 |
| Holy Cross Polish National Church Fells Point, Baltimore, Maryland |
On Friday, July 22, 2022, I passed by this venerable old church building in the Fells Point area of Baltimore City, Maryland.
I was surprised to see these very LARGE signs on the front door of the church (named “Holy Cross”):
“NO TRESSPASSING”
“NO LOITERING”
Maybe I’m missing something, but I find the placement of these signs to be very confusing . . .
And Jesus said:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.”
(See Matthew 11:28).
I have to be honest, these signs left me feeling confused?!?!
These are my thoughts . . .
It seems there is a systemic abandonment of the most needy, the most underserved, and the most marginalized by “the powers on high.” And I believe that when thrown “into the mix” if there is any type of discrimination, apathetic lack of concern for the plight of the poor-and-the-marginalized, outright contempt for those who are “different,” and blatant racism in all of its ugly manifestations, then the result is exactly what is seen here and elsewhere in various and numerous ways.
I think churches ought to have large signs on them that say “All are welcome here, and ALL means ALL!”
My suspicion in this case is that because this particular church is located about a block away from a well known, largely populated, and very busy drug rehabilitation program (serving both residential and out-patients), and unlike the relatively recent past, it is now in a so-called “challenged” neighborhood, that it has taken an ill-conceived “defensive position” believing it needs to shield itself from real or imagined “problems.”
What a missed opportunity to get out onto the streets and “to be” the presence of Jesus perhaps where such a manifestation of God’s love might be needed most.
I believe the optic of “NO TRESSPASSING” and “NO LOITERING” signs on a church building, very much speak volumes about malformed fears and anxieties about an otherwise “fertile mission field.” That’s too bad, and probably even “sinful.”
Maybe I missed something???
The following is another of my blog posts that addresses a similar theme:
https://www.frayteo.us/2020/09/meeting-friend-in-baltimore.html
3 comments:
I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.
Pope Francis
Hello Father,
We hope you’re having a good Sunday. We’re happy that you paid attention to our beautiful church but we are a little confused, too. We don’t understand why you aren’t following Jesus’s advice (Matthew 18:15-17, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”). So we don’t understand why you didn’t first talk to our priest (our priest’s email and phone number is on our Facebook and our website) or come after Mass and talk with our parishioners before you put your opinion on our church Facebook and on your blog.
If you had, we would have explained everything to you.
First of all, the No Trespassing sign was put there by the police because there was a lot of crime on our steps, break-ins into our church, and even some visitors that threatened our parishioners and priest. The No Loitering sign didn’t prevent people from sleeping on our church steps (to the point where we couldn’t open the church doors), vomiting on the steps, peeing and pooping on the steps, and having sex and doing drugs on the steps. We’ve lost count of how many times we’ve have to wash graffiti off the walls, and believe us, it’s very hard to wash off. You can easily see from the outside that people stole parts of our railing and our latern, broke windows, and even tried to move and steal our stone steps. We are a very small and poor church. We don’t have rich parishioners who sponsor us. We’re just a humble church. We can’t afford to buy replacements for broken and stolen items. We’re just trying to protect our church from devastation and profanity.
Sorry, Father, but we have a feeling that you might be attacking our church because we aren’t Roman Catholic, but Polish National Catholic. If you are, Jesus says, “For the one who is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:38-40). What good is attacking us supposed to bring? We’re on the same side. We as Christians, especially Catholics, shouldn’t fight against each other; we have a different battle now to fight together. Dividing people who believe in Christ is not God’s work. Our church has the same Holy Mass. We have apostolic succession. We have the same sacraments. We read the same Bible and the same Jesus comes to us in the Holy Eucharist. Roman Catholic Bishops confirmed this. Most of us came from the Roman Catholic Church.
Could you show us a Roman Catholic Church that’s open all the time for everybody? We see a lot of Roman Catholic Churches moving from this area or closing and selling the churches entirely because of crime and the inability to bring in enough money to stay. The churches that are still here, such as the Pentecostal and the Baptist churches across the street, have metal gates so that people can’t even sit on their steps. We are still here. Our doors are still open on Sundays at 10 am for everybody.
God bless you.
It is very sad that a priest is talking like a politician and is using religion and Jesus’s words to push some popular agenda. It’s also very sad that a priest is criticizing some other Catholic Church just to have more followers. It’s also very very sad that a priest is judging people without knowing them. Jesus said not to judge so that you will not be judged. Father, what do you know about us? You just saw the name of our church and the signs that help protect our building, then you made your own assumption and wrote a blog and Facebook post on it. You’ve never stepped foot in our church to feel the presence of God, you never met our priest or our community, but you think you know us very well. At least well enough to judge publicly. I checked your Facebook to maybe get to know you a little better and it looks like you are a confrere. It looks like on your Facebook that you are not very poor. You eat in good restaurants, you travel, and you have nice, rich friends, so I think you’re doing well. But if you want to practice what your founder, St. Francis, did, we really invite you to sit on our steps or even inside of the church and talk with, and maybe even share meals with, all who are coming there. It looks like your convent has more money than our church, which can’t afford our utility bills. In our church, we all have to work hard during the week so we can keep our church doors open on Sunday. Our priest is doing everything so that the church can survive. For example, he has to fix the ceiling, fix the broken toilets in the bathrooms, and go to the store to buy supplies for our food sales. Our priest also has to visit sick and elderly people because their Roman Catholic priest from their home parish is afraid of Covid. I think it would be nice for him to just sit in the church, welcome people, and talk about Jesus. But he doesn’t have that comfort. Please, Father, ask yourself in your heart about what’s the real reason behind your post. To me, it doesn’t look like this post is for God’s glory and building people’s faith. You used the word “sinful” - who are you to judge? One day, we will be asked about sins, but only about our own sins. Not about the sins of other people from other churches. And I believe the priests will be asked for more, because they received more. I hope, on that day, we will not be called Pharisees.
Post a Comment