Parish Provides Forum on Banned Book
The action of the McMinn County school board in banning the graphic novel Maus, which has won multiple awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, as a way to present the horrors of the holocaust to children, has led to a national controversy over the book. National Public Radio did a story on the controversy and one of the responses featured a discussion of the book sponsored by St. Paul Episcopal Church in McMinn County
Priest Serves as Go-Between with Labor Unions and Companies
The Episcopal News Service had a feature story on the Rev. Richard Smith, a retired priest, who has long been active in the labor movement and is no serving as a intermediary between labor unions and employers whose workers are considering forming unions. Part of the process is proving that a union has been authorized by individual workers organize at a particular place of employment. Smith serves as the independent third part that checks the authorization cards, providing an official count and verifying the signatures. He connected with the Catholic Labor Network to become one of those trained to do this work. For more, go to the ENS story here.
Continuing Stories
Christ Church Oxford and Dean Reach Settlement
Last week Update noted that the long simmering controversy between the Dean of Christ Church and the faculty of Christ Church College might be resolved with a large payment and settlement, but that a second matter of a harassment charge was still pending, as was investigation by the Charity Board. This week brings news that the dean accepted the settlement and resigned, and that the resignation also ended the harassment complaint. Thinking Anglicans has the pertinent news stories here.
News Media Pick Up Story on Parish Suing Town
Update had carried stories when Brookings Oregon residents began complaining about St. Timothy's work with the homeless; when the town passed an ordinance that would have prevented St. Timothy's Episcopal from continuing to feed the homeless four times a week, and when the parish and diocese sued the town to prevent enforcement of the ordinance. Now national news media have picked up the story, including The New York Times, National Public Radio, and the Episcopal News Service. Each has done their won interviews, but the story is not much different than the local news and legal filings Update has already referenced. What is clear from the stories is that the neighbors who were most upset reacted to a city initiative that requested St. Timothy's allow homeless to park in their parking lot overnight to give them a safe place. The city has reacted by limiting the free meals, not the parking.