Blessed Be the Lord.
By: Cynthia L. Butler, an attorney, graduate of Georgetown Law and Cornell University, College of Arts and Sciences based in Washington, DC who serves on the Social Justice Advocay Committee of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown.
In New York, right on 5th Avenue in the middle of Manhattan is an old stone Presbyterian church called appropriately Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. http://www.fapc.org/
While the middle of the prime time shopping district might seem an unlikely place for a church, it was and is wildly popular. It has a beautiful old dark wood panelled ambiance given to the solicitudes of quiet prayer. For over 200 years, the Word of the Lord has been proclaimed there and exposited upon by some of the best and brighest Princeton and Fuller trained Presbyterian pastors in the country.
One of the greatest things that the congregation is proud to pour itself into is its homeless ministry. Believe it or not, in mid-town Manhattan, amidst the wealth of billionaires, Wall Street moguls, Saks Fifth Avenue and the hautest couture blingeries there are homeless people. Lots of them. They sleep in door frames, they smell bad. People walk over them, police scurry them off, shop owners and employees keep them out of the stores and they scrounge the garbage cans for lunch.
The homeless ministry fed, clothed and sheltered overnight homeless people. They have several initiatives, "Meals on Heels" taking food out to the streets to homeless people, "Homeless on the Steps" serving the poor who drop themselves literally at their doorsteps exhausted and the overnight shelter. People from the congregation took turns staying overnight in the rotating shelter of sorts to tend to the homeless and cook for them. Think Saint Francis of Assisi with a better budget.
Apparently the financial interests of mid-town manhattanites got fed up and had enough of these homeless people ruining the neighborhood as they parked themselves lounged on the sidewalk surrounding Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church waiting to be fed or stay the night, no doubt making crazy noises and smelling rather unlike the Channel boutique. The city rounded them up, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian filed for an injunction to stop the city from shutting down the ministry and the city appealed.
There was a lawsuit to expel the homeless and shut down the ministry. Sales must be tumbling. They are a nuissance. It's bad for tourism. Someone buy them a farm in West Virginia and ship them all over there for God's sake. The lawsuit went all the way to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Guess who sat on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals:
SONIA SOTOMAYOR.
The Lord hears the cry of the poor, blessed be the Lord.
Sonia Sotomayor is not unfamiliar with poverty or people down on their luck. She spent her early years living in the projects in the Bronx. She was from an immigrant background often mocked or made fun of. She sided with her fellow colleagues on the 2nd Circuit to uphold the right of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church to run its homeless ministry even though it attracted lots of----homeless people.
http://www.fapc.org/index.php/news/327-obamas-supreme-court-nominee-upheld-churchs-right-to-minister-to-homeless
The First Amendment Non-Establishment of Religion clause of our US Constitution does not permit the city to interfere with such an essential expression of religious faith in action. First Amendment Religious Freedom issues kept open a homeless ministry - because of Sotomayor and her 2nd Circuit panel friends.
By: Cynthia L. Butler, an attorney, graduate of Georgetown Law and Cornell University, College of Arts and Sciences based in Washington, DC who serves on the Social Justice Advocay Committee of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown.
In New York, right on 5th Avenue in the middle of Manhattan is an old stone Presbyterian church called appropriately Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. http://www.fapc.org/
While the middle of the prime time shopping district might seem an unlikely place for a church, it was and is wildly popular. It has a beautiful old dark wood panelled ambiance given to the solicitudes of quiet prayer. For over 200 years, the Word of the Lord has been proclaimed there and exposited upon by some of the best and brighest Princeton and Fuller trained Presbyterian pastors in the country.
One of the greatest things that the congregation is proud to pour itself into is its homeless ministry. Believe it or not, in mid-town Manhattan, amidst the wealth of billionaires, Wall Street moguls, Saks Fifth Avenue and the hautest couture blingeries there are homeless people. Lots of them. They sleep in door frames, they smell bad. People walk over them, police scurry them off, shop owners and employees keep them out of the stores and they scrounge the garbage cans for lunch.
The homeless ministry fed, clothed and sheltered overnight homeless people. They have several initiatives, "Meals on Heels" taking food out to the streets to homeless people, "Homeless on the Steps" serving the poor who drop themselves literally at their doorsteps exhausted and the overnight shelter. People from the congregation took turns staying overnight in the rotating shelter of sorts to tend to the homeless and cook for them. Think Saint Francis of Assisi with a better budget.
Apparently the financial interests of mid-town manhattanites got fed up and had enough of these homeless people ruining the neighborhood as they parked themselves lounged on the sidewalk surrounding Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church waiting to be fed or stay the night, no doubt making crazy noises and smelling rather unlike the Channel boutique. The city rounded them up, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian filed for an injunction to stop the city from shutting down the ministry and the city appealed.
There was a lawsuit to expel the homeless and shut down the ministry. Sales must be tumbling. They are a nuissance. It's bad for tourism. Someone buy them a farm in West Virginia and ship them all over there for God's sake. The lawsuit went all the way to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Guess who sat on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals:
SONIA SOTOMAYOR.
The Lord hears the cry of the poor, blessed be the Lord.
Sonia Sotomayor is not unfamiliar with poverty or people down on their luck. She spent her early years living in the projects in the Bronx. She was from an immigrant background often mocked or made fun of. She sided with her fellow colleagues on the 2nd Circuit to uphold the right of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church to run its homeless ministry even though it attracted lots of----homeless people.
http://www.fapc.org/index.php/news/327-obamas-supreme-court-nominee-upheld-churchs-right-to-minister-to-homeless
The First Amendment Non-Establishment of Religion clause of our US Constitution does not permit the city to interfere with such an essential expression of religious faith in action. First Amendment Religious Freedom issues kept open a homeless ministry - because of Sotomayor and her 2nd Circuit panel friends.
Strict Scrutiny applied and the city had no compelling state interest to round up or lock up all the homeless folks. Amicus briefs were filed by religious freedom liberty organizations. http://www.sidley.com/ourpractice/RepDetail.aspx?id=54
http://www.becketfund.org/index.php/case/48.html. The Homeless Shelter stands.
I support SONIA SOTOMAYOR.
For the US SUPREME COURT.
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