I don't like Steve Duin's picture. I don't usually hold such random things against people, but he made me really angry today. Why did I get so upset about it? For one, I spent all of Monday in a meeting, a great deal of which centered of if we ought to offer our church for the Transitional School. More precisely, the meeting was about how to optimize the resources we have for all stakeholders. Which is a fancy way of saying even people who don't use the building for Ukelele practice matter. Neighbors and preschools and Anonymous groups all have a stake in the availability of the sort of public space that a church has.
This is what Steve (whose Oregonian bio mostly talks about co-editing books and his comic book collection) had to say. Paraphrased a bit.
“It takes a special church to bring a New Testament parable to life in this day and age. Last week, St. Stephen Catholic Church and the Archdiocese of Portland pulled that off in style, terminating a five-year lease with the Community Transitional School in a terse one-paragraph letter.”
“The decision calls to mind a story Jesus tells in Matthew 18, the parable of the unmerciful servant. I'll get to that take on the nature of justice and forgiveness in a moment, but first let me get you back up to speed on the Transitional School.”
The Transitional School, is described. It is a school for homeless and transient children.
A bash on the church and its priorities. It seems to center on the question, What kind of church can no longer afford to maintain the building for multiple users, but can allow one to maintain and administer the whole thing for them? Also noted, the School's lease had expired.
Here follows a literal transcription of Matthew 18.
“Thus, even as the archdiocese and its parishes plead poverty, beg for sympathy and mercy, and file for bankruptcy in the priest abuse scandal, St. Stephen takes an utterly businesslike -- and cutthroat -- approach to a school for homeless kids. “
“Justice and mercy, take note. The school will survive. I have less faith in the future of the church.”
The full article is listed below. You will likely have to search for Tues Jan 31, 2006.http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/
And I got upset enough I sent a letter to the editor. As you can likely tell, the more I write the harder it is for me to edit and I had to get this down to 150 words. I hope my name didn't count.
This is what I wrote:
In response to Steve Duin's commentary on Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Church is not about buildings, it is about people. However, churches own the last public space that can house low- and non-profit ventures. Because of this, Christians have diverted resources from people towards buildings and allowed spiritual leaders to be untrained and underpaid property managers.
As a society, we have all been content to let churches provide and maintain this public space. In the glut of mixed-use infill, we provide for low-income housing. But there are many things, including the Transitional School, that need space as well. For 30 years, we have utilized facilities left by the building boom of the 1950's. It is not the shame of churches that they can no longer maintain these buildings. It is societal shame that our land use policies place no value on space for preschools, soup kitchens and community theater.
Heather Lee
St. David of Wales Episcopal Church
Portland, OR
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