or arms. I would urge all concerned to stand down and seek justice in ways that do not further alienate potential allies.
If Jim Naughton’s site is a reliable indicator, many TEC liberals are outraged at the Sisk and Schori statements and that’s putting it mildly. These reactions are typical.
Well, now we hear from the bishops. I can’t say they make me proud. That Bishop Sisk and Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori encourage non-violence is absolutely right and proper. They ask it of the Occupiers, and now perhaps they might use the moral force of their words to ask the police to use restraint. The great majority of incidents of violence that I’ve heard about and seen on videl were from unnecessary use of force by the police.
And so we know — the official church stance is to stand with the millionaires who run the vestry of Trinity Wall Street. No matter the very name of the movement is “occupy” and the whole point is to be a visible challenge to the status quo. I guess if Jesus had wanted to speak to crowds of people at Duarte he would have been arrested because of health and safety concerns. Sad, sad, sad.
Trinity’s handling of this over the past 3 weeks has been a stunning exercise in assumption and rigidity. It has given OWS things OWS neither asked for or really needed. Having had the privilege of getting to know a core group of this “leaderless yet leaderful” (Cornel West) movement I can tell you they are not in need of pastoral care. OWS’s structure is more like church than any parish I know.
The irresponsibility of the misleading comments of Katharine Jefferts Schori and Mark Sisk indicate how out of touch The Episcopal Church has become and why it has lost one-third of its membership in a decade. Reading the bishops statements one hears the sound of a few more nails in TEC’s coffin. It is limited for Jefferts-Schori and Sisk to parrot Trinity’s talking points without looking at the plans or reading Occupy Theory. The past 3 weeks could have been an enormous opportunity for the dying TEC and Trinity to embrace the wind of passion and commitment OWS has brought with them.
Whatever one may think of the advisability of Trinity Wall Street offering Duarte Square to the Occupy Wall Street Movement, the Presiding Bishop and the current Bishop of New York appear condescending. The offer of pastoral care sounds really stupid. Maybe Jefferts Schori and Sisk have been listening too much to their attorneys, whose job is to point out everything that might go wrong. They need a better public relations statement, something positive to offer. Offering spiritual platitudes to the media will not do. This message will please neither liberals nor conservatives.
Whatever one may think of the advisability of Trinity Wall Street offering Duarte Square to the Occupy Wall Street Movement, the Presiding Bishop and the current Bishop of New York appear condescending. The offer of pastoral care sounds really stupid. Maybe Jefferts Schori and Sisk have been listening too much to their attorneys, whose job is to point out everything that might go wrong. They need a better public relations statement, something positive to offer. Offering spiritual platitudes to the media will not do. This message will please neither liberals nor conservatives.
Does any of this mean anything? Probably not. Insofar as one Episcopal priest after another has gone out of his or her way to express support for the hippies, next year’s General Convention may be considerably more heated than it was originally going to be. And particularly leftist clergy may not defer to the bishops, at least for a while. But I think this controversy will eventually blow over.
No comments:
Post a Comment