An interesting confrontation is brewing between Bishop George Packard, retired Episcopal Bishop to the Armed Forces and Chaplaincies, and the leadership of Trinity Church, Wall Street.
In his most recent blog entry, Packard writes:
It looks like it’s all coming down to the wire so gird your loins for this Saturday, December 17th, around noon. The Trinity-owned property, a vacant lot north of Canal Street and bounded by 6th Avenue, could be the new home for Occupy Wall Street, the movement which has transfixed the world with its pluck and demand for truth…or not. Trinity might mobilize platoons of police in riot gear and ring this sad little space with multiple barricades. No room in this Inn!
It’s one thing to write about this but to come face-to-face with hundreds of expressionless cops with batons protecting a church-owned haven is to be in some mythological drama out of C.S. Lewis.
I plan to be with the marchers on Saturday not because I don’t like and respect the Rector, the staff, and all the work of this historic parish. I believe they are making a profoundly wrong decision in this matter. Certainly they could record what they think is a trespass on the property with a note to the Occupiers but then have the grace to look the other way.
Packard had recently written, with hope and depth of feeling, about efforts to forestall his confrontation. But it seems those efforts may now have failed.
The Cafe’s most recent coverage of the Duarte Square story is available here and here.
h/t to Wounded Bird