From the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts:
As Occupy Boston protesters regroup following the recent close of their Dewey Square encampment, the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts' Cathedral Church of St. Paul has offered them meeting space for their general assemblies, beginning Tuesday, Dec. 13. The general assemblies are open meetings through which local Occupy participants come to consensus about future actions. The evening meetings take place on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays.St Paul's models the church as sanctuary, a place of refuge for the Occupiers who were driven out of Dewey Square. Thanks be to God, the cathedral dean, the Very Rev. Jep Streit, and the staff of St Paul's.
The Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. Paul, located at 138 Tremont Street in downtown Boston, has offered to host the meetings on a week-to-week basis, as needed, and is doing so not to endorse a particular point of view but instead "to endorse the conversation," according to the cathedral's dean, the Very Rev. Jep Streit.
"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," Streit said, noting he felt that attention had of late shifted to controversy over the protesters' encampment and away from the economic and social justice issues at hand.
I have a soft spot in my heart for St. Paul's. It was there in 1960, after the invitation of my friend Hugh to attend a service with him, that I was received into the church that was to be my home ever since. The Episcopal Church welcomed a disillusioned RC and I have never looked back.
ReplyDeleteGee, maybe we should form a "former RC club? what a hoot it would be and the stories we could tell! ;-)
ReplyDeleteNij
Amelia, I have never looked back, either, although I came much later than you to my new home. For years I was intrigued by the Episcopal Church, but not enough to visit, except a time or two for a wedding or a baptism.
ReplyDeleteNij, we are legion. Yes, we'd have stories to tell. Still, I'm grateful for much, if not all, that I learned in the RCC.
Much later, when I told the rector at the time that I may want to attend his church, I said, 'In a way, I've flirted with the Episcopal Church for quite a while.' When I finally showed up on a couple of Sundays, he asked me, 'Well, are you now engaged to the Episcopal Church?'