The St Louis American interviewed The Very Rev. Mike Kinman, dean of Christ Church Cathedral, about his enthusiastic support for the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Rev. Kinman has lost some parishioners and faced some criticism from people who seem tired of hearing about the activists and the issues they raise.
From the article:
“Some people have said, ‘You’re making me feel bad, guilty, ashamed,’” Kinman said. “I get that. Christ Church Cathedral is not always an easy place to go to church. But we go where God is calling us. There is no way history could have come to St. Louis with this movement and us not throw open our doors and then go out into the street ourselves.”
Is your church involved in similar efforts? How are ways that churches can be safe places and shelters for activists?
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Pace Paul, David, and David, and I will relate a story. The late Urban T. "Terry" Holmes of blessed memory taught Theology of the Priesthood as Dean of the School of Theology at Sewanee. This was before the adoption of the current Book of Common Prayer had largely erased significant regional differences in churchmanship (expressed in liturgy, but reflecting theology). His admonition: "Let the other person decide what he or she will call you. It will tell you a great deal about that person." As a long-time hospital chaplain, meeting people of many religious backgrounds or none, this has been borne out. I can pick up some guidance on how to respond by how the person addresses me.
I'm not sure that the act of chastising everyone is all that different from what you have chastised other folks about!
It's very different, actually; the two scenarios are not at all equivalent!
Scenario 1:
Admonish others on grammar while ignoring the article content.
Scenario 2:
Admonish people for not caring about the point of the article.
In Scenario 2, the commentator is aware of the article, and is engaging with the premise; they are stating that the content is important. In Scenario 1, the commentator is not even acknowledging the content, or demonstrating any comprehension of it.
Anne and David: Thank you! I was thinking the same thing yesterday when I saw the original post. The fact that 8 postings to this piece were about honorific titles, and not voicing support to what he is doing, and to #BlackLivesMatter ... well, it says something, I am guessing, about the preoccupations of not a few in TEC.
I can't believe how much energy was wasted here on correct titles! The article was about the terrific effort of the Episcopal cathedral in St. Louis to support Black Lives Matter and a request from a writer to financially support this work. Please could we pay attention to what is truly important and spend less time of minutia. Until all of us are treated equally, none of us can be truly free. We are all God's children. We have spent centuries trying to keep some people "in their place." Meanwhile denying ourselves and humanity the benefit of their ideas, creativity, intelligence. Peace and justice for all!
Anne: Thank you! I find pedantry typically circles back to that idea too, of 'keeping people in their place'. There is a fetishistic love for titles & honorifics in TEC which I find a bit alarming. I think it's why some clergy prefer titles like "pastor" and "minister".
Yeah, "Reverend Smith" instead of "the Reverend Mr./Ms. Smith" grates on my nerves, too. In general, I think that Brother David is doing a good job in using proper Church terms rather than "popular" terms.
Kurt Hill
Brooklyn, NY