... The Empire Strikes Back
Another post from our Streams of Justice blog:
Vancouver restricting church's mission to help poor, charges pastor
Last Updated: Friday, August 10, 2007 | 1:24 PM PT
CBC News
A Vancouver pastor says a Vancouver city regulation is preventing her church from fulfilling its mandate to help the poor.
Mardi Dolfo-Smith, of the 10th Avenue Church on the west side of Vancouver, says that twice a week, people come in to her church for free food and sometimes shelter.
When the church started to renovate two years ago, the city's planning department said it needed a social services permit, because helping the poor is not in the church-use permit, says the pastor.
The church has since applied for a social services permit, but not all churches have the same resources to meet the permit's onerous conditions, she says.
"We're concerned that the city is separating our faith into different areas. We're also concerned that this will be too onerous for other faith communities, smaller ones, ones that maybe don't have the resources that we have."
The real issue is that churches are called to help the poor, and always have been, says Dolfo-Smith.
Read the rest here.
And...
Do you have a licence for that good deed?
PATRICK BRETHOUR
August 11, 2007
VANCOUVER -- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you - but in Vancouver, make sure you get a permit from city hall first.
Tenth Avenue Alliance Church is challenging the city's stipulation that it acquire a licence to perform charitable works, arguing that it shouldn't have to seek formal approval in order to heed the biblical admonition to comfort the poor.
The church ran afoul of city rules after it started renovations several years ago. Homeless people who had lined up at the back for meals served twice a week began to line up out front instead, sparking complaints from some neighbourhood residents concerned that crime would start to rise.
The city then told the church that it needs to acquire a social-service licence if it wants to continue to feed large numbers of people, and act as a shelter in winter months.
Mardi Dolfo-Smith, senior associate pastor, said her church and others are petitioning the city to waive the licensing requirement for religious organizations. "The dispute is about the larger issue, whether a church needs a permit to care for the poor," she said.
Read the rest here.
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