Neither dogs nor people are welcome at Redeemer Lutheran Church in East Falls by actions of SEPA Synod.
In court, in the fall of 2009, Bishop Burkat of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the ELCA, presented her plan for Redeemer in East Falls. Pivotal to the SEPA Mission Strategy was closing the church, locking the doors, and taking down all signage. The stated goal was for the community to no longer see Redeemer as a house of worship. Bishop Burkat proposed that this would take six months. Once all memory of Redeemer and its 120 years of contribution to East Falls was forgotten, then Bishop Burkat would move in with new leadership and open a new church with a new name and find new people willing to be treated badly to populate the pews.
It has taken four times her projection — nearly two years — but Bishop Burkat has achieved Stage One of her goal. The people of East Falls no longer see Redeemer property as sacred ground. It has become the neighborhood doggie toilet. Redeemer’s sign has been replaced with a plea to the community to curb their dogs and keep the property beautiful (but useless). This should not be SEPA’s biggest concern. After all, even the best of shepherds must walk through some do-do to care for the sheep.
What is happening in East Falls is what almost always happens with absentee landlords. Property, when treated with disrespect for the rest of the community, is laid to waste.
The best way to stop neighbors from defiling sacred ground is to open the doors once again to the community. SEPA can’t do that because they have done nothing to forge a relationship with the people of East Falls. They have treated us as vile enemies even though we were supposedly working toward the same goals. Their presence in East Falls is laced with an attitude of arrogant superiority. They criticize our people but have done far less than local leaders when it comes to mission and ministry.
The people of East Falls have found a way to deal with controlling outsiders. Just let the dogs out.
